Lecture (9) - Regional dialects

# Definition: A regional dialect, also known as a regiolect or topolect, is a distinct form of a language
spoken in a particular geographical area. If the form of speech transmitted from a parent to a child is a
distinct regional dialect, that dialect is said to be the child's vernacular.
#Studies of the Regional Dialects in North America:
"The investigation of the regional dialects of American English has been a major concern for
dialectologists and sociolinguists since at least the early part of the twentieth century when The
Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada was launched and dialectologists began conducting
large-scale surveys of regional dialect forms.
Although the traditional focus on regional variation took a back seat to concerns for social and ethnic
dialect diversity for a couple of decades, there has been a resurgent interest in the regional dimension
of American dialects. This revitalization was buoyed by the publication of different volumes of the
Dictionary of American Regional English (Cassidy 1985; Cassidy and Hall 1991, 1996; Hall 2002), and
more recently, by the publication of The Atlas of North American English (Labov, Ash, and Boberg
2005)."
Source: Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schilling-Estes, American English: Dialects and Variation, 2nd ed.
Blackwell, 2006

#Dialect maps and dialect atlases:

• The study of regional dialects has produced dialect atlases, with dialect maps showing the areas
where specific dialect characteristics occur in the speech of the region. A boundary line called
an isogloss delineates each area."
• (Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman, and Nina Hyams, An Introduction to Language, 9th ed.
Wadsworth, 2011)
• Examples of dialect maps

• https://www.dialectsarchive.com/globalmap

• UK dialects

• https://youtu.be/-8mzWkuOxz8?t=66

• USA dialectal maps

• dialect-l.jpg (1024×768) (slideserve.com)

#Dialect vs. accent:

• Sounds

• Words

• Sentence structures

• Phonetics and phonology

• Morphology
 • Syntax

• Semantics

• Pragmatics

#Types of regional dialects:

1. International varieties (dialectal differences across countries = world Englishes) distinguish
between native speaker varieties and non-native varieties
2. Intra-national varieties (dialectal differences within a country) consider country size USA vs
Jordan
3. Cross-continental (dialect chains or continuums)
#Dialect Leveling vs. standardization
"[T]he frequent complaint today that 'dialects are dying out' reflects the fact that the basis for dialects
has shifted. Nowadays, people travel hundreds of miles and think nothing of it. People commute to
work in London from as far afield as Birmingham. Such mobility would explain, for example, why 150
years ago there was a traditional Kentish dialect, while today it barely survives, such is the close and
regular contact with London. ... [I]nstead of small relatively isolated communities where each person
mingles with more or less the same people for a lifetime, we have vast human melting-pots where
people have diffuse social networks—mingling regularly with different people, adopting new speech
forms and losing the old rural forms. Both developments in communication and the effects of
urbanization have contributed to dialect leveling, a term referring to the loss of original traditional
dialectal distinctions."
• (Jonathan Culpeper, History of English, 2nd ed. Routledge, 2005)
#Ethnic dialects vs. regional dialects:
• An ethnic dialect is the distinct form of a language spoken by members of a particular ethnic
group. Also called socioethnic dialect.
• Ronald Wardhaugh and Janet Fuller point out that "ethnic dialects are not simply foreign accents
of the majority language, as many of their speakers may well be monolingual speakers of the
majority language. . . . Ethnic dialects are ingroup ways of speaking the majority language" (An
Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 2015).
#Ethnic Dialects in the U.S
In the United States, the two most widely studied ethnic dialects are African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) and
Chicano English (also known as Hispanic Vernacular English).

"The desegregation of ethnic communities is an ongoing process in American society that continually
brings speakers of different groups into closer contact. However, the result of contact is not always the
erosion of ethnic dialect boundaries. Ethnolinguistic distinctiveness can be remarkably persistent, even
in face of sustained, daily inter-ethnic contact. Ethnic dialect varieties are a product of cultural and
individual identity as well as a matter of simple contact. One of the dialect lessons of the twentieth
century is that speakers of ethnic varieties like Ebonics not only have maintained but have even
enhanced their linguistic distinctiveness over the past half century."
 • (Walt Wolfram, American Voices: How Dialects Differ From Coast to Coast. Blackwell, 2006)

• "Although no other ethnic dialect has been studied to the extent that AAVE has, we know that
there are other ethnic groups in the United States with distinctive linguistic characteristics: Jews,
Italians, Germans, Latinos, Vietnamese, Native Americans, and Arabs are some examples. In
these cases the distinctive characteristics of English are traceable to another language, such as
Jewish English oy vay from Yiddish or the southeastern Pennsylvania Dutch (actually German)
Make the window shut. In some cases, the immigrant populations are too new to determine
what lasting effects the first language will have on English. And, of course, we must always keep
in mind that language differences never fall into discrete compartments even though it may
seem that way when we try to describe them. Rather, such factors as region, social class, and
ethnic identity will interact in complicated ways."
• (Anita K. Berry, Linguistic Perspectives on Language and Education. Greenwood, 2002)

Lecture (7)+(8) - Language standardization

#Language standardization:
# What is a standard?
Having standards is seen as something desirable for a range of things – we now take the notion of
standard time, standard measurements, standard CD sizes, standard tyre sizes, standard bulb sizes,
standard bathroom fittings or (more-or-less) standard shoe sizes for granted. Are
standards always necessary though?
The problem is that language is a little bit like those other things (standard time, measurements, etc.)
which are used for academic or more learned purposes where exactness, economy and non-ambiguity
are highly desirable. But language is also used for other things like play, informal communication,
artistic and cultural expression where the notion of a standard sits less comfortably.
#What is a standard language?
• The language that is associated with important and careful contexts of use – such as literary
writing, learned writing, legal writing or the Bible – and enjoys a high degree of prestige. (Notice
that we tend to think about the written rather than the spoken variety when we discuss the
standard.) It also tends to be the version of the language that is taught to foreigners.
# more definitions:
• ‘the process of one variety of a language becoming widely accepted throughout the speech
community as a supra-dialectal norm – the “best” form of the language – rated above regional
and social dialects’ (Ferguson 1968)
• ‘the codification and acceptance within the community of users of a formal set of norms
defining as “correct” usage’ (Stewart 1968)
• ‘a codified form of the language accepted by and serving as a model to the larger speech
community’ (Garvin and Mathiot 1968)
 • ‘a prestige variety of a language used within a speech community. “Standard
languages/varieties/ dialects” cut across regional differences, providing a unified means of
communication, and thus an institutionalised norm which can be used in teaching the
language to foreigners, and so on. Language forms which do not conform to this norm are then
referred to as sub-standard or (with a less pejorative prefix) non-standard . . .’ (Crystal 1985)
• ‘we shall see standardization as a project, which took different forms at different times. It is only
with hindsight, after all, that we can interpret the process at all: things may have felt very
different in the past. One thing we can be clear about is that the process of standardisation
cannot be seen as merely a matter of communal choice, an innocent attempt on the part of
society as a whole to choose a variety that can be used for official purposes and, in addition, as
a lingua franca among speakers of divergent dialects. It involves from the first the cultivation, by
an elite, of a variety that can be regarded as exclusive. The embryonic standard is not seen as the
most useful, or the most widely-used variety, but as the best’ (Leith 1997: 33).

#The process:
Selection
Variability is a fact of life for almost all languages. There are different regional dialects, class dialects, situational
varieties. Standardisation represents an attempt to curtail, minimise if not eliminate this high degree of
variability. The easiest solution seems to be to pick (although not arbitrarily) one of these varieties to be elevated
to the status of the standard.

Acceptance

The ‘acceptance’ by the community of the norms of the variety selected over those of rival varieties, through the
promotion, spread, establishment and enforcement of the norms. This is done through institutions, agencies,
authorities such as schools, ministries, the media, cultural establishments, etc. In fact, the standard language
comes to be regarded not just as the best form of the language, but as the language itself (eg consider the claim
that Mandarin is Chinese in Singapore). The other varieties are then dialects, which tend implicitly to get
stigmatised as lesser forms, associated with the not too highly regarded people, who are seen as less educated,
slovenly, uncouth, etc.
Elaboration

For the variety selected to represent the desired norms, it must be able to discharge a whole range of functions
that it may be called upon to discharge, including abstract, intellectual functions. Where it lacks resources to do
so, these are developed. Thus a standard language is often characterised as possessing ‘maximal variation in
function, minimal variation in form’.

Codification
The norms and rules of grammar, use, etc. Which govern the variety selected have to be formulated, and set
down definitively in grammars, dictionaries, spellers, manuals of style, texts, etc.

#Why create a standard?

1. Commonality: the notion of it being a lingua franca among speakers of divergent dialects. Shared code
neutralized

2. Prestige: the notion of it being the ‘best’, ‘proper’ or ‘correct’ and set apart from other regional and social
dialects. It is also used in highly regarded writing. High social status
Ex RP Standard BE linguistic hygiene innately more accurate
MSA = qur'anic Arabic

3. Prescriptivism: it is the version that is set in grammar books, dictionaries and style guides
(therefore codified) and the version of the language taught. Official language, education, linguistic landscaping
4. Yardstick or benchmark: it begins to serve as the point of reference when comparing dialects. Reference
point
5. Formality: Standard English is used in formal, official, and situations where we are expected to be polite
(e.g. speaking to authority, in emails, in law and politics, speaking to a neighbour or relative you haven't seen for
years, etc.). We are more likely to use non-standard English in informal situations, such as speaking to our best
friends or siblings, writing funny text messages, memes, etc.
• 6. Diglossia ( high and low varieties)

#Standard varieties
• 1.Standard 2. Diglossia 3.Official 4. Lingua franca 5.Formal

#Non-standard varieties:
• Non-standard means all other varieties of a language that are not standard. It often contains
slang and is used in more informal situations.
• Slang
• Colloquial local dialect
• Vernacular native code
• Ethnic varieties
Informal use ---------- Levels of language ------------ Formal use

Lecture (10) – Diglossia, linguistics choice.

"The twenty-three countries in which Arabic is an official language have been described as
diglossic speech communities i.e., Communities in which two varieties of a single language exist
side by side. The official language is usually MSA, but there is usually at least one prestigious
vernacular that is spoken in each country." (Bassiouney 2009:29)
# Chronological discussion of theories about diglossia:
• Ferguson 1959
• Blanc (1960), Badawi (1973) and Meiseles (1980)
• Fasold 1995
• Myers-Scotton 1998 b.
• Bassiouney 2009
#Ferguson 1959
•Diglossia is a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary dialects of
the language (which may include a standard or regional standards), there is a very divergent,
highly codified (often grammatically more complex) superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and
respected body of written literature, either of an earlier period or in another speech community,
which is learned largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken
purposes but is not used by any sector of the community for ordinary conversation. (Ferguson
1972 [1959]: 345)
•H and L varieties must be in complimentary distribution, functionally.
•Ferguson did not distinguish between the two types of H varieties in Arabic: Quranic Arabic and
MSA.
• Did not discuss the sociolinguistic significance of the switch.
#Fasold 1995
• How far apart should H and L varieties be?
• There are many shortcomings of feurguson's definition of diglossia.

#Intermediate levels and not two ends

• Blanc (1960), Badawi (1973) and Meiseles (1980) proposed the existence of intermediate levels
between H and L.
• This might provide a more accurate description of the situation in the Arab world. "Thus, they
recognised that people shift between H and L, especially when speaking, but often they do not
shift the whole way, resulting in levels which are neither fully H nor fully L. " (Bassiouney 2009:33).
#Myers-Scotton 1998
• Myers-Scotton's model of a matrix language third theory that attempts to identify constraints on
the process of codeswitching is the hypothesis that there is normally a base language during the
process of switching.
#Bassiouney 2009
• "Diglossia can, in my opinion, be studied within the framework of code-switching, since
switching can occur not only between different languages, but also between different varieties of
the same language, as mentioned above. So rather than use the term 'diglossic switching' to refer
to switching between MSA and the different vernaculars, one can use the term 'code-switching'
for that purpose." (Bassiouney 2009:50)
•As Mejdell posits, code-switching 'should be understood in a broad context to encompass both
varieties and different languages, (Mejdell 2006: 418)
•Agrees with Myers-Scotton's theory of Matrix language ML.
#Important distinctions:
•H and L varieties versus standard versus prestigious.
•H versus standard.
•H versus prestigious.
• Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)
•Educated standard Arabic (ESA)
• Standardization
•Levelling
•MSA
•CA
•SA
#Constraints on diglossia
• Code switching is not random but rule-governed:
-Structural constraints
-Discourse functions (sociolinguistic motivations) "If we approach code-switching as a discourse-
related phenomenon, then we have to assume that it has sociolinguistic motivations. These
motivations cannot be understood in terms of syntactic constraints only, although syntactic
constraints are still crucial in that they govern where switching might take place. " (Bassiouney
2009:48).

#Difference between code-switching and diglossia

• Definitions of code-switching: code switching or code-mixing.
• Code versus language or variety mixing or switching.

#Diglossia and neurolinguistics

• Language duality is not a problem but an innate ability. It is an accurate reflection of a duality
that exists in all of us, a duality between our mundane daily life and our spiritual one. Naj- ib
Mah.fu-z., Nobel Prize winner for literature 1988, in a letter to Luwi-s Awad

#Groups of dialects in the Arab world

"There is more than one choice of approach to classifying dialects. One can use a synchronic approach
classification, which is made by measuring and selecting salient linguistic variables for each dialect or
group of dialects (Palva 2006: 604). ... On the other hand, one can also use a sociological,
anthropological and historical approach which takes into consideration the division between Bedouin
and sedentary dialects in the Arab world (Palva 2006: 605). The division in terms of Bedouin and
sedentary reflects the historical settlements in the area as well as the language shift and change that
have been taking place. Sedentary dialects could be further divided into rural and urban." (Bassiouney
2009:38)

#Regional dialects of Arabic

• Versteegh (2001: 145) distinguishes between fi ve groups of regional dialects in the Arab world:12
1. Dialects of the Arabian peninsula, which are spoken in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf area
2. Mesopotamian dialects, which are spoken in Iraq
3. Syro-Lebanese dialects, which are spoken in Lebanon and Syria
4. Egyptian dialects, spoken in Egypt
5. Maghreb dialects, spoken in North Africa

Lecture 11-Linguistic variation and change

#Important concepts in linguistic variation
• Linguistic variable
• Social variables
• The study of linguistic variation (three waves of variation)
• Synchronic variation
• Diachronic change
• Indexicality and social meaning
• Salience of variables and indexicality
• Social markers, stereotypes and indicators
• Communities of practice

# A sociolinguistic variable, according to Milroy (1987: 10), is ‘a linguistic element (phonological usually, in
practice) which co-varies not only with other linguistic elements, but also with a number of extra-linguistic
independent variables such as social class, age, sex, ethnic group, or contextual style’.
Examples:
Phonological variation:
/q/ /qal/, /gal/, /kal/,/ʔal/
Lexical variation:
‫ خاشوقه‬،‫ملعقه‬
Syntactic variation:
Subject verb agreement in gender.
‫انا جوعان‬
‫انا جوعانه‬
Or for both genders
‫انا جوعان‬
Another way to consider linguistic variables is whether they are i. stable or ii,
undergoing change.

#Social variables or sociolinguistic variables

Examples:

1. social class,

2. age,

3. sex,

4. ethnic group,

5. religion,

6. urbanization,

7. social mobility,

8. attitudes,

9. region,

10. cultural context,

11. contextual style

12. Tribal affiliations

#The three waves of variation:

“The first wave of variation studies established broad correlations between linguistic variables and the
macrosociological categories of socioeconomic class, sex, class, ethnicity, and age. The second wave
employed ethnographic methods to explore the local categories and configurations that inhabit, or
constitute, these broader categories. In both waves, variation was seen as marking social categories.
…the third wave, arguing that (a) variation constitutes a robust social semiotic system, potentially
expressing the full range of social concerns in a given community; (b) the meanings of variables are
underspecified, gaining more specific meanings in the context of styles, and (c) variation does not
simply reflect, but also constructs, social meaning and hence is a force in social change.” (Eckert 2012:
87).

# Indexicality and social meaning

A sociolinguistic variable is a linguistic feature which varies in its use according to different social factors.
Certain sociolinguistic variables are treated consciously others unconsciously, as socially diagnostic, meaning
that members of society make an association (conscious or unconscious) between the use of such a variable
by a speaker and the social group to which the speaker using that variable belongs.

1. Social stereotype:
(a) A language feature that speakers of a variety can consciously identify and comment on.
(b) This language feature usually illustrate social stratification (e.g. sharp class differences) in their use.
2. Social marker:
(a) A linguistic feature which usage correlates both with a social group and with a specific speech style; and
NS of a variety are usually aware of such forms and their group associations but do not comment overtly on
them. Example: variation in use of –in’/-ing in speech.
(b) Another property of social markers is that they show a gradient social stratification, in other
words no sharp distinction among classes in their use, cf. mean r-dropping in the speech of
New York City (Labov 1966).
3. Social indicator:
(a) A socially diagnostic linguistic feature which correlates with social stratification or social group,
but which shows no variation across different styles of speaking.
(b) Speakers do not seem to be aware of such forms and make no overt comment on them.
Examples of certain aspects of the Northern Cities Shift. Ben pronounced as bun, busses
pronounced as bosses.

#Social groupings, variation and linguistic change

1. Social class approach (labov)
2. Social network approach (Milroy)
3. Community of practice approach (Eckert)

Lecture (13) -All about variables

#The definition of linguistic Variable

“It begins with the simple act of noticing a variation – that there are two alternative ways of saying the same
thing” [1]
Labov’s quote here is pretty self-explanatory of what sociolinguistic variation is: it is simply different words,
sounds and language people use to explain the same thing.
An abstract representation of a linguistic form or structure that might be realized by more than one option,
depending on social factors and the associated social meanings. This is called a variable.
Each of the options that people may use are called variants of the variable.
The easiest variables to notice are phonological ones, like /q/ as in the word “ ‫ ”قلم‬. The first sound, /q/, varies
as /q,k,ǧ,Ǧ/ according to many social variables like region, gender, covert prestige, masculinity etc.
The sound /q/ is the phonological variable
The options / q,k,ǧ,Ǧ/ are called variants of the variable.

Labov´s principles and assumptions about language variation and change:

1)Basic assumption: Linguistic variation is systematic and not random, it is also socially determined.
2)Speakers are in a double bind: on the one hand they show an identification with their locality through the
use of a local variety of language. On the other hand they aspire to social acceptability and hence in their
speech they move towards the standard of their area.
3)Surreptitious interview methods mean that the observers paradox is minimised. (N.B.: The observer´s
paradox maintains that the linguistic behaviour of informants changes under observation, usually because
people then talk the way they think the linguist wants them to).
#Form versus function
One challenge we might face as we are trying to understand what a variable is and how users of a language
use one variant or the other is are variants, actually, different ways of saying the same thing?
Do different variants really serve the same function?
Here comes the important concept of “social meaning” or “indexicality”.
Most likely, variants have different connotations, social meaning indices.
For example,
Whether we say /galam/ or /kalam/ indicate different regional affiliations, or even ethnicities. Here
Palestinian versus jordanian.
Another example, lexical variation, is whether you salute people saying: “hi”, /marħaba/ or “‫”السالم عليكم‬
These variants suggest different religious connotations, and social status.

#Examples of phonological variables from Arabic

1. /ð/ as in the middle sound in the word “‫”هذا‬

The variable is /ð/
The variables are
/d/ as in ‫هدا‬, / ɖ/ emphatic /d/ ‫هاض‬the emphatic / ð/ as in ‫هاظ‬
2. /θ/ as in the name ‫هيثم‬
/ ɦɑʝθɑɱ/
The variables are /ϴ/ and /s/ as in ‫هيسم‬
3. The variable /q/ , ‫قلم‬
#Co-variation
• The realization of a linguistic variable is not a matter of either or. There is no one choice in a
certain situation but there are preferences rooted in social factors.
• This fact is called co-variation.
• Moreover, the occurrence of one variant over the other is probabilistic and not deterministic.
Even in cases with stable variables with very salient social indices.
P.S
Variation occurs at all levels of language i.e., phonology, morphology, syntax, lexical\

# Defining the linguistic variable

But how do we spot a potential linguistic variable?
1. The linguistic phenomenon needs to be variable , to start with. That is, there must be choices to
say, more or less, the same thing using different linguistic choices. If there is no choice like in
allophones or allomorphs, where there is an either-or situation, this is deterministic, meaning
that we do not really have a choice.
2. A variable should be relatively “frequent”, that is it occurs fairly enough times in authentic
speech. For example, in English we can notice the syntactic variable: “negation”. One variant is
normally formed negation, “I do not know”, versus double negation as in “ I did not understand a
thing”, or even triple negation as in African American vernacular (AMV) “ I did not do nothing at
all.”
3. A variable should have some immunity to social judgement, that is, it needs to be an integral
aspect of a community of speech’s common knowledge and there need to be a consensus, even
if people are unaware of it, about the connotations of the variants of a variable.
4. The variable must be quantifiable, that is we can count instances of variants.
5. There must be some sort of social meaning associated with variant choice.

#Variation in language is systematic, rule-governed and not free.

-Constraints on variation
-Linguistic and non linguistic
• circumscribing the variable context”
variationist study has two ways of looking at data: (1) the distribution of forms and (2) the identification
of the linguistic function of each form.
or “the envelope of variation” (Milroy and Gordon 2003: 180). This task requires that the analyst identify the
total pool of utterances in which the feature varies.
#The principle of accountability:
in LVC research it is critical to know how a variant is influenced by a particular type of context compared
to another. This requires knowing the distribution of a feature (variant) out of the total number of
contexts where it could have occurred but did not. This is how correlations are established
dialect differentiation → social and stylistic differentiation → metalinguistic commentary
indicator, marker, stereotype

How do we study variation:

1. Quantification of variation
2. frequency
3. Index score
4. Tokens
5. Patterns