Dialects: Variations in English Language
The
following blog contains a brief overview about dialects, includes information
about regional and social dialects, the Standard English, the African American
and the Chicano English.
Dialects
Dialects
can convey differences in ethnicity, geography, demographics, class, education,
and culture. The differences can be found also in pronunciation, diction, and syntax.
(Arlene Prunkl/penultimateword.com)
The dialects of
English are often divided by linguists into three general categories: the British Isles dialects, those of North
America, and those of Australasia. Our focus in this blog is the dialects
from North America, specifically from the United States of America.
- Cultural and ethnic American English: African American Vernacular English (Ebonics), Cajun Vernacular English, Hawaiian
Pidgin, Latino
Vernacular English: Chicano
English and Miami English, Pennsylvania Dutch English, and Yeshiva
English.
- Regional and local American English: Eastern New England, Southeast super-region, New York
City, Northern, Western, and Western Pennsylvania
(Pittsburgh).
Dialects of the USA
(Delaney, Robert 2000)
A dialect
continuum is when dialects merge into each other, there is no a major break
between them because they reflect almost the same underlying grammars and
lexicons. Dialect leveling is
movement toward greater uniformity
and less variation among dialects. Developments in communication
(social media and technology) and the effects of urbanization have contributed
to dialect leveling.
When
speakers are in regular contact they share the linguistic properties of their
dialect, and it is also transmitted to their children. When in communication we
have a physical or social barrier, linguistic changes do not spread so easily,
and the differences between groups may be reinforced and increased in number.
American English
American English (AE) is the set of varieties
of the English language native to the United States of America. The
use of English in the United States is a result of British colonization of the Americas,
and since then, American English has developed into different dialects, in some
cases under the influence of other languages of the successive waves of
immigrants to the United States.
All
speakers of American English speak a dialect of American English; American
English includes regional and social dialects. A regional dialect is
spoken in one particular area of a country. "In contrast to a regional
dialect, a social dialect is a variety of a language
spoken by a particular group based on social characteristics other than
geography." (Jeff Siegel, Second
Dialect Acquisition, Cambridge University Press, 2010). These
dialects are spoken by members of the same social group regardless of their
location. Examples may include: Standard English, African American English, and
Chicano English.
Regional Dialects
Most
dialectal differences in the U.S. are based on geographic region. (Andy Sacks/Getty
Images)
Regional dialects across the USA and their
transitional areas (The
Atlas of North American English,
Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2005.)
Regional dialects differ in three
aspects: pronunciation (phonological
differences), lexical or vocabulary choices
(lexical differences), and syntactic
rules (syntactic differences).
There are many phonological differences among dialects of American English; the
pronunciation differs in systematic ways. For example, some people pronounce
Mary, merry, and marry the same; others pronounce the three words differently
as [meri], [mɛry], and [mæry]; and still others may pronounce just two of them
the same. Regional dialects differ in some of the words people may use for the
same object, those are lexical
differences. For example, if you ask for a tonic in Boston, you may get a drink that is called soda or soda pop in Los Angeles; you cover your ice cream cones in New York
with sprinkles and in Boston with jimmies.
Lexical differences occur when people from different
regional dialects use different words to name the same object. (Internet
webcomic.com Images)
Dialects can
also be distinguished by syntactic
differences. For example, in the Ozark dialect of southern Missouri they
may conjoined the sentence "John will eat and Mary will eat." as
"John will eat and Mary." Some dialects permit double modals, while
most of them may contain no more than one modal. Despite such differences,
speakers are able to understand speakers of other English dialects because the
differences between them are minor when we compared their whole grammar, they
share most rules and vocabulary and that is why they are mutually intelligible.
Social
Dialects
Social
dialects are determined by social factors, they may be based on socioeconomic
status, religious, ethnic, and racial differences, country of origin, and even
gender. Are varieties which reflect people's social backgrounds.
Dialects
may be associated not only with place (regional dialects), but also with
particular social groups. There will often be a form of the language considered
as a dialect.
In
this blog we will consider the following social dialects:
Standard
American English (SAE)
The Standard English is the
English dialect that is used in news broadcast. (CNN News images)
Standard American
English (SAE) is
the target variety of English taught in education. It is also the
language of the wider communities, media, and government, often associated with
the more educated
layers of society.
African
American English (AAE)
The African American English is a social dialect that
is used by many African Americans, includes systematic and functional rules,
and also has a system with patterns of: grammar, vocabulary and phonology.
(Westfricalifestyle.com Images)
The
African American English (AAE) is the social dialect that is spoken by a large
population of Americans of African descendent. It is used in casual and
informal speech, by working-class people. This dialect has been a victim of
prejudicial ignorance, and has stigma. Many critics states that this dialect is
deficient, illogical and incomplete, related to people with inferior genetic
intelligence or cultural deprivation.
Characteristics of the African American English
Phonological Differences
- ·
r-
Deletion: Some speakers of AAE have a rule of r- deletion that
deletes /r/ everywhere except before a vowel.
They also delete the past-tense morpheme, and simplify consonant
clusters at the end of words.
- ·
Neutralization
of [I ] and [ɛ] before nasal
consonants: AAE has a lack of distinction between [I ] and [ɛ] before nasal consonants,
producing identical pronunciations of pin
and pen, bin and Ben and so on.
- ·
Diphthong
reduction: AAE applies a rule that reduces the diptong /ɔI/ before
/I/ to the simple vowel [ɔ] without the glide. Example: Boy is pronounced [bɔ].
- ·
Loss
of interdental fricatives: AAE changes /θ/ to /f/ and /ð/ to /v/ at the ends of
syllables. Example: Ruth is pronounced [ruf].
Syntactical Differences
- ·
Multiple
negatives: The multiple negatives of AAE are governed by syntax
rules and are not ilogical; they have constructions that are commonly found in
many languages of the world. Example: He don't know nothing.
- ·
Deletion
of the verb Be: African American English sentences delete the verb be
instead of using contractions. Example: She nice - "She is or She's
nice".
- How beautiful they – "How beautiful they are or
they're" / He gonna do it - "He is going to do it."
- ·
Habitual
Be: An uninflected form of be is used referring to habitual
state, these ungrammatical sentences are caused by a conflict of the habitual
vs. momentary meaning conveyed by at the moment, this time, and today.
- Example: Jim be happy - "Jim is always
happy" / Jim happy - "Jim is happy now, at the moment."
- ·
There
Replacement: Replace there with it's in positive sentences. Example:
It's a fly messing with me, instead of "There's a fly messing with
me."
Chicano English (ChE)
Is
a social dialect that belongs to the Latino or Hispanic English, it is spoken
by native Spanish speakers or their descendants. ChE is spoken by many Mexican
Americans in the Southwest and California. Chicano English is acquired by many
children as a first language, constituting the native language of hundreds of
thousands of Americans.
Chicano English is acquired by
many children as a first language, constituting the native language of hundreds
of thousands of Americans.
ChE includes sociolinguistic variables that means
linguistic differences may vary depending on the social situation of the
speaker. Example: Double negations are associated with ethnicity or pride. Many
of their speakers are bidialectal; they
can use either ChE or SAE, depending on the social situation.
Characteristics of the Chicano English
Phonological Variables of ChE
- ·
Chicano
speakers whose native language is Spanish may substitute the Spanish vowel
system for the English (e.g., rid
is pronounced like read).
- ·
Affricates
and fricatives are interchanged (e.g., Shook
is pronounced as if spelled with a ch).
- ·
Word
final cluster reduction (e.g., War
and ward are pronounced as war).
Syntactic Variables in ChE
- ·
In Spanish, negative sentences use a negative morpheme
before the verb even if there is another negative word, is a regular rule of
ChE syntax. Example: I don't want anything. (SAE) / I no want nothing. (ChE)
Bibliography
·
Aschmann, R. (October 06, 2017). North American
English Dialects, Bases on Pronunciation Patterns. http://aschmann.net/AmEng/
Dialects
Dialects of the USA
(Delaney, Robert 2000)
American English
Regional Dialects
Most
dialectal differences in the U.S. are based on geographic region. (Andy Sacks/Getty
Images)
Regional dialects differ in three
aspects: pronunciation (phonological
differences), lexical or vocabulary choices
(lexical differences), and syntactic
rules (syntactic differences).
There are many phonological differences among dialects of American English; the
pronunciation differs in systematic ways. For example, some people pronounce
Mary, merry, and marry the same; others pronounce the three words differently
as [meri], [mɛry], and [mæry]; and still others may pronounce just two of them
the same. Regional dialects differ in some of the words people may use for the
same object, those are lexical
differences. For example, if you ask for a tonic in Boston, you may get a drink that is called soda or soda pop in Los Angeles; you cover your ice cream cones in New York
with sprinkles and in Boston with jimmies.
Lexical differences occur when people from different
regional dialects use different words to name the same object. (Internet
webcomic.com Images)
Dialects can
also be distinguished by syntactic
differences. For example, in the Ozark dialect of southern Missouri they
may conjoined the sentence "John will eat and Mary will eat." as
"John will eat and Mary." Some dialects permit double modals, while
most of them may contain no more than one modal. Despite such differences,
speakers are able to understand speakers of other English dialects because the
differences between them are minor when we compared their whole grammar, they
share most rules and vocabulary and that is why they are mutually intelligible.
Social
Dialects
Social
dialects are determined by social factors, they may be based on socioeconomic
status, religious, ethnic, and racial differences, country of origin, and even
gender. Are varieties which reflect people's social backgrounds.
Standard
American English (SAE)
The Standard English is the
English dialect that is used in news broadcast. (CNN News images)
The SAE
is a prestige dialect that constitutes an idealization because all speakers of
American English speak a dialect of American English. Some speakers'
dialect is closer to SAE, but it still may have accent or distinctive
features. In addition, most people control more than one dialect as the
result of schooling, social contact, working or relocation. Dialects are simply
different, none of them are better or superior than the others, any social
judgment about superiority or inferiority has not a scientific basis.
African
American English (AAE)
Characteristics of the African American English
- · r- Deletion: Some speakers of AAE have a rule of r- deletion that deletes /r/ everywhere except before a vowel. They also delete the past-tense morpheme, and simplify consonant clusters at the end of words.
- · Neutralization of [I ] and [ɛ] before nasal consonants: AAE has a lack of distinction between [I ] and [ɛ] before nasal consonants, producing identical pronunciations of pin and pen, bin and Ben and so on.
- · Diphthong reduction: AAE applies a rule that reduces the diptong /ɔI/ before /I/ to the simple vowel [ɔ] without the glide. Example: Boy is pronounced [bɔ].
- · Loss of interdental fricatives: AAE changes /θ/ to /f/ and /ð/ to /v/ at the ends of syllables. Example: Ruth is pronounced [ruf].
- · Multiple negatives: The multiple negatives of AAE are governed by syntax rules and are not ilogical; they have constructions that are commonly found in many languages of the world. Example: He don't know nothing.
- · Deletion of the verb Be: African American English sentences delete the verb be instead of using contractions. Example: She nice - "She is or She's nice".
- How beautiful they – "How beautiful they are or they're" / He gonna do it - "He is going to do it."
- · Habitual Be: An uninflected form of be is used referring to habitual state, these ungrammatical sentences are caused by a conflict of the habitual vs. momentary meaning conveyed by at the moment, this time, and today.
- Example: Jim be happy - "Jim is always happy" / Jim happy - "Jim is happy now, at the moment."
- · There Replacement: Replace there with it's in positive sentences. Example: It's a fly messing with me, instead of "There's a fly messing with me."
Chicano English (ChE)
Chicano English is acquired by
many children as a first language, constituting the native language of hundreds
of thousands of Americans.
ChE includes sociolinguistic variables that means
linguistic differences may vary depending on the social situation of the
speaker. Example: Double negations are associated with ethnicity or pride. Many
of their speakers are bidialectal; they
can use either ChE or SAE, depending on the social situation.
Characteristics of the Chicano English
Phonological Variables of ChE
- · Chicano speakers whose native language is Spanish may substitute the Spanish vowel system for the English (e.g., rid is pronounced like read).
- · Affricates and fricatives are interchanged (e.g., Shook is pronounced as if spelled with a ch).
- · Word final cluster reduction (e.g., War and ward are pronounced as war).
Syntactic Variables in ChE
- · In Spanish, negative sentences use a negative morpheme before the verb even if there is another negative word, is a regular rule of ChE syntax. Example: I don't want anything. (SAE) / I no want nothing. (ChE)
Bibliography
·
Aschmann, R. (October 06, 2017). North American
English Dialects, Bases on Pronunciation Patterns. http://aschmann.net/AmEng/
·
Culpeper, J. (2005). History of
English (2nd ed.). Routledge.
·
Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams,
N. (s.f.). An Introduction to Language (10th ed.).
·
International Dialects of English
Archive. (s.f.). Recover from
http://www.dialectsarchive.com/
·
Labov, W., Ash, S., & Boberg, C.
(2005). Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology and Sound
Change. Mouton de Gruyter.
·
Norquist, R. (April 25, 2017). ThoughtCo. Recover from https://www.thoughtco.com/regional-dialect-1691905
·
Siegel, J. (2010). Second Dialect
Acquisition. Cambridge University Press.
 |
| Norma Yamileth Cuestas Student of the Foreign Language Program of the UNAH |
 |
| Vanessa Alejandra Lizardo Student of the Foreign Languages Program of the UNAH |
 |
Indira Paola Matute DDS and student of the Foreign Languages Program of the UNAH |
 |
| Maria José Lovo Student of the Foreign Languages Program of the UNAH |
Dialects: Variations in English Language video
Semantic map
Useful links:
- · A national map of the regional dialects of American English
- · IDEA – International Dialects of English Archive
- http://aschamann.net/AmEng/
Useful links:
- · A national map of the regional dialects of American English
- · IDEA – International Dialects of English Archive
- http://aschamann.net/AmEng/
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