Linguistic Principles and Language Myths II

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Linguistic Principlesand Language Myths II
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Myths as Half-truths

• Many language myths persist because there is a
  grain of truth in them.
• That grain of truth may favor certain groups,
  just like the false half does.

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Remember this myth, which is false about native
dialects, but may be true about college students
compositions?

• Bad Grammar Is Slovenly (Myth 12)

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More Myths Half-false or Half-true?

• Myth 9 In the Appalachians they speak like
  Shakespeare.
• Myth 18 Some languages are spoken more quickly
  than others.

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How about Myth 9?

• In the Appalachians they speak like Shakespeare.

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Discussion question Why is the myth necessarily
false?Hint remember one of your mid-term
questions.

• 10 minutes

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Some myths are just hard to prove one way or the
other.

• Myth 18 Some languages are spoken more quickly
  than others.

All foreign languages seem fast but that just
reflects the hearers lack of facility. Is there
any evidence that some dialects of American
English are spoken more quickly than others?
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Consider the rule inserting a glottal stop before
a word-initial vowel in Southern speech.

• Park your car in Harvard Yard.
• Pahk yoah car in Hahvahd Yahd. Boston
• Pahk yoah cah ?in Hahvahd Yahd. South
• At door of mine shall never enter in...
  Boston
• At doah ?of mine shall nevah ?entah ?in... South

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The Southern variety in fact may be slightly
slower.

• Park your car in Harvard Yard.
• Pahk yoah car in Hahvahd Yahd. Boston
• Pahk yoah cah ?in Hahvahd Yahd. South
• At door of mine shall never enter in Boston
• At doah ?of mine shall nevah ?entah ?in South

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Next up

• Myth 17

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Myth 17 is important for the last part of this
course.

• They speak really bad English down South and in
  New York City, by Dennis R. Preston

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The sad fact is

• Some dialects have prestige while others are
  stigmatized.
• This is a social fact, not a linguistic one.

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The other side of the coin

• Michiganders and Inland North speakers generally
  enjoy what Preston calls linguistic security.
• To them, they speak normal English compared to
  the nearby Midlands (Columbus, Cincinnati, St.
  Louis) where the dialect sounds different.

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What do New Yorkers think?

• The funny thing is, New Yorkers who drop their
  /r/s really do feel what Dennis R. Preston calls
  linguistically insecure, and the same is true
  of Southerners.

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Remember Henry James?

• Let me linger only long enough to add a mention
  of the deplorable effect of the almost total
  loss, among innumerable speakers, of any approach
  to purity in the sound of the e. It is
  converted, under this particularly ugly light,
  into a u which is itself unaccompanied with any
  dignity of intention, which makes for mere
  ignoble thickness and turbidity. For choice,
  perhaps, vurry, Amurica, Philadulphia,
  tullegram, twuddy (what becomes of twenty
  here is an ineptitude truly beyond any
  alliteration) and the like, descend deepest into
  the abyss. It is enough to say of those things
  that they substitute limp, slack, passive tone
  for clear, clean, active, tidy tone....
  --Commencement Address, Byrn Mawr College, 1905

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Henry James tried to steer the country in the
direction of his own Boston Brahmin dialect

• HE FAILED. AMERICANS IN THE NORTH AND WEST
  WANTED TO KEEP THEIR /R/S AND DROP SOME VOWELS,
  OR SHIFT A FEW AROUND. THIS VARIETY IS
  INFLUENCING THE WHOLE COUNTRY. (See Labov Ppt)

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In other words ...

• The very dialects that ignored Henry James
  advice are the most prestigious today in America.
• Again, this is a social fact, not a linguistic
  one.

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• LING 280
• Winter 2009