Entry 11- Yule
Chapter 18
Language has many variations, especially in the spoken way, and it is
possible to find different varieties inside the countries; the study of this is
called linguistic geography.
The standard language is “ ideal”
variety of one language since it does not have an specific region and it is
associated with administrative, commercial and educational purposes. The
vocavulary, spelling and grammar tend to the ideal form used in written
language. Teachers teach this “ kind” of English, as if it was neutral.
Although, we try to speak this English, all of us have our own accent which could be subtle or less noticiable . Accent is the aspect of
the pronpunciationthat identifies where an individual speaker is from ( region
or social). Whereas, dialect describes
features of grammar and vocavulary and pronounciation as well. There are some regional dialects that have stereotyped
pronounciation asssociated with them. The region has a significant importance
since the speech of those people living in certain areas would defined a
tendency and would be “devided” by those differences . Those boundaries are
called isoglosses; it is a line that represents a boundary between
the areas with regard to that one particular linguistic item. When
a number of issoglosses come together in a more solid line, which can be drawn,
the it is called dialect
boundary. If the dialect or
language variety merges into another, then this regional variation is a dialect
continuum rather than being a sharp break from one region to the next one. Political
boundaries- from one country to another- may not be enough to make dialects
different, they , in fact, will be similar because they are located next to the
other. The people who use different varieties
of languages with easeness are called bidialectal . Most of us share this characteristic because we speak
in different ways according to whom we are talking to: family, friends or in
the school. But, if we refer to a person who can speak two languages ( not
dialects) then, they are called bilingual. Bilingualism
tends to be a feature of the minority groups in order to take part of a
dominant community; a way of belonging. Those minority groups can live out
their lives without ever seeing their native language appear in a public domain.
However, individual bilingualism does not have to be a political dominance as it happens with minority groups. The reason
could be that the individuals have two parents that speak different languages.
Diglossia is called when there are
two distinct variety of a
language; there is a low variety
acquired locally and used for everyday affairs and a special variety learned in schools for important matters.
Many countries are monolingual, they are capable of speaking one language , as
USA. However, it is not like this same
for others who live in there because English is not their first language
in their community as it happens in
Texas. Instead Spanish might be the first language.
In
some areas, the standars chosen may be a variety tha originally had no native
speakers in the country, this kind of contact, pidgin , began many years ago.
It is a variety of a language that was developed for a practical purpose:
trading among groups that had contact
but who did know each other`s language. It does not have native
speakers. On the other side, there are
descendents from pidgins who developed its “language”, beyond the trade
purpose, and make the pidgin their own first and more complex language , it is
called creoles.
The development of this evolution, from pidgin to creole, is known as creolization. Otherwise , the tendency
of using the forms and structures fewer of creole ( since this trend means belonging to education and greater prestige) is known as decreolization.
Chapter 19
Chapter 19
“A speech
community is a group of people who share a set of norms and
expectation regarding te use language”. The important features are the region, educational and
economic status. When a community such as a working class group , we can refer to a
working class speech , thou we are talking
about social dialect or sociolect; a social dialect may vary
according to feaatures such as pronounciation, words or structures that are
regularlyused in one form by working-class speakers and in another form by
middle class speakers: the class is a social variable and pronounciation or words
are linguistic
variables.
Each of us have an individual way
of speaking, a personal dialect: idiolect . It is the tendency to sound like
others with whom we share similar educational backgrounds or occupations. Among
those who leave the educational system or the ones that did not, there is a
general pattern of using certain forms. Social markers are the features that occure
frecquently in your speech that marks as a member of a particular social group, weather you realize it or not. For
instance a social marker is [h] dropping which is associated with the working
class. Speech style is another social
feauture of language use which can be distinguished between formal or careful
attention and informal use. The change
from one style to another s called style-shifting ;
middle class speakers are more likely to shift their style significantly in the
direction of the upper middle class when they are using a careful style. If the
change is in the direction of a form that is more frecquent in the speech of those perceived to have
higher social status ,then it refers to overt prestige, which is recognized as more valuable in
the larger community. On the
contratry, if the certain groups do no change then, it is covert prestige. The reasons is that those groups feel that the features
of their language are valuable and let them
disguish as a group that they are pleased to belong .Speech
accomodation is the ability to modify our speech style away or towards from the
perceived atyle of the person we are talking to. We adopt this ability in order
to reduce social distances . On the other hand, if it is used to emphasize
social distances it is called divergence.
Register is a conventional way of
using language that is appropriate in a specific context , occupational or
topical. Jargon
is special technical vocabulary associated with a specific area of work but slang is used among those who are outside
established a higher status groups.
It describes phrases or words that are used instead of more
everyday terms among younger speakers or groups with special interests. Slang
is subject to fashion, to adolescents, to a
group that shares ideas or attitudes
as a way of satnding out. The expressions of slang can be out of fashion (grow old) and may
varies within the younger groups .
Chapter 20
Culture is a broad term, but in this
case we mean the ideas or assumptions that we learn when we become members of a
social group and we initially acquire it without being aware of it. Each
culture may or not have certain terms or words that other cultures do not
share. There might be words that do not exist since the object does not exist ( horses). There are conceptual distinctions that are lexicalized , expressed as a single word.in one
language and are not in others. Not only
do words express phisical things but also, they express abstract issues such
as time, amounts that vary according to each culture.
Linguistic relativity
is discussed when the structe of our language , must have an influence on how
we perceive the world. We talk and think about the world of experience using categories provided by our language,
which seems to shape our habitual thoughts. Whereas linguistic
determinism supports the idea that the language determains
thoughts, we are able to think in the categories that the are provided by the
lg.
We inherit a language to report
knowledge, so we would expect that language to influence the organization of
our knowledge in some way. We also inherit the ability to manipulate and be
creative with the language in order to
create our perceptions: we are determined by language, then the concept of
language change would be impossible.
Human manipulates the language, not the other way around.
There are cognitive categories such as animate
and inanimate which tells us something about
a traditional belief system or a way of thinking. The classifiers indicate the type of class of noun
involved, they are also used in connection with numbers to indicate the type of
thing being counted. Another disticntion , for instance in English, is that
there are things treated as countable or non-countable.
Adress term refers to a word or phrase
for the person being talked or written to. If the relation between the
participants is close , then the adress term would be one especific ; for
instance “Sir” is used to indicate an
unequal relationship in power. Another example is when refering to a married
women (Mrs),will be different from a single lady (Miss). So, there are
categories based on gender . The classifications are Biological
(male-female), grammatical (masculine- femenine) and social gender which
classifies individuals in term of their social role. There is a disctintion in
certain words that are used only by men an other used only by women ( in
portuguese: obrigada/o). Other point to consider , apart from gendered words
such as words that are “machovinist” like firemen, is the gendered speech which
focuses on the pitch movement: it describes the effect of vocal
vibrations. Women use a rising intonation and the question tag form in order
to look for or show agreement, whereas men use more assertive forms and direct
speech. They also take longer turns speaking. They do not use back-channels as women do. The use of word –really?-
or sounds –hmm- give the impression that the interlocutor is paying attention.
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