Ling 390 - Intro to Linguistics - Winter 2005 Class 1 - Monday, January 3, 2005

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About me, you and this lecture What do you hope
to gain from this lecture? Jeff Conns Webpage
web.pdx.edu/connjc
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Sociolinguistics

• The study of language in its social contexts
• Speech community - group of people who share some
  set of social conventions (socioling norms)
  regarding language use - EXAMPLES?
• Accent - pronunciation
• Dialect - includes pronunciation
  (phonological/phonetic), but also includes
  grammatical, lexical and usage - MFL example
• Some examples of homophones for some --
  hock/hawk, caller/collar, cot/caught, calm/com,
  Don/Dawn
• Variety - used as a more neutral term for dialect
  or language

1. Mary merry marry
2. Mary merry ? marry
3. Mary ? merry marry
4. Mary marry ? merry???

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Sociolinguistics

• Linguistic variation and change dialect (and
  language) differences due to linguistic change
  over time
• Some social factors interacting with linguistic
  variation (how people identify themselves and
  others)
• REGION - what are the major dialects/accents
  spoken in America?
• Sex/Gender
• Social class
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Style

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• Linguistic variation and change Social Class
• Regional difference is post-vocalic r (car, card,
  guard, etc)
• William Labov - NYC - listen to a New Yorker
• Style attitudes about varieties

Coffee shop with a signWere sorry - no
blended drinks today. The blender is broke.
This sign was in Portland area where would you
expect to see it (based on stereotypes not your
opinion if theyre real) stereotypes based on
class/education/income
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• Linguistic variation and change
• Some dialects in North America have no r at the
  ends of words (car, card, guard, etc). For them,
  r can only be the beginning of a syllable.
• Includes New York City, Boston, New England and
  some older southern styles (like Savannah, GA,
  Charleston, SC, Richmond, VA)
• American Tongues Chapter 17, 4424
• post-vocalic r (car, card, guard, etc)
• William Labov - NYC - listen to a New Yorker

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• Linguistic variation and change
• Style and ling change interacts with social class
• ? William Labovs department store study

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Sociolinguistics

• Linguistic variation and change dialect (and
  language) differences due to linguistic change
  over time
• Some social factors interacting with linguistic
  variation (how people identify themselves and
  others)
• REGION - what are the major dialects/accents
  spoken in America?
• Sex/Gender
• Social class
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Style

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Dialect Study Background

• Linguistic variation and change
• Regional varieties described in terms of lexical
  choices done through Linguistic Atlas creation
• Dialectologists looked at NORMs
• old men in the sticks!
• (non-mobile old rural men)
• Asked what is the word you use for...
• Plotted variation on a map and drew lines
  isoglosses (see image ?)
• Now sociolinguists look at urban populations and
  exam different regions in terms of what is
  happening (lang change) in the cities

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• Linguistic variation and change - Region
• Craig Carver, 1987 Used Dictionary of American
  Regional English (DARE) which looked at lexical
  variation to identify dialects of N. American
  English
• Now sociolinguists look at urban populations and
  exam different regions in terms of what is
  happening in the cities with respect to language
  change
• Labov, Ash and Boberg, 2005 Lingusitic Atlas of
  North American English large scale phonological
  survey of North American English

American Tongues Chapter 10
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• What are the different regional accents in your
  opinion?

http//www.pbs.org/speak/speech/mapping/map.html
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OGrady, et al., 2010
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Based on lexical variation OGrady, et al., 2010
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• Dialect regions according to some
  dialectologists/sociolinguists

American Tongues Chapter 5
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OGrady, et al., 2010
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• Dialect regions according to some
  dialectologists/sociolinguists

OGrady, et al., 2010
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Non circled vowels lax vowels
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• Linguistic variation and change
• Regional difference by vowel production shifts
  (language change) over time
• Northern Cities Shift (play Chicago sample -
  3mins)

O'Grady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M.,
Rees-Miller, J. (2010). Contemporary
Linguistics An Introduction (6th edition)
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Based on lexical variation OGrady, et al., 2010
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• Linguistic variation and change
• Regional difference by vowel production shifts
  (language change) over time
• Northern Cities Shift (play Chicago sample -
  3mins)

O'Grady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M.,
Rees-Miller, J. (2010). Contemporary
Linguistics An Introduction (6th edition)
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• Linguistic variation and change
• The Southern Shift (Play Arkansas 2mins play Eng
  3mins

O'Grady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M.,
Rees-Miller, J. (2010). Contemporary
Linguistics An Introduction (6th edition)
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Based on lexical variation OGrady, et al., 2010
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• Linguistic variation and change
• The Southern Shift (Play Arkansas 2mins play Eng
  3mins

O'Grady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M.,
Rees-Miller, J. (2010). Contemporary
Linguistics An Introduction (6th edition)
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• Linguistic variation and change
• The California/Canada Shift (Play Cali - 145
  Ontario 215)

O'Grady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M.,
Rees-Miller, J. (2010). Contemporary
Linguistics An Introduction (6th edition)
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Based on lexical variation OGrady, et al., 2010
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• Linguistic variation and change
• The California/Canada Shift (Play Cali - 145
  Ontario 215)

O'Grady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M.,
Rees-Miller, J. (2010). Contemporary
Linguistics An Introduction (6th edition)
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California different from Canada Is
Seattle/Portland different from Vancouver BC?
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Portland
C syllable closed by Cons F free vowel
final V closed by voiced Cons or final 0
closed by voiceless Cons
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• Linguistic variation and change cot vs. caught
• From Linguistic Atlas of N American English

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Cot/Caught Merger
cot
caught
Melissa, 28
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Cot/Caught Merger
off
Dorothy, 89
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The Fronting of /ow/
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The Fronting of /ow/ in Pdx
Daisy, 56
Sabrina, 28
Jan, 53
Jan, 53
Stacy, 14 ???
Kenneth, 53
Kenneth, 53
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The Canadian Shift
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The Canadian Shift
Robbie, 14
short-o F2 lt 1275 Hz.
short-e F1 gt 650 Hz.
short-a F2 lt 1750 Hz.
Melissa, 28
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Do You Speak American video of examples of
regional linguistic variation The website here
http//www.pbs.org/speak/ Conn article on
Portland speech is here http//www.pbs.org/speak/
seatosea/americanvarieties/pacificnorthwest/
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• Linguistic variation and change - Attitudes
• There are many different varieties - what is
  correct?Standard English is just one of many
  different varieties
• Linguistics try to describe these varieties and
  all the varieties are equal in linguistics terms
• Are other dialects mutually intelligible here
  some sounds here from the Northern Cities area
  Northern Cities Shift (not 5)

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Linguistic variation and change - Attitudes What
are the consequences of speaking a non-standard
dialect? What is standard American English? Is
there a standard pronunciation? Listen to clips
from American Tongues Funny Accents track,
Chapter 12 (negative feelings toward southern
American), American Tongues Chapter 17, 4424
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• Linguistic variation and change
• Ethnicity - Chicano English, African American
  Vernacular English, Native American English etc.
• AAVE - shares features with other English
  dialects
• Phonological features part of other varieties
• Habitual be, copula deletion - more elaborate
  than standard English
• The coffee cold today. (One time event)
• The coffee be cold here. (Habitual)

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• Linguistic variation and change
• Ethnicity - African American Vernacular English,

From OGrady, et. al. 2010.
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• Linguistic variation and change Listen to clips
  from DYSA
• Ethnicity - African American Vernacular English,

From OGrady, et. al. 2010.
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• What does this information mean in terms of
  Cascadia?
• How would language form a part of this emerging
  identity?

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Resources
Video and Internet Sources American Tongues
video - http//www.cnam.com/non_flash/language/ame
rican.html Nice examples of different American
dialects, mostly regional dialects, some
profanity, a little outdated, good examples of
how every day people feel about dialects Do You
Speak American website and video
http//www.pbs.org/speak/ Nice examples of a
lot of different American Englishes, regional
differences as well as ethnic differences,
linguist viewpoint (very descriptive with little
information on attitudes toward language), a
little long and not all is relevant, good web
resources that can be used with video including
teachers guide Conn article on Portland accent
http//www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarietie
s/pacificnorthwest/ International Dialects of
English Archive - http//web.ku.edu/idea/
Great examples of many types of English, a
little hard to find some good accent productions
(not all speakers have strong regional
accents) Project on English in the Pacific NW
http//www.artsci.washington.edu/NWenglish/
Site with a lot of information (not created by
linguist) - http//aschmann.net/AmEng/
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Resources
Some Useful Books Labov, W. (1994) Principles of
Lingusitic Change, Volume 1 Internal Factors.
Oxford Blackwell. (Very technical information
about language change) Labov, W. (2001)
Principles of Lingusitic Change, Volume 2 Social
Factors. Oxford Blackwell. (Very technical but
detailed including Labovs Philadelphia
Study.) Milroy, L. and Gordon, M. (2003)
Sociolinguistics Method and Interpretation.
Oxford Blackwell. (Good information about field
and methodology of sociolinguistics some
technical linguistic knowledge required, not a
lot of actual examples) O'Grady, W., Archibald,
J., Aronoff, M., Rees-Miller, J. (2009).
Contemporary Linguistics An Introduction (6th
edition). Bedford/St. Martins. Wells, John C.
(1982) Accents of English 1 An Introduction.
Cambridge Cambridge Univ Press. Wells, John C.
(1982) Accents of English 2 The British Isles.
Cambridge Cambridge Univ Press. Wells, John C.
(1982) Accents of English 3 Beyond the British
Isles. Cambridge Cambridge Univ Press. (Good
descriptions of different accents, focuses on
pronunciation, mainly descriptive and not as
theoretical as others) Wolfram, W. and
Schilling-Estes, N. (2006) American English.
Oxford Blackwell Publishing. 2nd Edition. (Best
choice for beginners assumes some linguistic
technical knowledge, many specific examples)