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Varieties of English 2

The document provides an introduction to dialects of the English language. It defines what constitutes a dialect, discusses the difficulties in distinguishing between dialects and languages, and examines criteria for mutual intelligibility. The document also explores geographical dialect continua and how dialects can differ in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Factors like history, politics, culture and geography are noted to influence the development and spread of English dialects.

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Jelena Davidovic
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147 views5 pages

Varieties of English 2

The document provides an introduction to dialects of the English language. It defines what constitutes a dialect, discusses the difficulties in distinguishing between dialects and languages, and examines criteria for mutual intelligibility. The document also explores geographical dialect continua and how dialects can differ in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Factors like history, politics, culture and geography are noted to influence the development and spread of English dialects.

Uploaded by

Jelena Davidovic
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Introduction to dialectology

Introduction to dialects of English

• What is a dialect?

common usage: a dialect is a substandard, low-status, often rustic form of language, generally
associated with the peasantry, the working class, or other groups lacking in prestige

often applied to forms of language, particularly those spoken in more isolated parts of the world,
which have no written form

often regarded as some kind of (often erroneous) deviation from a norm – as aberrations of a
correct or standard form of language

modern linguistic view: all speakers are speakers of at least one dialect

standard English is just as much a dialect as any other form of English

it does not make any kind of sense to suppose that any one dialect is in any way linguistically
superior to any other

• Mutual intelligibility

dialects are subdivisions of a particular language

a number of difficulties:

– how can we distinguish between a language and a dialect?

– how can we decide what a language is?

‘a language is a collection of mutually intelligible dialects’

• Failure of definition 1

the Scandinavian languages: Norwegian, Swedish and Danish are usually considered to be
different languages

they are mutually intelligible: speakers of these three languages can readily understand and
communicate with one another

• Failure of definition 2

we consider German to be a single language

there are some types of German which are not intelligible to speakers of other types

our definition: Danish is less than a language, while German is more than a language
• Criterion of mutual intelligibility

degrees of more or less

may also not be equal in both directions

mutual intelligibility will also depend on other factors such as listeners’ degree of exposure to the
other language, their degree of education and their willingness to understand

• A ‘language’ is not only a linguistic notion

– political
– geographical
– historical
– sociological
– cultural
– linguistic
• The Scandinavian Case

all three Scandinavian languages have distinct, codified, standardised forms, with their own
orthographies, grammar books, and literatures

they correspond to three separate nation states

their speakers consider that they speak different languages

• Variety

a neutral term applied to any particular kind of language which we wish, for some purpose, to
consider as a single entity

more particular terms will be accent and dialect

accent: the way in which a speaker pronounces, and therefore refers to a variety which is
phonetically and/or phonologically different from other varieties

dialect: varieties which are grammatically (and perhaps lexically) as well as phonologically
different from other varieties

• Geographical dialect continua


rural areas: if we travel from village to village, in a particular direction, we notice linguistic
differences which distinguish one village from another

sometimes these differences will be larger, sometimes smaller, but they will be cumulative

the further we get from our starting point, the larger the differences will become

dialects on the outer edges of the geographical area may not be mutually intelligible, but they will
be linked by a chain of mutual intelligibility

at no point is there a complete break such that geographically adjacent dialects are not mutually
intelligible

the cumulative effect of the linguistic differences will be such that the greater the geographical
separation, the greater the difficulty of comprehension

geographical dialect continuum

• What is a dialect made up of?

vocabulary items

grammatical patterns

spoken with a particular accent


well for a start call me Ame (.) everybody else do … I’m the only one in the whole of
Gloucestershire (.) after 26 year (.) 1939 when the war broke out (.) I seed the advertisement in
the newspaper (.) and our dad said to I well he said if thee carsn’t do that as good as some of
the men that’s a poor job
(Mrs Amy Cook, Gloucestershire)

• Dialects of English

important to know main sociohistorical facts and cultural background in order to understand the
linguistic story behind each dialect

the story of English is very complicated

– the most spoken language in the world

– started spreading in the 12th century, had plenty of time to change in some countries in
different ways than it did in England

– influence from many languages

• Home and Colony

Home: Britain

Colony: problematic, politically incorrect

– USA

– Canada

– Australia

– New Zealand

– South African Republic

– even Ireland ??

do dialects in these countries show signs of colonial lag?

• One example - rhoticity

‘r-ful’ and ‘r-less’ varieties of English: a clear example how different waves of immigration
produced different outcomes regarding pronunciation

‘r-ful’ USA: settled from the west of England, which is rhotic + Irish and Scottish immigrants who
came in the 18th century

‘r-less’ USA: settled from the south and east of England, which are non-rhotic
Australian English is non-rhotic

there were many Irish and Scottish immigrants

but in 1861 the English-born people in Australia outnumbered the Irish by more than two to one

the number of English-born living there was greater than the number of Irish, Scottish, US and
Canadian-born people combined

New Zealand: as many settlers were born in Scotland and Ireland as there were settlers born in
England

because of the subsequent immigration and internal migration, only part of the southern end of
the South Island is still rhotic

*tabela*

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