variation in english

8/2/2019 Variation in English

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Variation in English


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Some terms

British English= Standard English writtenand spoken by educated speakers inEngland (as far as grammar and

vocabulary are concerned). Also used inWales, Scotland, NIreland, SIreland,Australia, NZealand, SAfrica (minor dif-s)

Pron: RP accent originates from SE ofEngland, a social accent, associated onlywith England


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THUS:

British Standard English grammar andvocabulary (used by many) together withthe RP accent (used only in England)

should be called English English.

This variety often taught to students ofEFL and ESL.

Until recently it was required in manyEuropean universities and colleges.


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Other variety widely taught: NorthAmerican E: English written and spokenby educated speakers in the USA and

Canada. Now unis permit either EngEng or

NAmEng- as long as they are consistent.

However: nth reprehensible about themixture of both varieties (problems inmarking items in/correct).


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Spoken and written lg

Besides different standard varieties of Eone has to consider:

Lg change

Social variation

Stylistic variation

Regional variation

Speakers sex

Speakers age


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Pron depends on age, educ, social class.This correlation not perfect.

2. Stylistic variation:

In addition: the pron of individual speakersvaries: either due to external factors orun/conscious changes according to theirperception of the situation to morein/formal


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Formal: slow, careful articulation, full valueof sounds

Informal: quick speech, less careful,sounds omitted

Vowel weakening: /are/

Assimilation: /that plate/ Elision: /expect so/


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A more casual style of pron should not beconsidered incorrect!

It is a matter of appropriateness, notcorrectness.

Compare: radio newsreader- at work vswith girlfriend

Little danger of being misunderstood:situation disambiguates: /mints/ vs /mince/


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3. Unconditioned variation: within RPspeakers there are differences thatcannot be explained in terms of a change

nor a speech style.

/economic/

62% vs 38%- preference marked indictionary


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4. Regional variation: as we know, only asmall percentage speak RP, others haveregional accents.

Even if we speak of Irish and Scottish etcaccents they cannot be found withincertain limits, there is a continuum, a

gradual changing of pron.


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The pyramid model

People at the bottom of the social scalespeak with the most obvious , thebroadest regional accents.

RP speakers at the top, their speech givesno clue of their regional origin.

Example: aitch-dropping in Yorkshire


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The pyramid model may be used in Wales butnot in Ireland or Scotland, they have their ownupper-class accents.

In NAm, different upper/lower-class accents ineach region: regional variation present in allsocial classes.

Elsewhere, fails due to absence of local

geographical variation within each country: inAus/NZ/SAfr quite a high degree of social butlittle regional variation.


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From the written lg point of view:

Standard E is not restricted to the speech ofa particular group like RP accent, mostusers of StE have regional accents. It is

the dialect (vocab+gr) of educatedpeople.

Very little social variation, just a few lexical

items: serviette vs napkin


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1. Language change: the grammar of adialect changes with time but very slowly.

Different innovations spread at differentrates, even different directions.

Typically from cities to towns, from largertowns to smaller ones, smts leaping overcountryside.


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Ex B: an existing term begins to changemeaning or takes a second meaning:

To aggrevatemeant make worse

Now also means irritate

Cant be mixed up: first aggrevate sth,

second aggrevate sb. Educated people use first meaning only.


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3. Stylistic variation: The choice ofgrammatical structure and vocab willvary with the situation in which people

are speaking or writing.Ex: the person to whom I wrotevs the chap I

wrote to

Again: the matter of appropriateness! Eveneducated people speak differently in arelaxed atmosphere.


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4. Regional variation: there are manyregional dialects in Britain, StE is justone of them. These dialects have

grammatical differences, eg East Angliadialect lacks 3rd person sg present tensemarker(e)s. He go, he eat

However, people of higher social status in that

region may be less regionally marked asthey modify their speech towards the moreprestigious one and introduces endings


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Problems in British schools: teachers considerregional features mistakes, their efforts toeradicate them are not very successful.

Still, the longer children stay at school, the lessregionally marked their speech will be. Smtshave 2 dialects- one at school, one at home.

3 groups: adopt StE, use in parallel, return toregional dialect later.


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Other factors

Urban vs rural accents: easier to saywhether the person is from the city or thecountryside. British attitudes:

Urban: faster, more up-to-date, ugly,careless, unpleasant

Rural: slower, pleasant, old-fashioned,amusing


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Correctness

Three types of things are said to beincorrect:

New elements, usu resisted at first, but if

proven useful, eventually accepted.Resistance weakest in pron, esp if introducedby the social elite.

Features of informal speech Features of regional speech


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Men vs women

Obvious differences in voice

Recordings show that women speakcloser to the norm, less vulgarisms

Use more animation in their voices, morequestion tags

Sexual minorities: can they be detected?

Majority cant be, it is more theirappearance or general behaviour thathelps

variation in english

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