Consonants Throughout Different English Accents PDF

Consonants throughout different English accents Standard American English (GA) Rhoticity: GA is a rhotic accent, with always being realised either as a postalveolar approximant [ɹ] or a retroflex [ɻ]. Voicing and tapping of /t/: /t/ is voiced [t ̬] or tapped [ɾ] between vowels o...

Consonants throughout different English accents Standard American English (GA) Rhoticity: GA is a rhotic accent, with always being realised either as a postalveolar approximant [ɹ] or a retroflex [ɻ]. Voicing and tapping of /t/: /t/ is voiced [t ̬] or tapped [ɾ] between vowels or after [ɹ] in unaccented syllables in either case. [ˈbɛt ̬ɚ], [ˈbɛɾɚ] [ˈɫeɪt ̬ɚ], [ˈɫeɪɾɚ] [ˈpʰɑɹt ̬i], [ˈpʰɑɹɾi] [ˌɟɛt ̬ ˈaʊṯ̚], [ˌɟɛɾ ˈaʊṯ̚] /t/ is also voiced or tapped before syllabic [l] or syllabic [ɹ]. [ˈmɛt ̬ɫ̩], [ˈmɛɾɫ̩] [ˈɫɛt ̬ɹ̩], [ˈɫɛɾɹ̩] Tapping of /d/: /d/ is also tapped [ɾ] in the same contexts as /t/. [ˈniɾ ɪṯ̚] [ˈcʰɪɾɪŋ] [ˈɫaʊɾɚ] /d/ + /t/ voicing also creates new homophones that don’t exist in other accents like GB. rider=writer hid it=hit it medal=metal wedding=wetting Reduction of medial [ṉt ̬]: Medial [ṉṯ] is reduced to [ṉ] (in unstressed syllables). [ˈɪṉɚṉɛṯ̚] [ˈwɑṉɪḏ̚]  [ˌɛṉɚˈṯʰeɪmməṉṯ̚] [ˈpʰɫ̥æṉɪḏ̚] [ˈfæṉəsi] Yod dropping: Yod [j] is dropped after the voiceless dental fricative [θ] and the alveolar consonants [ṯ, ḏ, s, z, ṉ]. [θju ̥ ː] (GB), [θu] (GA) [ˈsṯju ̥ ːḏiəʊ] or [ˈstʃuːḏiəʊ] (GB), [ˈsṯuḏioʊ] (GA) [ḏjuːk] or [dʒuːk] (GB), [ḏuk] (GA) [əˈsju ̥ ːm] (GB), [əˈsum] (GA) [ɹəˈzjuːm] (GB), [ɹəˈzum] (GA) [ŋ̘juː] (GB), [ṉu] (GA) /l/ velarisation: /l/ is mostly velarised [ɫ], even before vowels. We may say that it is a matter of degree of darkness; it is dark before vowels, and even darker before consonants and in word-final position. [ˈɫɛvɫ̩] [ˈsɪɫi] The only environment in which /l/ may be clear is after aspirated stops. [pʰɫ̥æṉṯ] or [pʰl ̥æṉṯ] [kʰɫ̥u] or [kʰl ̥u] T-glottalisation and glottal reinforcement: Glottal reinforcement is when a glottal stop [ʔ] is produced before a specific sound. In the case of GA, before a nasally released [ṯ]. n [ˈbʌʔṯ ṉ̩] n [ˈsɝʔṯ ṉ̩] n [ˈcʰɪʔṯ ṉ̩]  n T-glottalisation is when the glottal stop completely replaces [ṯ ]. It also happens at word boundary when a consonant follows. [ˈbʌʔṉ̩] [ˈsɝʔṉ̩] [ˈcʰɪʔṉ̩] [ˌɟɛʔ ˈðæṯ̚] [ˌbɑʔ ˈmɛṉi] Yod coalescence: Alveolar stops / t, d / merge with / j / at word boundary position. [ˈḏoʊŋ̘tʃə] [ˈḏɪdʒə] [ˌɟɛˈtʃɔɹz̥] H-dropping: [h] is dropped in weak forms which are not in utterance-initial position (her, his, he, him, have, has, had, etc.). Standard Scottish English (SSE) Rhoticity*: SSE too is a rhotic accent, with /r/ usually being realised as a flap [ɾ] in all environments. [ɾɛḏ] [ˈvɛɾɪ] [baɾ] [ɡɾeṯ] [ṯɾ̥ʉ] [ɹ] is also common (and deemed more prestigious), especially in V+/r/+C position. [aɹm] [kɔɹṯ] [ḏɛːɹṯ] *Rhoticity is said to be declining, and many speakers are now semi-rhotic. /l/ velarisation: /l/ is velarised [ɫ] in most contexts. It is clear in words like itself due to the unreleased alveolar stop that precedes it. l [ˈɫɪṯ ɫ̩] [ˈɫokɫ̩z] [əˈɫʌʉ] [ˈskɔṯ̚ləṉḏ] [ɾ] + [ɫ] = new syllable: When [ɾ] happens before [ɫ] in words like or , they usually form a new syllable, with the [ɫ] becoming syllabic. This would not happen if the speaker uses the approximant [ɹ]. [ˈɟɛːɾɫ̩ḏ̚], [ɟɛːɹɫḏ̚]  [ˈwɛːɾɫ̩ḏ̚], [wɛːɹɫḏ̚] /ʍ/ vs /w/: SSE has the phoneme /ʍ/ (voiceless labiovelar approximant/fricative) for the sequence, forming minimal pairs such as. [ʍeɫ], [weɫ] Non-aspiration of stops: /p, t, k/ are little to not aspirated. However, speakers from the Highlands aspirate them heavily. L-vocalisation: Especially prominent among younger speakers, this means that [ɫ] is replaced by a vowel or a semi-vowel. T-glottalisation: It happens at word boundary when a consonant follows, at utterance-final position, and, in broader varieties, intervocalically (in unstressed position). [ˌṉɔʔ ˈðaʔ] [ˈbjʉʔɪ] [ˈmaʔəɾ] [ˈsëʔɪ] [ˈskɔʔɫʌṉḏ̚] suffix: The pronunciation of the suffix [ɪŋ] is pronounced [ɪṉ] in informal speech or broader varieties. Voiceless velar fricative /x/: It is a phoneme in Gaelic and Scots, but SSE retains it in proper names such as [ˈṯʌɫʌx] and [baɫaˈxʉɫɪʃ], in the word [ɫɔːx], and in the exclamation [ɔːx]. Jamaican Patois and Standard Jamaican English (JamC and SJamE) Semi-rhoticity: This accent is semi-rhotic, with /r/ being pronounced [ɹ]. It does not usually occur in utterance-final position, but it tends to occur in word-medial position before consonants. This varies from speaker to speaker, however. Aspiration of stops: It occurs in accented position, though it varies among speakers and even in the same speaker. /h/ occurrence: It’s variable, mostly being dropped in initial position basilectal and low mesolectal varieties. TH-stopping: Since JamC lacks the dental fricatives /θ, ð/(and the voiced palato-alveolar fricative /ʒ/), [θ] and [ð] are replaced by [ṯ] and [ḏ], respectively. This does not occur in SJamE. Bonus: The onset cluster /θr/ is pronounced [ṯɹ̝]̥ , [tʃɹ̝]̥ or even just [tʃ] in basilectal and low mesolectal varieties. It is realised [θɹ̝]̥ in acrolectal JamE. Cluster reduction: - Onset/initial position: In onset clusters where the first element is /s/ (/st, str, sk, skr, sp, spr/, etc.), the /s/ phoneme can be elided, sometimes even in the acrolect. [ˌkʰɔṉˈṯɹ̝a ̥ k̚ṯo] (upper mesolect) In basilectal varieties, the cluster /str/ is pronounced [stʃɹ̝]̥. [ˈsṯɹ̝ɔ̥ ŋɡə] (SJamE), [ˈstʃɹ̝ḁ ŋɡa] or [ˈtʃɹ̝ḁ ŋɡa] (JamC) - Word-final coda position: In low mesolectal and basilectal varieties, final consonant clusters whose codas end with /t/ or /d/ get simplified by eliding these phonemes, even before vowels or when these act as tense markers. [ˌwaṯ̚ ˈkʰɔz ɪṯ] [ˌbɪl a ˈaːk] [ɟɛṯ̚ ˌlɔs aˈɟɛṉ]  [ɪɱˈvalv ɪṉ] [ḏɪˌṯatʃ ˈɔʊsɪz̥] Clear /l/: /l/ is clear [l] in all contexts, even when it is syllabic. Yod after velar stops: In JamC, a yod /j/ is added after velar stops /k/ and /ɡ/ when these precede the TRAP [a] and BATH [aː] vowels. This also happens with the word , which is pronounced with [aː]. [cja ̥ ṯ] [ˈɟjaŋ] [cja ̥ ːɹ] [ɟjaːl] /w/ after bilabial stops: In JamC, a /w/ is added after bilabial stops /p/ and /b/ when these precede the CHOICE [ai] vowel. [bwai] [spw̥ ail] [pw̥ aiṉṯ] endings: In basilectal and mesolectal varieties, the suffix and any noun ending with the sequence is pronounced [ɪṉ]. [ˈɹoṉɪṉ] [ˈmɔːɹṉɪṉ] Velarisation of alveolar stops: In JamC, syllabic L [l ̩] affects the point of articulation of its preceding alveolar stops, turning them into their velar counterparts. [ˈlɪkl ̩] [ˈɹɪɡl ̩] Vowel details - Standard American English R-coloured/rhotacised vowels: Vowels which are articulated while curling the tongue to a post alveolar [ɹ] or retroflex [ɻ] position. In some cases, the / r / sound and the vowel sound merge completely: [ɚ], [ɝ], [ɑɹ] In other cases, r-colouring occurs at the end of the vowel sound: [ɪɹ], [ɛɹ], [ɔɹ], [ʊɹ], [aɪɹ] In many speakers, these latter five articulations may be explained as just a pure vowel followed by [ɚ]. GB’s [aɹ] vs GA’s [ɛɹ]: In accented syllables, GB’s [aɹ] is pronounced [ɛɹ] in GA. - GB: [ˈhaɹi], [ˈmaɹi], [ˈmaɹɪdʒ], [ˈcʰaɹi], [ˈcʰaɹiə], [ˈaɹəʊ], [ˈcʰaɹək̚ṯə], [ˌcʰaɹək̚ṯəˈɹɪsṯɪk], [bɑːˈbaɹɪk], [ˈbaɹiə], [ˈbaɹɪsṯə] - GA: [ˈhɛɹi], [ˈmɛɹi], [ˈmɛɹɪdʒ], [ˈcʰɛɹi], [ˈcʰɛɹiɚ], [ˈɛɹoʊ], [ˈcʰɛɹək̚ṯɚ], [ˌcʰɛɹək̚ṯɚˈɪsṯɪk], [bɑɹˈbɛɹɪk], [ˈbɛɹiɚ], [ˈbɛɹɪsṯɚ] It happens as well in unaccented syllables, but with GB’s [əɹ]. These unaccented syllables tend to become syllables with secondary stress in GA. ə ə ə ə - GB: [ˈaḏ̚vəs ɹi], [ˈmɜːs ṉɹi], [ˈɔːḏ ṉ ɹi] ə - GA: [ˈæḏ̚vɚˌsɛɹi], [ˈmɝsəˌṉɛɹi], [ˈɔɹḏ ṉˌɛɹi] No distinction between GB’s [ɛ], [a], and [ɛː]: Many GA speakers make no distinction between words containing these three sounds. Example: are all pronounced [ˈmɛɹi]. [ʌ] transformation into [ɝ]: When the STRUT vowel occurs before [ɹ], GA uses [ɝ]: , [ˈhɝi]; , [ˈkʰɝɪdʒ] Vowel details - Standard Scottish English Vowels in “free” variation: Some lexical sets have more than one way of being produced. It varies from speaker to speaker. KIT ë ɪ NURSE ɛː ʌ About ə ʌ commA ʌ ə PRICE ʌi ae Aitken’s Law or the Scottish Vowel Length Rule: All vowels, except for /ɪ/, /ʌ/, and /ə/, are lengthened in the following contexts: - Before a voiced fricative /v ð z/ - Before / r / - At morpheme boundary: [bɾʉḏ] [bɾʉːḏ] [əˈɡɾi ṯə] [əˈɡɾiːḏ̚ ṯə] - Utterance-final position (before a pause) Vowel details - Standard Jamaican English Variation among basi-, meso-, and acrolect: As shown in the first table and in the one below, the pronunciation of some lexical sets varies from the Jamaican basilect/Patois Creole (JamC) to the Jamaican acrolect/Standard Jamaican English (SJamE). Mesolectal pronunciations lean closer to basilectal pronunciations. Jamaican basilect and Jamaican Keyword mesolect/JamC acrolect/SJamE LOT a ɔ CLOTH aː ɔː THOUGHT aː ɔː NORTH aːɹ ɔːɹ FORCE uoɹ oːɹ NURSE oɹ əːɹ About a, e o, ə commA a, e o, ə lettER aɹ oɹ, əɹ FACE iɛ eː CHOICE ai ɔi NEAR iɛɹ eːɹ SQUARE iɛɹ eːɹ MOUTH ɔʊ aʊ  ENGLISH SUPRASEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY & DIALECTOLOGY II CLASS 1 1. Language Variation: variability is a fundamental, inherent property of language. It’s everywhere in language. From producing individual sounds or signs to processing linguistic signals. It allows us to identify individuals, groups, communities, and nations. Variability also allows us to trace the history of languages, describe their present, and compare them. 2. Language Varieties: one out of the several variations of a given language. They are mutually intelligible within the same language. Used in a well-identified geographical region. They are geographically specific (American English, Australian English, etc.). Called “dialects”. 3. Dialect: one out of the several variations of a given language. All dialects are equally valid. They are just different. (Standard dialect vs. Non-standard dialect) Language attitudes to certain dialects respond to extra-linguistic reasons → social judgement → discrimination. Dialect are associated with a particular pronunciation or ‘accent’. There is further regional variation within a given variety or dialect. E.g., American English, Southern American English, and Appalachian English. They have a syntactic and lexical system that differs (to different extents) from other dialects of the same language. If social variability factors are considered, they are called ‘sociolects’. (social class, age, gender, profession, educational level, etc. 4. Accent: the collection of segmental and suprasegmental features that sets apart an accent from others in the same language. It mainly identifies a speaker’s regional origin* and social status. It is independent of the relative prestige of a dialect. All dialects, prestigious or non-prestigious, have an accent. It indicates whether or not an individual is a native speaker of a language (except General British or Standard Southern British English). The most prestigious dialect in Britain does not always combine with the most prestigious accent, General British. General British speakers always use the standard dialect, but not all speakers of the standard dialect pronounce the GB accent. General British is non-regional. The other name for the same accent, Standard Southern British English, indicates its origin, not where its speakers are from necessarily. 5. Dialectology: it is the systematic study of regional dialects. It started in the second half of the 19th century and it is closely related to historical linguistics, especially in the area of linguistic change. It is also related to sociolinguistics to the point that it has been considered a field within that branch of linguistics. Dialectology examines variations in language within speech communities, while sociolinguistics explores the impact of social factors on language usage. It records data about traditional dialects that are disappearing. It describes and compares the different dialects of a language. It produces maps and atlases (that are useful as research tools for historical linguistics) to show the distribution of dialects and accent features. It improves our knowledge about linguistic change by explaining why dialect boundaries are distributed in a certain way. It explains linguistic phenomena such as innovation and diffusion. It predicts how innovations or changes will spread. 1 CLASS 2 1. Trudgill’s Sociolinguistic Pyramids. ❖ The Relationship between social status, dialects and accents. The place speakers occupy on the social scale is closely related to the number of regional dialects (geographical variation). The dialects spoken by individuals from the upper classes show minimal variation compared to the dialects spoken by individuals from the working classes. Dialects present the most geographical variation at the bottom of the social scale. ❖ The Relationship between social status and regional dialects and accents. The same is true for accents. The accents spoken by the upper classes present very little variation, whereas the most variation in accents occurs among speakers from lower classes. Accents present the most geographical variation at the bottom of the social scale. – Standard English: He's a man who likes his beer. / He's a man that likes his beer. – Regional variation in nonstandard British English varieties: He's a man who likes his beer. / He's a man that likes his beer. / He's a man at likes his beer. / He's a man as likes his beer. / He's a man what likes his beer. / He's a man he likes his beer. / He's a man likes his beer. 2. How dialectologists do work. ❖ Traditional dialectology. – Methodology. ★ Postal questionnaires. 2 1876 - 1926, Germany. Georg Wenker. He mailed a list of sentences written in standard German to school teachers in the north of Germany. The teachers were asked to transcribe the sentences into their local dialect. In 1881, publication of Sprachatlas des Deutschen Reichs (The first linguistic atlas published). Wenker had sent the list to 50,000 teachers in the whole country. Wenker received around 44,300 questionnaires back. He produced two sets of maps by hand, each map displayed a single feature. In 1926, Wenker’s project was fully achieved with the publication of the Deutscher Sprachatlas. 1912 (completed), Denmark. Similar project. 1952, Scottland. Letters were sent to all the schools to produce the Survey of Scottish Dialects. The Midwest section of the American National Survey and the Dialect Topography Project in Canada used postal questionnaires as well. ★ Questionnaires applied by fieldworkers. 1896, France. Jules Gilliéron. He chose Edmond Edmont, a fieldworker, to record the responses to the questionnaire at each interview. Edmont cycled through the French countryside, selecting informants and sending the responses periodically for analysis. The publication of the results started in 1902 and finished in 1910. Gilliéron’s survey was enormously influential due to its efficacy and the quality of its results 1929, USA. Hans Kurath. Interested in historical linguistics and the reconstruction of the evolution of English in USA from the original forms introduced by British settlers to the existing regional dialects. He initiates the Linguistic Atlas Project (LAP) with the American Dialect Society to record words and pronunciations of everyday American English across the country, which resulted with the publication of the Linguistic Atlas of the United States. ★ Tape recorded exchanges between fieldworkers and informants. 1968 - 1983, USA. Lee Paterson and William A. Kretzchmar. The Linguistic Atlas of the Gulf States. It covered eight southern states. 1933 - 1974, Kurath, McDavid Jr., and Kretzchmar Jr. The Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and South Atlantic States (LAMSAS). It is the results of the collection of survey questionnaires. 1996, England. Eugen Dieth and Harold Orton. Production of the Atlas of English Dialects by The Survey of English Dialects (SED). Ideal informants for the SED were non-mobile, old, rural males (NORMs). Men’s speech was believed to be more conservative than women’s. However, women were also surveyed. The motivation of the SED was to record traditional dialects that were thought would become extinct due to increasing urbanization, improvement in means of communication, and extended use of new technology. ❖ Urban dialectology. 3 In the 60s, dialectology received a new stimulus from the sociolinguistic work of William Labov. Sociolinguistics moved from rural male informants to a wider variety of speakers, taking into account their socioeconomic background. Dialectology was now urban. Labov worked on the social stratification of English in New York City. Similar works were carried out by Trudgill (1974) in Norwich and Glasgow (1977) by Macaulay. – Methodology. ★ Interviewed informants on the phone using computers to produce the maps. 2006, USA. Labov, Ash, and Boerg. Atlas of North American English. It provides the first overall view of the pronunciation and vowel systems of the dialects of the U.S. and Canada. The Atlas re-defines the regional dialects of American English on the basis of sound changes active in the 1990s and draws new boundaries reflecting those changes. It is based on a telephone survey of 762 local speakers, representing all the urbanized areas of North America. – Analysis of Data: computers make it possible to collect and analyse large, searchable date corpora. –Collection of Data: internet, online surveys, and social media. The internet facilitates the rapid collection of vast quantities of data on regional variations in ordinary language, primarily written but also spoken. 2013, UK. BBC. Voices project. It sent 51 researchers to find groups of people in their areas to respond to a survey questionnaire. The same project also encouraged participants to send their responses to an online survey on a BBC site. A total of 734,000 responses were obtained from about 84,000 participants. 3. Dialect Maps The dialect features collected from the informants are displayed on a map for their visualisation and interpretation. A dialect map usually visualizes the geographical distribution of one feature—the use of a particular sound, word, or syntactic structure. Using a reference system (symbols, words, transcriptions), the map represents the feature compared to the ‘standard’ form or a historical form from a reference system. Isoglosses separate areas where different varieties of a linguistic feature are used. A dialect map has two layers: Basic layer: contains the minimum topographical information in the background using light colours or light grey (rivers, coastlines, major cities, and political or administrative divisions). Main layer: contains the linguistic information represented by graphic elements in contrasting colours or darker grey. The graphic elements may be points, dots (or other geometrical forms), lines, areas, or surfaces. 4 The maps are then denominated (A) point-related, (B) dot-related, (C) line-related, (D) area-related, and (E) surface-related. A. Point-related: a subset of the point-related map is the point-text map where a combination of dots and written forms or phonetic transcriptions are included. B. Dot-related: a combination of elements is often used. Lines and dots. Dots and geometric symbols, lines and symbols, coloured dots or symbols, or simply colour gradients. C. Two line-related maps: (1) One has lines (isoglosses) drawn to separate locations with different variants. And (2) The other uses lines to connect locations and arrows to represent the “movement” of the variants. The written form of the variants may be included. D. Area-related maps: display linguistic information by delimiting areas using colours, shading, or hatching. There are also area-text maps. E. Surface maps: represent three-dimensional objects such as mountain ranges. —What are dialect maps for? ★ The visualization of the spatial linguistic features. To show the areal picture and leave it up to the reader to draw further conclusions. ★ To investigate and present historical and cultural facts, for example, historical territories, ecclesiastical areas, migration movements, trading relations and other communication contacts that leave linguistic traces. ★ In sociolinguistics, to include sociological information like age groups to the areal distribution. Both geographical (diatopic) and social (diastratic) variations are recorded in the maps. ★ In historical dialectology (the linguistic discipline that reconstructs specific stages in the historical processes of language/dialect change), used in historical linguistics and the study of language change, because they enable the detection of “natural” directions and regularities of language change: ○ different dialects preserve different stages in the development of the language. ○ dialects change rather freely as they are less inhibited by normative grammar. 4. Dialect Continuum A dialect continuum is where neighbouring traditional dialects differ minimally, but differences increase with distance. While speakers of adjacent dialects can understand each other, those further apart may not be mutually intelligible despite being linked by a chain of intermediate dialects. Dialect continua can also be social, with sociolects changing gradually along the social scale. 5. Dialectology at Present Dialectology no longer holds the central position in linguistics that it enjoyed in the 19th century. It remains, though, as an active and relevant sub-discipline that continues to produce new scholarly work. Dialectology has become part of interdisciplinary studies in sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, 5 linguistic geography or geolinguistics, and sociophonetics, contributing to a better understanding of linguistic variation. Dialectologists are now concerned with the borders between dialects (areas of transition), studying dialect continua and the rise of new dialects. Another trend in dialectology turns from production to perception by examining what ordinary people think about dialect and accent diversity in their languages. Despite all the changes, most dialectologists today focus on the central questions that gave rise to the field over a century ago. CLASS 3 1. Language / Dialect Contact Language contact occurs when speakers of two (or more) languages or dialects consistently interact due to geographical proximity, social closeness, or both, for example. The varieties affect each other to different degrees. The outcome may be asymmetric, with one variety affecting the other more. The mutual influence which results from such contact leads to changes in the structure – or at least in the lexicon – of one or both languages - dialects - varieties. When there is prolonged contact, the varieties, usually dialects, become more similar in their structural features, i.e., structural convergence (phonological, morphological, syntactic, or semantic) occurs. Structural convergence means speakers favour similarities between the varieties rather than discarding or reducing marked differences (levelling). In convergence, especially when there is bilingualism, speakers may use, for example, the lexis of one variety and the syntax of the other. Various reasons exist for different groups of people coming into contact throughout history. This contact occurs due to geographical or cultural closeness, foreign invasions, colonization, economic and enslaved persons trade, migration and refugee movements, among other reasons. The extensive use of the internet and technologically-mediated communication may also be counted as a language/dialect contact situation, even without face-to-face interaction. Several factors influence the outcomes of language contact. Some crucial factors are the social status of the speech communities involved, including the relative power and prestige of the speakers, the relatedness or genetics of the languages in contact, and the socioeconomic context in which the contact happens. Contact can be temporary, intensive, or last centuries. The levels of language affected (pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, morphology) and the nature of the contact determines how the languages or dialects are affected. The intervention of all the previously mentioned factors leads to different results. 6 2. Effects of Language / Dialect Contact The types of contact are classified according to social aspects, like: ★ the intensity of contact ★ presence or absence of systematic learning ★ speaker’s attitudes ★ form or feature complexity or ‘markedness’ ★ the degree to which the features and forms are integrated into the linguistic system ★ the degree of structural difference or similarity (genetics) between the varieties involved Raymond Hickey (2000). 4 language contact scenarios according to the factors previously mentioned. ❖ Borrowing: indirect or ‘cultural’ contact, with no interaction with speakers like in English and other languages today. Or little contact with almost no bilingualism. This is exemplified in the contact situation between French and Middle English in late Medieval times. Lexical borrowings or ‘cultural borrowings’ with no impact on the grammar of the receiving language. If there is bilingualism, code-switching (moving from one language/dialect to another) and code-mixing (including features of the intervening languages/dialects in the same utterance) may appear. However, the contact between Norman French and English also borrowed morphological features; one example is the adoption of the suffix ‘-able’. ❖ Koinézation and/or dialect levelling: implies strong speaker interaction. There is an approximation of one or both languages. The example Hickey provides is the contact between Old English and Old Norse during the Viking invasions. In this case, the effects are either koinézaition or dialect levelling (in the case of koinéization, dialect levelling must occur first). ❖ Language shift: in situations of imposed contact (e.g. invasions). It implies abandoning a native variety in favour of a dominant one, like Irish in favour of English in Ireland; English also has displaced Bhojpuri and Tamil (both originally from India) in South Africa and Native American languages in the United States and Canada. It may involve the transfer of language features of the abandoned language into the foreign one. ❖ Pidginization: implies restricted input (Use of strictly necessary language) and unguided acquisition (No systematic learning of any language). This kind of contact was common during the English colonial period in the Caribbean and many islands in the Pacific. It is creating a new variety with restricted functions. Pidginization primarily involves grammatical restructuring and use of the vocabulary of one of the languages). According to the most accepted theory, the use of the pidgin by later generations produces creolization. Hickey also mentions the discontinuity of indigenous languages (the interruption in the transmission of language across generations). 7 3. Borrowing Common language or dialect contact effects consist of taking linguistic material (words, sounds, phonological rules, morphemes, syntactic patterns, semantic associations, or discourse strategies) from another language or dialect and adopting it as part of their language or dialect. (Campbell, 2020). This frequently includes taking lexical items known as loanwords, loans, or borrowings. Do not forget that not only words can be borrowed. Whenever a language borrows linguistic elements, it usually means that some people in both the borrowing language (recipient language) and the language it borrows from (donor language) have some level of bilingualism or bidialectalism (Campbell, 2020). These speakers are the ones who spread loanwords according to historical linguistics. ❖ Necessity: one primary reason for borrowing words arises out of necessity. When speakers learn a new concept or acquire a new object, they need a name for it, usually borrowed from their foreign name. ❖ Prestige: is another important factor for borrowing words from other languages or dialects. Adopting a foreign term occurs because it is held in high regard socially, often due to the status of its native users. During the dominance of Norman French in England, numerous words from Norman French were incorporated into the English language due to the higher social status and perceived prestige of French compared to English. (Campbell, 2020, p. 64). Lexical items that refer to foodstuff are abundant in English (cuisine, mouton, pork, lettuce, salad). Adaptation or phoneme substitution: in the early stages of language contact, loanwords are adjusted to fit the sound structure of the recipient language. Bilinguals introduce these loanwords, and through phonetic interference, unfamiliar sounds contained in the loanwords are adapted to native sounds. Loanwords with non-native phonological patterns (phonotactics) are also adjusted to fit the phonological structure of the borrowing language. In adaptation, a foreign (donor) sound in borrowed words that does not exist in the receiving language is replaced by the nearest phonetic equivalent in the borrowing ( = receiving) language. Phonotactics undergoes adjustment, where loanwords with sound patterns like consonant clusters, for example, that are not permitted in the native language (recipient) are modified to fit the phonological combinations permitted in the borrowing language through deletion (elision), addition, or recombination of sounds. Campbell, 2020. "In situations of more extensive, long-term or intimate contact, new phonemes can be introduced into the borrowing language together with borrowed words which contain these new sounds, resulting in changes in the phonemic inventory of the borrowing language; this is sometimes called direct phonological diffusion. For example, before intensive contact with French, English had no phonemic /ʒ /. This sound became an English phoneme through the many French loans that contained it, which came into English, such as ‘rouge’ /ruʒ /." (65-66). 8 4. Koinéization Kerswill, 2000. A straightforward definition of koinéization describes it as the development of a new, mixed variety following dialect contact. In a dialect contact situation where speakers of several varieties of the same language interact, like migration to a new town from different parts of the country, accommodation occurs. ★ Accommodation is a sociolinguistic theory which suggests that speakers modify their speech patterns to align with those of their conversational partners for various reasons, ranging from gaining acceptance to fostering mutual understanding. Speakers try (consciously or unconsciously) to adapt their speech to make it more similar to their interlocutors' speech. From the accommodation process, the variants of certain linguistic features most speakers use (features of mainstream dialects) are chosen over the markedly regional features. Regional forms or features are disfavoured, so the number of forms available or variants available is reduced, and the mainstream forms are usually selected. However, as the contact continues, variability is further reduced because the following generation will eventually use intermediate or neutral forms rather than mainstream dialect forms. Paul Kerswill and Ann Williams (2000) demonstrated in their research on the English 'new town' Milton Keynes that most of the vowel sounds used by the children of this location were intermediate between the regional realizations and the mainstream ones. ★ Another characteristic of koinéization is that "phonologically and lexically simple features are more often adopted than complex ones." (Kerswill, 2000, p. 89 ). When there is a whole generation of native speakers, the koiné becomes stable, and a new dialect has developed out of the initial mix of differing linguistic dialect features brought by speakers from different regions and social backgrounds at the beginning of the contact situation. 5. Dialect Levelling Dialect levelling is a linguistic process of simplifying or reducing variability in a continuous dialect contact situation. The distinct features that characterize different dialects are minimized through dialect levelling, resulting in increased similarity between the dialects in contact. This phenomenon is driven by accommodation. Dialect levelling leads to creating a koiné, so the two concepts are related. However, a koiné implies a mix of forms from which new forms are developed, and dialect levelling is an essential precursor to this stage. In dialect levelling, there is no mixture of forms or creation of new ones; instead, there is a reduction of the marked or more distinct variants (Trudgill, 1986). The outcome of this levelling process is that 9 dialects become more similar or homogeneous, but it does not necessarily involve the creation of new forms. 6. Pidginization Pidginization originates in situations of close and repeated contact, as a transactional language or lingua franca, in very specific situations by speakers of mutually unintelligible languages. Pidgins emerge from an initial prepidgin or jargon that, through regular use, becomes a more stable means of communication. At the moment of acquiring structural rules or norms that have to be learned, the jargon becomes a new language called pidgin. A pidgin is not a mother tongue or first language; it is a secondary language with a stable structure and rules, used in specific trade contexts like marketplaces, the harbour, on ships, or labour environments like plantations as a bridge language to perform restricted functions. Pidgins may stay long if they are transmitted and for as long as the contact situation occurs. Velupillai, 2015. “Pidgins were created, for example, by Chinese merchants and European sailors and importers in Canton, an important port city; between enslaved African workforce and Europeans on plantations in the Caribbean; by local domestic staff and English colonizers in India; and between mine workers and Belgian colonizers in Congo.” In the construction of a pidgin, input languages unintelligible among them get into contact, in many cases more than two or three; in the case of plantation pidgins, for example, these are West African languages (Akan, Ewe, Yoruba) and European languages (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese), a dominant language, usually the European language, act as a lexifier, i. e., it contributes with most of the lexis or vocabulary of the pidgin. Siegel, 2010. “A stable pidgin is normally quite restricted in function, but in some cases it may later extend into wider areas. As a result, the language becomes lexically and grammatically more complex. It is then called an expanded pidgin. An example is Melanesian Pidgin, now spoken as three main dialects: Tok Pisin (also considered a creole) in Papua New Guinea, Pijin in the Solomon Islands, and Bislama in Vanuatu.” 7. Creolization A creole emerges from a pidgin that has become the mother tongue of a community. Regarding its structure, a creole is more complex than a pidgin. It has expanded its vocabulary, morphology, and grammatical rules. ❖ Creole speakers can use it to fulfil any language function or communicative situation. ❖ Creoles present considerable variation based on region and the social status of its speakers. 10 In creole studies (creolistics), variation occurs along a continuum, just like the continuum between dialects of the same language, with the acrolect (standard Jamaican Englsih) nearest the lexifier language or the standard which presents no regional variation and is used by upper and upper middle social classes at one extreme and the deepest regional creole that presents the most regional variation and is used by speakers at the bottom of the social scale, the basilect. In between these two extremes is the mesolect. Speakers of the middle classes use it, and it is less regional than the basilect but not completely standard as the acrolect. Mufwene, 2019. “Whether creoles should be considered dialects of their lexifier languages or different languages is a matter of debate. There are also theories suggesting that creoles develop apart from pidgins, i.e., follow a separate development based on population structure and socioeconomic context.” 8. Language Shift and Language Death ★ Language shift is the contact-induced change where speakers of a native dialect or language abandon their use due to the enormous pressure of a language introduced by a group in a position of power, usually by invasion or because speakers have migrated. Speakers of the abandoned language adopt the foreign language for reasons like social acceptance or mobility, imposition of foreign religions or government policies and education conducted in the introduced language. Some examples of language shift are the displacement of Irish (Irish Gaelic ) by English in Ireland, Indigenous languages in North America by English, Tamil with Malay and then by English in Malaysia, and Indigenous languages in South and Central America by Spanish. Language shift is a process that extends through several generations. It starts with increasing bilingualism from generation to generation, with the younger ones eventually willingly quitting the native variety, followed by other circumstances like restricting the native dialect or language to social interaction with peers and traditional customs exclusively, and language attrition, defined as loss of proficiency in a language. With time, syntactic structures and lexis are more challenging to recall or are lost. However, older generations may retain some of the native language, and in some cases, written evidence of the native language remains. ★ Language death or extinction of a variety is preceded by language shift. However, the shift to another variety does not always lead to language death (Irish is being revitalized, for example). The extinction of a language is gradually produced. However, other more extreme factors produce 11 the sudden extinction of a language, such as natural disasters and genocide. Tamboran, spoken in Sumbawa, an island in Indonesia, disappeared after the death of all its speakers due to a catastrophic volcanic eruption. “The Yashi language, last spoken by a man known as Ishi, believed to be the last survivor of his tribe, was murdered by white settlers in California” (Romaine, 2010 from Kroeber, 1964 ). Genocide is also the cause of the extinction of the Selk’nam language in Chile and the Tasmanian aboriginal languages in Australia. In both cases, though, revitalization efforts are being made based on remnants of these languages. Romaine, 2010. “Gradual language death happens over generations. The language is no longer used for all purposes or functions. As time passes and transmission decreases, speakers who once had high proficiency in the language gradually forget it and eventually lose it due to lack of use. Loss and forgetting lead to a cycle of attrition. As people forget more, it becomes harder to remember words and other expressions, mainly when they refer to things that are no longer used because of changes in customs or obsolete traditions.” 12  DIALECTOLOGY II READINGS: Dialects by Peter Trudgill. UNIT 1: STUDYING ENGLISH DIALECTS No variety of the language is linguistically superior to any other. There is very considerable regional variation within the English language as it is spoken in different parts of the British Isles and different parts of the world. The fact is that the way you speak English has a lot to do with where you are from—where you grew up and first learnt your language. Where you are from, of course, will not be the only thing which influences how you speak. People speak different kinds of English depending on what kind of social background they come from, some speakers may even be so ‘posh’ that it is not possible to tell where they come from at all. ❖ Dialect: the social and geographical kinds of language. It is important to emphasise that everybody speaks a dialect. Dialects are not peculiar or old-fashioned or rustic ways of speaking. They are not something which only other people have. Your dialect is the particular combination of English words, pronunciations and grammatical forms that you share with other people from your area and your social background, and that differs in certain ways from the combination used by people from other areas and backgrounds. There is nothing you can do or say in one dialect that you cannot do or say in another dialect. ❖ Dialectologist: scientists who study dialects start from the assumption that all dialects are linguistically equal. What dialectologists are interested in are differences between dialects. The task of dialectologists is to describe different dialects, to note differences between them, and, importantly, to try and explain how these differences came about. UNIT 2: POSH AND LESS POSH DIALECTS Dialects are both regional and social. The dialect with the greatest prestige is Standard English, which has slightly different forms in different parts of the English-speaking world. It can be spoken with any kind of accent or pronunciation, ★ Social and regional dialects: what sort of dialect you speak depends on your social and regional background. ★ Standard English: it has the highest social status, it is normally used in printed books and newspapers; it is the dialect used in the education system; and it is the dialect found in dictionaries and grammar books. E.g. I don’t want any; those people over there; He hurt himself; the person who went. The Standard English dialect is spoken natively by British people who can be regarded as being at the ‘top’ of the social scale, in the sense that they have more money, influence, education and prestige than people lower down the social scale. However, the Standard English dialect itself is not entirely uniform. Scottish Standard English, for example, is clearly different from the Standard English of England at a number of points. It uses words such as outwith ‘outside’, rone ‘drainpipe’, and ashet ‘serving dish’ which are not known in England or Wales. And Scottish Standard English speakers also use gramatical forms that are not found in the Standard English elsewhere, such as: Had you a good  time last night?; My clothes need washed. Whereas similar speakers in England and Wales would say: Did you have a good time last night?; My clothes need washing. There are also differences between the north and south of England. In the south, for example, people are more likely to say: I haven’t seen him; She won’t do it. While in the north of England you are more likely to hear people say: I’ve not seen him; She’ll not do it. ★ Nonstandard dialects: have less prestige than Standard English. E.g. I don’t want none; them people over there; He hurt hisself; the person what went. Generally speaking, however, there is relatively little geographical variation within Standard English. The most regional dialect forms are to be found at the ‘bottom’ of the social scale. Thus, the Standard English relative pronoun who corresponds to a number of different nonstandard forms in different parts of the country. ★ Accent: (Also) the relationship between social and regional variation, with more regional variation at the bottom of the social scale and less at the top. Accent simply refers to pronunciation, while dialect has to do also with the grammatical forms in use, as well, perhaps, as any regional vocabulary employed. UNIT 3: ENGLISH IN MANY SHAPES AND FORMS In addition to regional and social dialects and accents, English also has different styles, which are used in different social situations, and different registers, which are used for different topics. Dialects involve differences within the English language which have to do with where speakers grow up, and what sort of social background they come from. But there are also other sorts of differences within the English language, and in this unit we look at these differences and show that it is important to be able to distinguish between them and dialect differences. Regardless of what dialect people speak, they will use different sorts of language depending on what sort of social situation they find themselves in. No one uses exactly the same kind of English when they are talking to their friends in a cafe or pub as when they are talking to strangers in a more formal situation. ❖ Styles: situational varieties of English of this type are known as styles, and stylistic variation can be thought of as taking place along a kind of sliding scale of formality. Most often, differences between styles have to do with words, with very informal or colloquial vocabulary often being referred to as slang. It is important to notice, also, that style and dialect are independent of one another. It is true, of course, that the Standard English dialect is more likely to be used on formal public occasions where formal styles are also more likely to be used. But there is no necessary connection between Standard English and formal styles, or nonstandard dialects and informal styles. ❖ Registers: the topic that the speaker is talking about. Kinds of language that reflect the subject being talked or written about. These, too, have most often got to do with vocabulary. Registers may have a social as well as linguistic function—they show who is a member of the in-group and who is not. Outsiders often react to this by calling insiders’ registers jargon. If you think that appendectomy is ‘jargon’, you are probably not a doctor. It is not necessary to use Standard English in order to speak formally. Neither is there any necessary connection between Standard English and technical registers. It is quite possible for Standard English speakers to swear and use slang vocabulary, just as it is possible for nonstandard speakers to use a whole range of styles. UNIT 4: DIALECTS, THE OLD AND THE NEW 1. Traditional dialects: often spoken by older people in geographically peripheral, more rural parts of the country. What most people generally think of when they hear the term ‘dialect’. People tend to think of them as being ‘real’ or or ‘genuine’ or ‘pure’ dialects. They also tend to imagine that they are spoken only in rural areas, although there are some urban dialects, particularly in Scotland, that are Traditional in type. And they are easier to find in those parts of the country which are furthest away from London. Traditional Dialects of English have never been spoken in the Highlands of Scotland or in most of Wales, because these areas were originally Gaelic and Welsh speaking, respectively, and became bilingual or monolingual English speaking only relatively recently. 2. Mainstream dialects: more like Standard English, and are more associated with younger, urban speakers. Spoken by a majority of the population, particularly younger speakers in urban areas, are linguistically more similar to one another and to Standard English. Standard English itself has to be considered a Mainstream Dialect.  Mainstream dialect accent differences Traditional dialect accent differences In the Midlands and north of England, and In the southwestern peninsula of England, some areas of northern Wales, put and but words which begin in the spelling with f, s, sh rhyme, and words like cut, hush, mud, on the are pronounced with v, z, zh [v, z, ʒ]. So one hand, and words like foot, push, could, on farmer is pronounced varmer, Somerset is the other, have the same vowel. In the south of Zummerzet and sheep is zheep [ʒiːp]. England, and in Scotland and Northern Ireland, put and but do not rhyme, and the two sets of words have different vowels. In southwestern England, parts of Lancashire, In the Lowlands of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Ireland, the r in words like car, Northumberland, Cumbria, Durham and north for and butter is actually pronounced. In the Yorkshire, words like long, wrong, song are other areas of England it is not, so that these pronounced lang, rang, sang. words sound like cah [kɑː], faw [fɔː], and butta [ˈbʌtə]. In most of England and Wales, people with In the Lowlands of Scotland and Northern local accents don’t always pronounce h in Ireland, words like night, right, light are words like house, hill and hat. In Ireland, pronounced nicht [nɪxt], richt, licht with the ch Scotland, Northumberland, Durham and parts [x] sound that you find in German. In of East Anglia, the local accents still Northumberland, Cumbria, Durham, consistently preserve the pronunciation with h. Yorkshire, and parts of Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, they are pronounced neet [niːt], reet, leet. UNIT 5: DIALECT MAPS Dialects can be studied by large-scale dialect surveys, such as the Survey of English Dialects, which use various methodological techniques for getting information from dialect speakers, and for producing maps of the distribution of dialect features. In order to find out about the Traditional Dialects of England, the Survey of English Dialects (SED) during the 1950s sent trained fieldworkers to more than 300 different places, nearly all of them country villages, in all parts of England. In each village, they found people, usually but not always older people, who spoke the local dialect and who were willing to help, and interviewed them, usually for many hours. It was important, of course, to get the same information from each of the locations that the fieldworkers went to, so to make sure this happened all the workers had the same questionnaire that they used with their local informants. Here are just a few of the questions that were asked: What do you call the man who looks after those animals that give us wool? [shepherd] What do you put up in a field to frighten birds away? [scarecrow] If I didn’t know what a cowman is, you would tell me: He is the man … looks after the cows. [that] What do you call a dog with half a dozen breeds in it? [mongrel] What do you call this? [showing a picture of a plough] ★ Observers’ Paradox: this is part of a well-known problem to do with carrying out research into dialects. This means that what dialectologists really want to do is to observe how people speak when they are not being observed. The point is, of course, that if people know that you are studying the way they speak, they may become self-conscious and start speaking in an unnatural manner. It is therefore important, if you are carrying out a study of dialects, especially if you are using a tape-recorder, to put people at ease and make them feel comfortable about the way they speak, and your interest in them, their area, and their dialect. ★ Isogloss: when all the SED information was in, the responses to each of the questions could be grouped together and published. This meant that anybody—including of course the workers on the Survey themselves—who wanted to draw maps for features that they were especially interested in, could now do so. Some of the maps that have been prepared are concerned with differences of vocabulary. The lines on the map which divide an area which has one word from an area which has another are called isoglosses by dialectologists. Map 5.1, for example, is an SED map for the Map 5.2, on the other hand, is a map which is word used in different dialects for a thin piece of concerned with a grammatical feature. This is a wood of the sort that you can get stuck in a finger. map prepared by the SED showing forms You might like to check and see if the one given corresponding to Standard English “we are”. You for your area is a word you know or use yourself. can see that in addition to we are, Traditional Dialects also have, in different parts of England, a number of other forms: we am, we bin, we be, and us be. Title: Words for Splinter in English Dialects. Title: We are in Traditional Dialects.  Map 5.3, gives information on pronunciation—on different accents. The map shows areas in the north of England where the word last has the same short a sound [æ] as in bat, while in areas to the south it has the same long a vowel as father [ɑː]. This is, of course, a difference which is found not only in Traditional Dialects but also in Mainstream Dialects. In England, northern and southern accents alike agree in having the short a in bat, sad, cash, and in having the long a in father, banana, lager. There is another group of words, however, which, like last, can easily be used to tell if a speaker comes from the north or south of England. Title: Different pronunciation of Last in the north and south of England. UNIT 6: WHAT DIALECT MAPS CAN TELL US Maps showing the geographical distribution of dialect features can be interpreted to give us interesting information. Distributions, for example, can be explained in terms of settlement patterns and other historical events. Dialect map: not just a way of presenting information that has been obtained by dialect surveys. They can also be used to tell us things about changes that have taken place or are taking place in the language. In some parts of the country, this r is not pronounced, so that arm sounds like ahm [ɑːm], four sounds like faw [fɔː] , and mar and Ma are pronounced the same [mɑː] , while in other parts of the country the r is pronounced—arrm [ɑːrm], fourr [fɔːr] and mar and Ma are pronounced differently [mɑːr] ̴ [mɑː]. It is very clear, just from looking at this map, that it is the ahm [ɑːm] pronunciation which is the newer of the two. That is, it is the loss of r which is an innovation, and not its introduction. This is rather obvious because there are three separate r pronouncing arrm [ɑːrm] areas, and only a single r-less ahm [ɑːm] area. It is an obvious deduction that an innovation is very unlikely to have started in three different areas at once. Rather, we can deduce that the loss of r (which we believe actually began to take place in the 1700s) probably began life in south-eastern England, and then began to spread northwards and northwestwards, especially along the communications corridors between London and Birmingham, and between London and the North, driving wedges into and between r pronouncing areas. This is confirmed if we compare the Traditional Dialect r-map with Map 6.3, which examines the same accent feature, but this time in the Mainstream Dialects spoken by younger people, including those in urban areas. It can be seen that this r has disappeared completely from northeastern England, although it survives strongly in Scotland. It is also very much under threat in the northwest of England, where only a small area of Lancashire, in and around Blackburn, continues the older pronunciation. And the area of southern England where the arrm [ɑːrm] pronunciation survives has been forced back towards the west. We can therefore use such dialect maps not only to tell us about the direction of change during previous generations. We can also use them to make predictions. The pronunciation of words like arm as arrm , etc. will, we can suppose, very soon disappear from Kent, Surrey and Sussex altogether. Urban areas further west, such as Reading, Southampton and Swindon, already show considerable signs of loss of r. In the speech of younger urban people, the arrm [ɑːrm] pronunciation is still strong in towns such as Gloucester, Bristol, Plymouth and Exeter. But it is quite likely that in a hundred years or so it will have disappeared from those areas too. If this does happen, the original pronunciation with r will survive only in Scotland and Ireland, in the British Isles. It will also, of course, survive in the United States and Canada, where the east-of-England-based innovation has never been so successful. It is by no means certain, however, that the new form will actually continue to spread. UNIT 7: HOW DIALECT BOUNDARIES GET TO WHERE THEY ARE Once we have drawn boundary lines between dialects on maps, we try to explain why they are where they are. The location of these lines may often be explained in terms of the spread of innovations from one area to another. We think further about geographical patterns, with particular reference to the explanation of why boundaries between dialect forms get to be where they are. Dialect boundaries lie at points where the geographical spread of new linguistic forms has come to a halt. This geographical spreading of new words and pronunciations is not just something which happened in the past, though. A number of features of English can be observed to be spreading geographically in this way at the present time. Generally they spread along major lines of communication, and leap from one urban area to another before then spreading out into the surrounding countryside. 1. TH-fronting. One accent feature which is behaving in this way in Britain at the moment is a phenomenon dialectologists call TH-FRONTING. E.x. fing [fɪŋ] is a typical Cockney pronunciation of thing. Since the 1970s, however, this pronunciation has been spreading geographically outwards from the London area. There are two different th sounds in English. The first, [θ], is found in words like thistle, thing, thought, ether and bath. The second, [ð], is found in words like this, there, them, other and bathe. In th-fronting, the first th sound becomes merged with or replaced by f, while the second is merged with v. This means that, for example, thought is pronounced identically with fought , while other rhymes with cover (although words like that, they and those, with the second th sound [ð] at the beginning of the word, have not usually changed in the same way). This process is referred to as fronting because f and v are pronounced further forward in the mouth than th [θ ~ ð]. The interesting thing about the change from **th to f and v, though, is the way in which we can watch it spreading across the country. In many parts of Britain, therefore, it is found in the speech of younger people but not older people. As a feature of younger people’s speech, it appears, for instance, to have arrived in Norwich in the 1970s, Sheffield in the 1980s and Exeter in the 1990s. The last we heard, it had not yet arrived in Newcastle or Scotland. There are very many pairs of words that are pronounced the same in Modern English that used to be pronounced differently at earlier times, and nothing awful has happened to the language as a result of these changes. Pairs that used to be distinguished and no longer are include knight and night, knave and nave, moan and mown, soul and sole, days and daze, maid, and made, wrap and rap, wring and ring—and hundreds more. There are even instances where four words that all used to be pronounced differently are now pronounced the same, such as right, wright, rite and write. 2. Glottal Stop. Another accent feature which is spreading in a similar way is a new way of pronouncing t, except where it occurs at the beginning of a word. This new pronunciation, then, is not found in words like tea, or table, but is found in better [bɛʔə], bottle [bɒʔl], bat [bæʔ] and bought [bɔːʔ]. It is sometimes referred to as ‘dropping your ts’, and shown in writing as be’er, etc. This is wrong. The t is not left out at all—if it was , beating [biːʔɪŋ] would sound the same as being [biːɪŋ], and button [bʌʔn] would sound the same as bun [bʌn], which they don’t. The t is still there, it is just pronounced without involving the tip of the tongue. Instead, it is pronounced as a GLOTTAL STOP. This is a sound which is produced in the larynx, by momentarily closing the vocal cords. Geographically, this new t-sound appears to have started about 150 years or so ago, perhaps in London. Since then it has spread across the country from place to place, arriving in urban areas first and then spreading out into neighbouring rural areas. At the moment pronunciations such as better [bɛʔə] are much more common in the south and east of Scotland and the eastern parts of England than it is in the Scottish Highlands, western England and Wales. It is clearly spreading, though, and is beginning to be common in Liverpool and Birmingham, and has very recently been introduced into Cardiff. In other parts of the country, though, a d-type pronunciation may be used [bɛdə], or an r may be used in some words [bɛɾə]. 3. Consonant l to double o. Another new pronunciation feature of dialects of English has to do with the way in which the consonant l is pronounced where it occurs after a vowel in words like hill, heel, milk and bell. It is very clear that this new pronunciation began in the London area. It involves the pronunciation of l as a vowel, rather like oo, so that milk is pronounced miook , and heel heeoo or ee-oo. This change is spreading much less rapidly than the th-fronting change, but in many places within 100 miles of London, such as Cambridge and Oxford, this feature is much more common in the speech of younger people than it used to be.  RECAPS ENGLISH SUPRASEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY & DIALECTOLOGY II CLASS 1 SECTION SUMMARY 1. Language Variation. ★ (variability) a fundamental, inherent property of language. ★ It’s everywhere. ★ Allows to identify individuals, groups, communities, and nations. To trace the history of languages, describe their present, and compare them. 2. Language Varieties. ★ Variations of a language. ★ Mutually intelligible within the same language. ★ Used in geographically specific regions. 3. Dialect. ★ All dialects are valid variations of a language, but differ in pronunciation and accent. ★ Language attitudes towards certain dialects are influenced by extra-linguistic factors like social judgement and discrimination. ★ Regional variations exist within a dialect, like American English, Southern American English, and Appalachian English. ★ Social variability factors, termed'sociolects', include social class, age, gender, profession, and educational level. 4. Accent. ★ Accent identifies regional origin and social status of a speaker. ★ It's independent of dialect prestige. ★ All dialects have an accent. ★ Indicates native speaker status, except General British or Standard Southern British English. ★ General British is non-regional, Standard Southern British English indicates origin. 5. Dialectology. ★ Systematic study of regional dialects, started in the 19th century. ★ Interconnected with historical linguistics and sociolinguistics. ★ Examines variations in language within speech communities. ★ Records data on disappearing traditional dialects. ★ Describes and compares different dialects of a language. ★ Produces maps and atlases for historical linguistics research. ★ Improves understanding of linguistic change by explaining distribution of dialect boundaries. ★ Explains linguistic phenomena like innovation and diffusion. ★ Predicts how innovations or changes will spread. CLASS 2 SECTION SUMMARY 1. Trudgill’s ★ Regional dialects and accents vary based on socioeconomic status, with sociolinguistic working classes experiencing more variation than upper classes and pyramid. standard English exhibiting less variation. ★ Notably, variation at the top of the social scale is more considerable regarding dialect than accent. 2. How dialectologists ★ Traditional dialectology used postal questionnaires (Wenker), followed do their work. by trained fieldworkers and transcription of speech (Guilliéron and Edmont), and later introduced the tape recorder for more comprehensive data collection. ★ Important representatives of dialectological projects in the US are H. Kurath, A. Kretzsmar Jr., and Mc David Jr. ★ In England, E. Dieth and H. Orton carried out one of the highest-regarded large-scale dialect studies globally, one of the most extensive dialectological surveys. The SED focused on recording traditional dialects. In the SED, the group of informants was referred to a NORMs. ★ Other significant projects in scope and impact are the Atlas Linguistique de la France (Guilliéron and Edmont) and the Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada (American Dialect Society). ★ W. Labov's 1960s research on urban dialects and accents shifted focus from rural to social variables, inspiring subsequent studies in Norwich (Trudgill) and Glasgow (Macaulay). ★ Sociodialectology: dialectology considering the social background of speakers. ★ Dialectology extensively uses the internet and social media to research dialect variation. 3. Dialect maps. ★ The objective of dialect maps was to visualise dialect variants' geographical distribution. ★ Isoglosses separated the areal distribution of the variants. ★ Dialect maps may include text, transcriptions, geometric symbols, colour gradients, and geographical features. ★ Dialect maps are crucial for studying language change and historical linguistics; they reveal different stages in a language's history, enable reconstruction of change processes, and identify potential regularities. 4. Dialect continuum. ★ It’s the minimal difference between geographically neighbouring dialects, especially traditional rural dialects. The greater the distance between locations, the more challenging comprehension becomes. ★ Can be linked to the social stratum to which speakers belong. 5. Dialectology at ★ The present role of dialectology in linguistics studies is interdisciplinary Present. and collaborative. ★ Recent interests: studying areas of transition and dialect continuity, and investigating people's attitudes towards dialects and accents. CLASS 3 SECTION SUMMARY 1. Language / Dialect ★ Language contact implies the continuous interaction between languages or Contact. dialects of a language. ★ Language contact induces changes in the varieties involved. One of those changes may be structural convergence; the varieties become structurally (syntax, lexis, morphology, phonology) more similar. ★ Geographical vicinity, voluntary or forced migration through enslavement, commerce, colonialism and refugee movements are some causes of language/dialect contact. 2. Effects of language ★ The outcome of language/dialect contact depends on many factors, such / dialect contact. as the social status of speakers, distribution of power, perceived prestige, genetic similarity of the varieties, and socioeconomic context that motivates the contact. ★ Language/dialect contact can affect all the levels of language. The contact outcomes are usually different since each contact situation is unique. However, there are outcomes associated with the type of contact. ★ The typology of contact situations includes intensity, systematicity of learning, speaker's attitudes, language structure complexity, the extent of integration of features or forms, and the genetic distance between varieties. ★ The type-effect contact scenarios described include indirect contact with no interaction among speakers. This leads to borrowing and, if some degree of bilingualism exists, code-switching and code-mixing. ★ Direct contact between genetically related languages or among dialects of the same language induces dialect levelling and koinéization. ★ Direct forced or imposed contact results in language shift if the pressure or imposing of the foreign language is intense. ★ Direct contact without teaching different varieties creates a new variety, pidgin, through syntactic restructuring and vocabulary adoption from one variety. This complex variety eventually becomes a mother tongue called creole. 3. Borrowing. ★ Borrowing is the most common effect of contact: taking linguistic forms at any language level, but most commonly lexis, from one of the contact languages. ★ The most familiar effect of contact is borrowing: taking linguistic forms at any language level, but most commonly lexis, from one of the contact languages. ★ Loanwords having foreign sounds go through adaptation or phoneme substitution. ★ Phonological patterns in loanwords are adjusted to the receiving language patterns through elision, addition, or recombination. ★ Direct phonological diffusion refers to adopting a new phoneme by the receiving language. 4. Koinéization. ★ Konéization involves developing a new variety from the mixture of  several varieties of the same language. The process begins with accommodation, followed by dialect levelling and the production of new variants, which results in the creation of a koiné. 5. Dialect levelling. ★ A linguistic process simplifying variability in dialect contact. ★ Minimizes distinct features of different dialects, increasing similarity. ★ Leads to the creation of a koiné, a mix of forms for new forms. ★ Does not involve new form creation; instead, reduces marked variants. ★ Aims for more similar or homogeneous dialects but doesn't necessarily involve new forms. 6. Pidginisation. ★ Pidginisation arises from the necessity to communicate in very specific situations. It implies a superstrate language (vocabulary) and substrate language (syntax). A pidgin creates a whole new variety by restructuring the varieties involved. ★ Extended pidgins: expanded in vocabulary and grammar to fulfil more communicative contexts. They are still present in Melanesia and Africa. 7. Creolisation. ★ Creole: a pidgin passed over following generations, where speakers make it more complex in grammar and vocabulary, reaching full use scope. The new variety becomes the native language of a whole speech community. ★ Creoles present considerable variation based on the region and social status of the speaker. The variations run along a continuum from the basilect (creole), passing through an intermediate variety called mesolect, to the acrolect (standard Jamaican English). 8. Language Shift and ★ Language shift occurs due to the introduction of a dominant foreign Language Death. language imposed over the native one. ★ Through gradual lack of transmission and attrition, the native language becomes extinct. ★ The death of a language can also be abrupt in circumstances of natural disasters and genocide. ★ In cases where remnants or enough records of the extinct language are available, it can be revitalised.