Language Dialect

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Should schools teach in the regional dialect of their students or should they teach the students to speak the standard dialect of the language?

Regional

Standard

The Dialect Debate

Definition of Dialect

A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety differing from the standard literary language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists.

The problem with this definition is that it implies that there is some sort of "standard" language from which all of the various dialects of that language differ. In English, however, I do not think this is true. I think that the English language is far too widespread and varies too much for anyone to say that the English spoken in ____ is "standard" and everything else is a "dialect." Even if it were narrowed down to a single country, there is still a great deal of variation within that country, and who is to say which region/city/state/province speaks proper English?

The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class.

. English dialects may be different from each other, but all speakers within the English-speaking world can still generally understand them. A speaker from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for instance, might pepper his speech with localised vocabulary, such as gan for “to go” or clarts for “mud”. He may often use regional grammatical constructions, such as the past tense constructions I’ve went and I’ve drank or the reflexive pronouns mysel, yoursel, hissel etc. In addition he probably uses a range of local pronunciations. For all these reasons he could be described as a Geordie dialect speaker.

English Big Three

British English (SE) (RP)

Australian English (AuE)

American English (AME)

In British English the standard, known as Standard English (SE), is historically based on the language of the medieval English court of Chancery.The late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the establishment of this standard as the norm of "polite" society, that is to say of the upper classes. The spoken standard has come to be seen as a mark of good education and social prestige. Although often associated with the RP accent British received pronunciation), SE can be spoken with any accent.

. For example, in America, there's Southern dialect, West-coast dialect, "urban" dialect, New England, New York, etc. The standard for America is the midwestern accent. – also known as the newscasters accent.

 Australian English is a variety of the English spoken in Ireland and London’s East End with changes because of the Australian environment. Ie Kangaroo.

There's a lot of different types of English. But essentially, the differences amount to mostly just slang/expressions and spelling. No matter what dialect you speak of English, you can still basically understand any other dialect.

Standard languages commonly feature:

• A recognized dictionary (standardized spelling and vocabulary)
  
• A recognized grammar
  
• A standard pronunciation (educated speech)
  
• A linguistic institution defining usage norms,
  
• Effective public use (court, legislature, schools)
  
• A literary canon
  
• Convenience speaking
  
• Popularity and acceptance in the community
  
• Population
  
• 
  

Dialect or Accent?

What’s the difference?

Accent refers to the sounds that are present in a person's language. Pronunciation is basically a synonym of accent. Therefore, if I pronounce differently from someone, I have a different accent. We all have an accent. Dialect is something greater. A dialect is a version of a language that is special to a particular region or group. Dialects of the same language are different from each other, but still understandable to speakers of another dialect of that language. For example, American English and British English are two dialects of English. They have some differences, such as in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, but they are still understandable to each other

Geographical dialects.  

Ethnic dialects.  

Social dialects. 

You have different speech communities. 

Geographical – settlement patterns

Ethnic – African American (biggest) Jews, Italians. Latinos, Vietnamese

Distict characters are traced to another language ie Pensilvanian Dutch back to German – Make the windows shut

Social dialects – social class that you are in. The study is socialect.

Show video

What is Social Class?

Social class involves grouping people together and according them status within society according to the groups they "belong to".

However, there is not a consensus on the best definition of the term "class," and the term has different contextual meanings. In common parlance, the term "social class" is usually synonymous with "socio-economic class," defined as "people having the same social, economic, or educational status" e.g., "the working class"; "an emerging professional class."[2] However, academics distinguish social class and socioeconomic status, with the former referring to one’s relatively stable sociocultural background and the latter referring to one’s current social and economic situation and, consequently, being more changeable over time.

Indexes of Social Class

• How you look
  
• How you dress
  
• How you talk
  
• What you like to do
  
• Where you live
  
• What your house looks like
  
• What you eat - a lot of food, good tasting food, good looking food
  

A number of modern thinkers have tried todefine what makes a particular “socialclass.”– Is it accent?–…neighborhood?–…occupation?–…income?–…wealth?–…family?

Hypercorrection

Lower Middle Class speakers sometimes use prestige features at a greater rate than Upper Middle Class speakers.

And LMC speakers use stigmatized features at a lower rate than the UMC.

Because the LMC wish to achieve the next higher level of status, they attempt to talk like members of the next higher class, but they go too far.

'It is I.' We want to sound high class sometimes, so we say and write things that are stilted and/or purple.

The upper class often don’t care what fork they use and use slang with relish. Middle class people sometimes reveal themselves as middle class by being too proper in dress, behaviour, and language.

Purple prose consists of words and phrases that sound stilted, overly descriptive, or cliché. Now that doesn't mean we should never use beautiful, descriptive language. Not at all. What it means is the overuse of it irritates your reader and can mutate into the dreaded purple prose.

Let's start with clichés.

" Every fiber of her being."

" Slow burn of anger."

Think of the romance novels and how just the act of having sex or the description of the love scenes is so metaphorically written that we throw up just reading it. (Fiflty shades is a great example). So if you write it and read it allowd and you laugh or throw up it is probably ‘purple prose;

Talk about upper class British and how it is used. Show video and then explain about the quiz. Nancy Freeman-Mitford CBE (28 November 1904 – 30 June 1973), known as Nancy Mitford was an English novelist, biographer and journalist. One of the renowned Mitford sisters and one of the "Bright Young People" on the London social scene in the inter-war years, she is best remembered for her novels about upper-class life in England and France and for her sharp and often provocative wit. She also established a reputation for herself as a writer of popular historical biographies.

Mitford enjoyed a privileged childhood. Educated privately, she had no training as a writer before publishing her first novel in 1931. This early effort and the three that followed it created little stir; it was her two semi-autobiographical postwar novels, The Pursuit of Love (1945) and Love in a Cold Climate (1949), that established her reputation. In the 1950's Mitford identified with the concept of "U" (upper) and "non-U" language, whereby social origins and standing were identified by words used in everyday speech. She had intended this as a joke, but many took it seriously, and Mitford was considered an authority on manners and breeding—possibly her most recognised legacy. 

A quiz to determine whether you're Upper Class!

What are you using when you spray a liquid substance to your body to enhance your smell?

1. Odour
2. Perfume
3. Scent
4. Cologne

You must check your reflection to ascertain that you look your best. What do you look into?

1. mirror
2. reflector
3. looking glass
4. prism

You have just visited my abode. Meeting my expectant gaze, you say, "You have a lovely home".

1. TRUE
2. FALSE

It's cold. You start a fire. What do you call the ornate structure built around the fireplace?

1. Chimneypiece
2. Mantelpiece
3. Firepiece mantel
4. Hearthshelf

As a member of the Upper class, what do you call the last course of dinner?

1. Pudding
2. Sweet
3. Dessert
4. Afters

You love fruit preserves on your toast in the morning.What is the word for this type of spread?

1. Jelly
2. Jam
3. Marmelade
4. Preserve

Guests have arrived to your lovely estate. Which room do you invite them into?

1. Drawingroom
2. Lounge
3. Formal Livingroom
4. Morning room

How do you impart information of your grandmother's death? You say.....

1. She passed on
2. She expired
3. She died
4. She perished

You speak to a non-Upper class person and wish for him to repeat something, so you say, "Pardon?".

1. TRUE
2. FALSE

You plan to write a letter to an old school friend. On what type of paper are you writing?

1. Note paper
2. Card Stock
3. Loose leaf
4. Writing paper

Three Ways to Speak English

Jamila Lyiscott is a “tri-tongued orator;” in her powerful spoken-word essay “Broken English,” she celebrates — and challenges — the three distinct flavors of English she speaks with her friends, in the classroom and with her parents. As she explores the complicated history and present-day identity that each language represents, she unpacks what it means to be “articulate.”

We are going to watch a video.

What factors influence language and identity?

www.ted.com