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Why does everyone acknowledge regional differences?
There are differences at even the level of formal language
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Why are there differences in formal languages?
- Different places/varieties est. by different people with different backgrounds
- Barriers/isolation let langs develop differently
- Different varieties are in contact with different langs
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Rough timeline of English
- 450 AD different parts of England settled/conquered by Germanic tribes/regions (Angles, Saxons, Mutes)
- 800-1000 North influenced by Norse invaders
- 1066 onward: French influence (esp. in uppercase)
- Later London/Oxford/Cambridge become the prestige dialect which influences others
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The spread of English happened mostly in
The post 1500's colonization/exploration period
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The spread of English in Ireland
Normans, then upper class through land confiscation
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The spread of English in Scotland
Very distinct local variety, maybe moves closer to England English once they share royalty
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The Spread of English in Newfoundland and Caribbean
Came from the settling of mostly SW English and SE Irish
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North American mainland
- East Anglia
- Southern England
- Northern England, N. Ireland
- US midland, New England
- The dialects spread west and the boundaries blur
- Some other inputs (Scots English in Cape Breton Island)
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Southern England
US coastal south midland
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Northern England, N. Ireland
Appalachia
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US midland, New England
Central Canada
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Southern English varieties
- Australia, New Zealand, South Africa
- Largely settle from southern England with some other inputs (Scots English in Southern New Zealand)
- Differences developed due to separation
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Circles of English
- Associated with Bram Kachru but not everyone finds the distinctions useful
- Consists of inner, outer and expanding circle
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Inner circle of English
US, Canada, England, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, countries where English is the official Lang/the first Lang of most people
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Outer circle of English
Former colonies of UK or US where English still plays a main role despite not being the first language of most
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Expanding circle of English
Places where English plays a role as a foreign or shared language
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Differences in regional English
- Pronunciation: especially vowels
- Occasional grammatical differences: I have just eaten vs I just ate
- Many lexical (word) differences
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Types of isolation
Physical, linguistic or social
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Physical isolation
- Actual barriers to travel
- Newfoundland English: Big island in N. Atlantic
- Retention of traditional language features: I loves it, I'm after hearing that
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Linguistic isolation
- Islands of language in a sea of another
- Québec French is surrounded by English
- Retains traditional features
- Some effects of contact with English
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Social isolation
- Prejudice, distrust and difference
- African Nova Scotian English: limited integration between African English and whites
- Retains traditional features
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Other factors that may reinforce isolation
- Limited education, media
- Limited in-migration- nobody bringing in innovations from "home" community
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Social meaning of space
Difference between how people think about space and "real" (Euclidean) space
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Some places seem "closer"
- Easier to get to, similar
- These are expected to have more linguistic sharing
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Some places seem 'further"
- Physical, social, linguistic boundaries causing isolation
- It seems different, we see their inhabitants ants different from "us"
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"Distinct" areas and dialect are
- Named
- Attributed particular characteristics
- Often inhabitants are socially distinct
- An area (and its dialect) can become perceived as distinct-Enregisterment
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Enregisterment
Linguistics formed become linked with social meaning
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When do particular dialects become important or noticed?
- When the region needs/wants to mark itself off
- -Distinct from neighboring and immigrant dialects
- -Fear of losing identity
- When people migrate from on region to another
- -Southern to Northern US
- -Differences are noted
- -Migrants are often poor/stigmatized
- -Migrant neighborhoods-chinatowns
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Dialect leveling
- Dialects in contact
- Distinctive features disappear
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Supra-local features
Speakers of small dialects adopt features from the nearest large city
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"Dying" dialects
- Often talked about, but they're really just changing
- -Some features die out without the dialect leveling with others
- Sometimes local features make a comeback
- 1855 people thought the telegraph and steam engine would wipe out dialects entirely
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Rhotic
A term used to describe English dialects where the /r/ following a vowel is pronounced. Also known as r-ful
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Lexical set
A way of identifying vowels using a set of words where they occur as opposed to a linguistic symbol
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Monophthongs
A pure vowel sound, spoken in a single place of articulation, with no change in quality, for example bat as a opposed to bite
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Canadian Raising
A phonological process found in Canadian English (and some other varieties) where the MOUTH and PRICE vowels are pronounced differently when preceding a voiceless consonant in the same syllable, in words like hike and stout
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Shibboleth
When the pronunciation of a single word becomes a stereotype of a speech community, such as Jamaicans saying mon instead of man
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After perfect
A grammatical means of describing a (usually recent) completed event in Irish (and consequently Newfoundland) English
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Reified
Made into a concrete thing
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Covert prestige
A norm or target that speakers unconsciously orient to, with a sort of hidden positive evaluation that speakers give to other (presumably non-standard) forms. The linguistic equivalent of street cred
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Crossing
When speakers use language features or linguistic styles associated with another ethnic group
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Dialectology
The study of regional differences in language
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NORMS
An acronym for "Non-Mobile Older Rural Males" These speakers are believed to have retained the most traditional speech and are consequently the focus of many dialectology studies
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Isogloss
An imaginary boundary or line drawn on a map that separates particular ling features, like the line across England separating northerners who pronounce STRUT and FOOT vowels roughly the same from southerners who dont
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Isogloss bundle
Many isoglosses occurring in the same area, likely representing a major dialect boundary
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