1.What is Language Acquisition?

Language is a very important part of life. Communication between people not only enables us to
understand one-another, but aids in developing relationships and allows us to communicate our
problems, suggestions and plans. I’m sure you can all agree that language is a crucial part of
everyday life. But how did we learn to speak? How do we know what to say and when to say
certain things? Language Acquisition is something that can often be misunderstood, simplified,
or even forgotten. Yet from the word GO, acquiring language and using language is an amazing
ability we, as human-beings, have.

Linguistic Milestones – General Trends

 

Key terms
 Babbling – The experimentation of sounds by an infant, tending to include recognisable
words.
 Inflections – The modification of words grammatically to form different tenses or number.
E.g. cat (singular) + -s (inflection) = cats (plural) E.g. walk (present tense) + -ed (inflection) =
walked (past tense)
 Intonation – The rise and fall of voice when speaking. Enables differentiation between
phrases. E.g. questions, exclamations etc, all use different intonation patterns
 Phonemes – Small segments of sound.
Subject literature provides guidelines for the average age specific language features are
acquired – but different authors cite different milestone dates, depending on where they
conducted their research. So it’s important to note that dates, in terms of specific
linguistic milestones, are not concrete and can vary slightly from child to child (see
Language Acquisition in Exceptional Circumstances for more information).

What’s acquired?
In order to speak a language as adults do, children need to have acquired five areas of
linguistic competence: Phonology, Lexis, Semantics, Grammar and Pragmatics.

Phonology
Phonological development is the acquisition of sounds in order to pronounce words.
Child Language Acquisition begins at birth. The inner ear has the only bones in the
whole body which are fully formed at birth, thus enabling the child to start recognising
their mother’s voice in the first day of living and also allowing the child to differentiate
one language from another at such an early stage. The vocal tract is not fully developed
at birth which, when compared to the formation of the inner ear, helps to biologically
explain why it is that perception of sounds comes before the ability to produce sounds.
Through ‘vocal playing’ (highlighted in the 5 pre-verbal stages below) children learn to
control their vocal tract to produce sounds accurately (REMEMBER: Each child differs,
so the dates provided are a guideline).
 Basic Biological Noises (approximately 0-8 weeks) – Vocalisations: coughing, crying, a low
cooing, laughing etc.
 Cooing and Laughing (approximately 8-20 weeks) – Short vowel-like sounds produced
when the baby is in a settled state: more melodic than biological noises. At three and a half
months, a baby’s voice box is in place and gradual control of vocal muscles is gained.
 Vocal Play (approximately 20-30 weeks) – ‘Cooing’ sounds develop into sounds which are
much more definite and controlled.
 Babbling (approximately 25-50 weeks) – All babies babble! It is an innate feature of human
beings: even deaf babies babble. There are two stages of babbling:
 Reduplicated babbling, for example [mamama], emerges from around 6 months
 Variegated babbling, for example [adu] and [maba], is when there is movement
away from fixed patterns and sounds become more complex and closer to speech.
Consonants and vowels can change from one syllable to the next.
  Melodic Utterance (approximately 36-72 weeks) -Intonation, rhythm and melody develop,
resulting in babies sounding more and more as though they are speaking the language. The
occasional few words may have started to appear. Parents start to assume different sounds
resemble different linguistical structures, such as questioning, exclaiming and greeting etc.
Babies of different nationalities sound increasingly different from each other.
64 Week Old Baby “Talk

Lexis
Lexical development is the acquisition of words.

Katherine Nelson[2] classified children’s first 50 words as:

1. Naming things or people: ball, Daddy, juice, milk.

2. Actions or events: down, more, up.
3. Describing or modifying things: dirty, nice, pretty.
4. Personal or social words: hi, bye-bye.

Semantics
Semantic development is the acquisition of the meaning of words. Children tend to use
words more broadly than adults and over-extensions and under-extensions are found to
be produced.

 Over Extensions – A child uses a word in a broad sense. For example, the word ‘dog’ may be
used to refer to all four-legged animals with a tail. Over-extensions reflect a child’s learning
and their growing knowledge of the world; noticing similarities and differences between
objects.
 Under Extensions -A child uses a word more narrowly than an adult would. For example,
using the word ‘shoe’ only when referring to their own shoes.
These features of semantic development are crucial in gaining meaning and
understanding of words. Eventually, children will overcome these features.

Grammar/Syntax
There are three main stages of grammatical development.

Holophrastic Stage (12-18 months) -The Holophrastic stage consists of children learning

and producing single word utterances that function as phrases or sentences. For
example:
 ‘Gone’ could mean ‘it’s all gone’
 ‘Teddy’ could mean ‘that’s my teddy’
 ‘More’ could mean ‘I want more’
Sometimes children’s productions are longer and are considered as being one unit or a
whole phrase (this is called a Holophrase). For example:

 ‘Allgone’ and ‘Gosleep’

Intonation plays a key role during this stage. Children learn the ability to distinguish
between interrogative, declarative and imperative phrases, and despite their limited
grammatical structuring, are able to aid their communication more effectively. For
example:

 ‘Dada?’ said with a rising intonation, would imply a question

 ‘Dada’ said with a falling intonation, would imply declarative statement
 ‘Dada!’ said in exclamation, would imply imperative statement
Two-word Stage (18-24 months) – The Two-word stage comprises a child using (quite
obviously, as stated in the title) two words to form a sentence. ‘Baby chair’, ‘Mummy eat’
and ‘Cat bad’ are all examples of utterances at this stage and as it may be obvious,
require interpretation. Context of an utterance can aid the ambiguity behind such
statements. For example:
 ‘Baby chair’ could mean…
1. Possession: ‘this is baby’s chair’
2. Request/command: ‘put baby in chair’
3. Statement: ‘baby is in the chair’
Telegraphic Stage (2-3 years) – The Telegraphic stage, is when children have acquired
and start to use multiple-word utterances. At this stage, some of the children’s
utterances are grammatically correct…
 ‘Amy likes tea’ – (Subject + Verb + Object)
 ‘teddy looks tired’ – (Subject + Verb + Adjective)
 ‘Mummy sleeps upstairs’ – (Subject + Verb + Adverbial)
Whilst others have grammatical elements missing…

 ‘This shoe all wet’ – (the stative verb carrying meaning is missing: is)
Children are more likely to retain CONTENT words (nouns, verbs and adjectives that
refer to real things) and FUNCTION words (that have grammatical function: pronouns,
prepositions and auxiliary verbs) are often omitted.
Overgeneralizations are also found at this stage. This is when children make virtuous
errors in their allocation of inflections. For example:
The inflection -s to mark plurality is seen to be added to irregular verbs: sheep – sheeps
The inflection -ed to mark past tense is seen to be added to irregular verbs: go – goed
Such examples would suggest that children try to figure out grammar by themselves,
using grammatical rules productively to establish forms, not by hearing form from the
people around them in their environment. Children would not hear such examples as
‘goed’ from the adults around them.

Pragmatics
Pragmatic development highlights children’s motivation to acquire language in the first
place, as it serves different purposes and functions. Pragmatics aren’t acquired
immediately, nor does it take a short period of time for a child to acquire them. This
process is on-going until the age of approximately 10 years.

Halliday[3] classified functions of language as being:

 1. INSTRUMENTAL – to express needs
2. REGULATORY – to control behaviours of others
3. INTERACTIONAL – to relate to others
4. HEURISTIC – to gain knowledge of the environment
5. PERSONAL – to express yourself
6. IMAGINATIVE – to use language imaginatively
7. INFORMATIVE – to convey facts and information
If you are unsure of any of the terminology on this page you can revise your knowledge
in our Glossary.

2.What Is Register in Linguistics?

In linguistics, the register is defined as the way a speaker uses language

differently in different circumstances. Think about the words you choose, your
tone of voice, even your body language. You probably behave very differently
chatting with a friend than you would at a formal dinner party or during a job
interview. These variations in formality, also called stylistic variation, are known
as registers in linguistics. They are determined by such factors as social occasion,
context, purpose, and audience
Registers are marked by a variety of specialized vocabulary and turns of
phrases, colloquialisms and the use of jargon, and a difference in intonation
and pace; in "The Study of Language," linguist George Yule describes the
function of jargon as helping " to create and maintain connections among
those who see themselves as 'insiders' in some way and to exclude 'outsiders.'"
Registers are used in all forms of communication, including written, spoken,
and signed. Depending on grammar, syntax, and tone, the register may be
extremely rigid or very intimate. You don't even need to use an actual word to
communicate effectively. A huff of exasperation during a debate or a grin
while signing "hello" speaks volumes.
Types of Linguistic Register
Some linguists say there are just two types of register: formal and informal.
This isn't incorrect, but it is an oversimplification. Instead, most who study
language say there are five distinct registers.
1. Frozen: This form is sometimes called the static register because it
refers to historic language or communication that is intended to remain
 unchanged, like a constitution or prayer. Examples: The Bible, the
United States Constitution, the Bhagavad Gita, "Romeo and Juliet."
2. Formal: Less rigid but still constrained, the formal register is used in
professional, academic, or legal settings where communication is
expected to be respectful, uninterrupted, and restrained. Slang is never
used, and contractions are rare. Examples: a TED talk, a business
presentation, the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, "Gray's Anatomy," by Henry
Gray.
3. Consultative: People use this register often in conversation when
they're speaking with someone who has specialized knowledge or who is
offering advice. Tone is often respectful (use of courtesy titles) but may
be more casual if the relationship is longstanding or friendly (a family
doctor.) Slang is sometimes used, people may pause or interrupt one
another. Examples: the local TV news broadcast, an annual physical, a
service provider like a plumber.
4. Casual: This is the register people use when they're with friends, close
acquaintances and co-workers, and family. It's probably the one you
think of when you consider how you talk with other people, often in a
group setting. Use of slang, contractions, and vernacular grammar is all
common, and people may also use expletives or off-color language in
some settings. Examples: a birthday party, a backyard barbecue.
5. Intimate: Linguists say this register is reserved for special occasions,
usually between only two people and often in private. Intimate language
may be something as simple as an inside joke between two college
friends or a word whispered in a lover's ear.

3.second language learning

Second Language Acquisition

Language is the method of expressing ideas and emotions in the
form of signs and symbols. These signs and symbols are used to
encode and decode the information. There are many languages
spoken in the world. The first language learned by a baby is his or
her mother tongue. It is the language, which he or she listens to from
his or her birth. Any other language learned or acquired is known as
the second language.
Definition
The definition of second language acquisition (SLA) and learning is
learning and acquisition of a second language once the mother
tongue or first language acquisition is established. SLA is the process
of learning other languages in addition to the native language. For
instance, a child who speaks Hindi as the mother tongue starts
learning English when he starts going to school. English is learned by
the process of second language acquisition. In fact, a young child can
learn a second language faster than an adult can learn the same
language.
Second Language Learning
Though most scholars use the terms “second language learning” and
“language acquisition” interchangeably, actually these terms differ.
Language learning refers to the formal learning of a language in the
classroom. On the other hand, language acquisition means acquiring
the language with little or no formal training or learning. If you go to
a foreign land where people speak a different language from your
native language, you need to acquire that foreign language. It can be
done with little formal learning of the language through your every
day interaction with the native peoples in the market place, work
place, parks or anywhere else. This is true for learning spoken
language.
Ways to introduce the second language
A second language can be acquired at any time after a child has
developed language skills. A second language is often called the
target language while the native language is known as “L1.” The
second language can be introduced in following ways -
 introduced by speakers of the second language
 introduced as a second language that is part of the
curriculum at school
Teaching Second Language
There are several things to consideration when teaching a second
language. These factors may include the language spoken at home,
the willingness of the learner, the reason to learn the second
language (i.e., learning at school, for work, to talk to friends or
others). Though all students learning a second language go through
the same stages of learning, the period of learning varies. Students
can learn better by responding to pictures and visuals. Attention to
listening comprehension and building a receptive and active
vocabulary is essential. The definition of second language acquisition
and learning describes the process of understanding, speaking and
writing another language fluently. The ability to communicate in a
second language is becoming an essential skill in today’s world.

Krashen stagesEdit
Stephen Krashen divides the process of second-language acquisition into five stages:
preproduction, early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency, and
advanced fluency.[11][12] The first stage, preproduction, is also known as the silent period.
Learners at this stage have a receptive vocabulary of up to 500 words, but they do not
yet speak their second language.[12] Not all learners go through a silent period. Some
learners start speaking straight away, although their output may consist of imitation
rather than creative language use. Others may be required to speak from the start as
part of a language course. For learners that do go through a silent period, it may last
around three to six months.[13]
The second of Krashen's stages of acquisition is early production, during which learners
can speak in short phrases of one or two words. They can also memorize chunks of
language, although they may make mistakes when using them. Learners typically have
both an active and receptive vocabulary of around 1000 words. This stage normally lasts
for around six months.[12]
The third stage is speech emergence. Learners' vocabularies increase to around 3000
words during this stage, and they can communicate using simple questions and phrases.
They may often make grammatical errors.
The fourth stage is intermediate fluency. At this stage, learners have a vocabulary of
around 6000 words and can use more complicated sentence structures. They are also
able to share their thoughts and opinions. Learners may make frequent errors with more
complicated sentence structures.

The final stage is advanced fluency, which is typically reached somewhere between five
and ten years of learning the language. Learners at this stage can function at a level
close to native speakers.[12]
Krashen has also developed several hypotheses discussing the nature of second
language learners' thought processes and the development of self-awareness during
second language acquisition. The most prominent of these hypotheses are Monitor
Theory and the Affective Filter hypothesis.[14]

4.The Relationship between Language and Culture

Defined
The relationship between language and culture is a complex one. The two are intertwined.
A particular language usually points out to a specific group of people. When you interact
with another language, it means that you are also interacting with the culture that speaks
the language. You cannot understand one’s culture without accessing its language directly.

When you learn a new language, it not only involves learning its alphabet, the word
arrangement and the rules of grammar, but also learning about the specific society’s
customs and behavior. When learning or teaching a language, it is important that the culture
where the language belongs be referenced, because language is very much ingrained in
the culture.

Paralanguage: The Relationship Between

Language and Culture
Complex is one term that you can use to describe human communication since
paralanguage is used to transmit messages. Paralanguage is specific to a culture, therefore
the communication with other ethnic groups can lead to misunderstandings.
When you grow up in a specific society, it is inevitable to learn the glances, gestures and
little changes in voice or tone and other communication tools to emphasize or alter what you
want to do or say. These specific communication techniques of one culture are learned
mostly by imitating and observing people, initially from parents and immediate relatives and
later from friends and people outside the close family circle.

Body language, which is also known as kinesics, is the most obvious type of paralanguage.
These are the postures, expressions and gestures used as non-verbal language. However,
it is likewise possible to alter the meaning of various words by changing the character or
tone of the voice.

Homologous Relationship Between Language and

Culture
The phrase, language is culture and culture is language is often mentioned when language
and culture are discussed. It’s because the two have a homologous although complex
relationship. Language and culture developed together and influenced each other as they
evolved. Using this context, Alfred L. Krober, a cultural anthropologist from the United
States said that culture started when speech was available, and from that beginning, the
enrichment of either one led the other to develop further.

If culture is a consequence of the interactions of humans, the acts of communication are

their cultural manifestations within a specific community. Ferruccio Rossi-Landi, a
philosopher from Italy whose work focused on philosophy, semiotics and linguistics said that
a speech community is made up of all the messages that were exchanged with one another
using a given language, which is understood by the entire society. Rossi-Landi further
added that young children learn their language and culture from the society they were born
in. In the process of learning, they develop their cognitive abilities as well.

According to Professor Michael Silverstein, who teaches psychology, linguistics and

anthropology at the University of Chicago, culture’s communicative pressure represents
aspects of reality as well as connects different contexts. It means that the use of symbols
that represent events, identities, feelings and beliefs is also the method of bringing these
things into the current context.
Influencing the Way People Think
The principle of linguistic relativity tells us that language directly influences the way people
view the world. Anthropologist-linguist Edward Sapir of the United States said that the
language habits of specific groups of people built the real world. He further added that no
two languages are similar in such a way that they would represent one society. The world
for each society is different. In analysis, this means that speaking a language means that
the person is assuming a culture. Knowing another culture, based on this principle, is
knowing its particular language. And we need communication to highlight interpretations
and representations of that world. This is why the relationship between language and
culture is essential when learning any new language.

Inter-Cultural Interactions
What is likely to happen if there is interaction between two cultures? In today’s scenario,
inter-cultural interactions are very common. Communication is necessary for any person
who wants to understand and get along with people whose background and beliefs are
greatly dissimilar from their own.

It is easy to use language to mark cultural identity. But we  also use language to describe
processes and developments, like explain intentions of a specific speaker. Specific
languages refer to particular cultural groups.

Values, basic assumptions, behavioral conventions, beliefs and attitudes shared by an

ethnic group make up what we call culture. This set of attributes influences the behavior of
the individual members of the group and their interpretations of the meanings of the
behavior displayed by each member.

It is through  language that we express the attributes of culture. We also use language to
point out unique objects in our cultures.

All this means that learning and teaching another language is essential for international
communication and cooperation. The knowledge of other languages facilitates knowledge of
other countries and the specific cultures of each one. Again, this is why the relationship
between language and culture is critically important.
Transmission of Culture and Language
Language is learned, which means it can be culturally transmitted. Pre-school children take
on their first language from their exposure to random words they encounter in and out of
their homes. When they reach school age, they learn their first language or another
language. If it is the first language, the children are taught writing and reading, the correct
ways to construct sentences and how to use formal grammar. However, the child gained
initial knowledge about the essential structure and vocabulary of the first language before
the child started school.

Conversely, culture is transmitted in a large part, by language, through teaching. Language

is the reason why humans have histories that animals do not have. In the study of animal
behavior through the course of history, alterations to their behavior were the result of the
intervention of humans through domestication and other types of interference.

The culture of humans on the other hand is as different as the world’s languages. They are
likely to change over time. In industrialized countries, the changes in the language are more
rapid.

Language Shapes Culture

Oral instruction, and not imitation, is how we learn culture. There could be some imitation, if
the learner is still young. With language, we have a better way to understand methods of
social control, products, techniques and skills. Spoken language offers a vast quantity of
usable information for the community. This helps to quicken new skill acquisition and the
techniques to adapt to new environments or altered circumstances.

The advent of writing increased the process of culture dissemination. Diffusing information
became much easier thanks to the permanent state of writing. And thanks to the invention
of printing and increase in literacy, this process continues to evolve and speed up.

Modern techniques for fast communication transmission across the globe through 
broadcasting and the presence of translation services around the world help make usable
knowledge to be accessible to people anywhere in the world. Thus, the world benefits from
the fast transference, availability and exchange of social, political, technological and
scientific knowledge.

Assimilation and Social Differentiation, and

Language
Through time, variations appeared within a language. Transmission of a language is self-
perpetuating unless there is deliberate interference. However, it became important for
humans to improve their social hierarchies and social status to advance personally. It’s safe
to say that many people cultivate their dialect phonologically, grammatically, and lexically to
fit into new communities.

An example of this phenomenon is the insistence of immigrants from Europe to speak

American English when they decided to move to the United States. It is because they
realized that speaking American English is the sign of acceptance in their new home
country. Unexpectedly, third generation immigrants now want to get in touch with the
language of their ancestors.

Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

Culture unifies a community although there is diversity within that unity. For example, the
older generation’s speech might differ from the speech younger people use. Also, different
groups speak different languages. This is evident in the differences present in a professor’s
speech compare to a young admin staff member at the university. People could use a
different form of the same language in online forums, which would vastly differ from the
language used by media and classically trained individuals.

We use language in different ways. Linguistic varieties fall into geographical, social, and
functional subclasses. These factors lead to the formation of dialects that add diversity to
the language.

Dialect, a variety of a language that signals where a person comes from. The notion is
usually interpreted geographically (regional dialect), but it also has some application in
relation to a person’s social background (class dialect) or occupation (occupational
dialect). The word dialect comes from the Ancient Greek dialektos “discourse, language,
dialect,” which is derived from dialegesthai “to discourse, talk.” A dialect is chiefly
distinguished from other dialects of the same language by features of linguistic structure
—i.e., grammar (specifically morphology and syntax) and vocabulary.
In morphology (word formation), various dialects in the Atlantic states
have clim, clum, clome, or cloome instead of climbed, and, in syntax (sentence
structure), there are “sick to his stomach,” “sick at his stomach,” “sick in,” “sick on,” and
“sick with.” On the level of vocabulary, examples of dialectal differences include
American English subway, contrasting with British English underground; and corn,
which means “maize” in the United States, Canada, and Australia, “wheat” in England,
and “oats” in Scotland. Nevertheless, while dialects of the same language differ, they still
possess a common core of features.
Although some linguists include phonological features (such as vowels, consonants, and
intonation) among the dimensions of dialect, the standard practice is to treat such
features as aspects of accent. In the sound system of American English, for example,
some speakers pronounce greasy with an “s” sound, while others pronounce it with a “z”
sound. Accent differences of this kind are extremely important as regional
and class indicators in every language. Their role is well recognized in Great Britain, for
example, where the prestige accent, called Received Pronunciation, is used as an
educated standard and differences in regional accent, both rural and urban, are
frequent. There is far less accent variation in Canada, Australia, and large parts of the
United States.
Frequently, the label dialect, or dialectal, is attached to substandard speech, language
usage that deviates from the accepted norm—e.g., the speech of many of the heroes
of Mark Twain’s novels. On the other hand, the standard language can also be regarded
as one of the dialects of a given language, though one that has attracted special prestige.
In a historical sense, the term dialect is sometimes applied to a language considered as
one of a group deriving from a common ancestor. Thus, English, Swedish,
and German are sometimes treated as Germanic dialects.
There is often considerable difficulty in deciding whether two linguistic varieties are
dialects of the same language or two separate but closely related languages; this is
especially true in parts of the world where speech communities have been little studied.
In these cases especially, decisions regarding dialects versus languages must be to some
extent arbitrary.
Normally, dialects of the same language are considered to be mutually intelligible, while
different languages are not. Intelligibility between dialects is, however, almost never
absolutely complete. On the other hand, speakers of closely related languages can still
communicate to a certain extent when each uses his own mother tongue. Thus,
the criterion of intelligibility is quite relative. In more-developed societies the
distinction between dialects and related languages is easier to make because of the
existence of standard languages.
Sometimes sociopolitical factors play a role in drawing the distinction between dialect
and language. Linguistic varieties that are considered dialects in one set of historical
circumstances may be considered languages in another. Before the ethnic conflicts in
the Balkans in the 1990s, Serbo-Croatian was viewed by its speakers as a single language
consisting of several dialects, spoken in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia;
afterward, local communities began to talk of Croatian and Serbian as distinct
languages.
Among the synonyms for dialect, the word idiom refers to any kind of dialect, or even
language, whereas patois, a term from French, denotes rural or provincial dialects, often
with a deprecatory connotation. A similar term is vernacular, which refers to the
common, everyday speech of the ordinary people of a region. An idiolect is the dialect of
an individual person at one time. This term implies an awareness that no two persons
speak in exactly the same way and that each person’s dialect is constantly undergoing
change—e.g., by the introduction of newly acquired words. Most recent investigations
emphasize the versatility of each person’s speech habits according to levels or styles of
language usage.
Varieties of dialects

Geographic dialects
The most widespread type of dialectal differentiation is regional, or geographic. As a
rule, the speech of one locality differs at least slightly from that of any other place.
Differences between neighbouring local dialects are usually small, but, in traveling
farther in the same direction, differences accumulate. Every dialectal feature has its own
boundary line, called an isogloss (or sometimes heterogloss). Isoglosses of various
linguistic phenomena rarely coincide completely, and by crossing and interweaving
they constitute intricate patterns on dialect maps. Frequently, however, several
isoglosses are grouped approximately together into a bundle of isoglosses. This grouping
is caused either by geographic obstacles that arrest the diffusion of a number
of innovations along the same line or by historical circumstances, such as political
borders of long standing, or by migrations that have brought into contact two
populations whose dialects were developed in noncontiguous areas.
Geographic dialects include local ones (e.g., the Yankee English of Cape Cod or of
Boston, the Russian of Moscow or of Smolensk) or broader regional ones, such as
Delaware Valley English, Australian English, or Tuscan Italian. Such entities are of
unequal rank; South Carolina English, for instance, is included in Southern American
English. Regional dialects do have some internal variation, but the differences within a
regional dialect are supposedly smaller than differences between two regional dialects of
the same rank. In a number of areas (“linguistic landscapes”) where the dialectal
differentiation is essentially even, it is hardly justified to speak of regional dialects. This
uniformity has led many linguists to deny the meaningfulness of such a notion
altogether; very frequently, however, bundles of isoglosses—or even a single isogloss of
major importance—permit the division of a territory into regional dialects. The public is
often aware of such divisions, usually associating them with names of geographic
regions or provinces or with some feature of pronunciation—e.g., Southern English or
Russian o-dialects and a-dialects. Especially clear-cut cases of division are those in
which geographic isolation has played the principal role—e.g., Australian English or
Louisiana French.

Social dialects
Another important axis of differentiation is that of social strata. In many localities,
dialectal differences are connected with social classes, educational levels, or both. More-
highly educated speakers and, often, those belonging to a higher social class tend to use
more features belonging to the standard language, whereas the original dialect of the
region is better preserved in the speech of the lower and less-educated classes. In large
urban centres, innovations unknown in the former dialect of the region frequently
develop. Thus, in cities the social stratification of dialects is especially relevant and far-
reaching, whereas in rural areas, with a conservative way of life, the traditional
geographic dialectal differentiation prevails.
Educational differences between speakers strongly affect the extent of their vocabulary.
In addition, practically every profession has its own expressions, which include the
technical terminology and sometimes also the casual words or idioms peculiar to the
group. Slang too is characterized mainly by a specific vocabulary and is much more
flexible than an ordinary dialect, as it is subject to fashion and depends strongly on the
speaker’s age group. Slang—just as a professional dialect—is used mainly by persons
who are in a sense bidialectal; i.e., they speak some other dialect or the standard
language, in addition to slang. Dialectal differences also often run parallel with the
religious or racial division of the population.
Dialectal change and diffusion
The basic cause of dialectal differentiation is linguistic change. Every living language
constantly undergoes changes in its various elements. Because languages are extremely
complex systems of signs, it is inconceivable that linguistic evolution could affect the
same elements and even transform them in the same way in all localities where one
language is spoken and for all speakers in the same locality. At first glance, differences
caused by linguistic change seem to be slight, but they inevitably accumulate with time
(e.g., compare Chaucer’s English with modern English or Latin with modern Italian,
French, Spanish, or Romanian). Related languages usually begin as dialects of the same
language.
When a change (an innovation) appears among only one section of the speakers of a
language, this automatically creates a dialectal difference. Sometimes an innovation in
dialect A contrasts with the unchanged usage (archaism) in dialect B. Sometimes a
separate innovation occurs in each of the two dialects. Of course, different innovations
will appear in different dialects, so, in comparison with its contemporaries, no one
dialect as a whole can be considered archaic in any absolute sense. A dialect may be
characterized as relatively archaic because it shows fewer innovations than the others, or
it may be archaic in one feature only.
After the appearance of a new dialectal feature, interaction between speakers who have
adopted this feature and those who have not leads to the expansion or the curtailment of
its area or even to its disappearance. In a single social milieu (generally the inhabitants
of the same locality, generation, and social class), the chance of the complete adoption
or rejection of a new dialectal feature is very great; the intense contact
and consciousness of membership within the social group fosters such uniformity.
When several age groups or social strata live within the same locality and especially
when people speaking the same language live in separate communities, dialectal
differences are easily maintained.
The element of mutual contact plays a large role in the maintenance of speech patterns;
that is why differences between geographically distant dialects are normally greater than
those between dialects of neighbouring settlements. This also explains why bundles of
isoglosses so often form along major natural barriers—impassable mountain ranges,
deserts, uninhabited marshes or forests, or wide rivers—or along political borders.
Similarly, racial or religious differences contribute to linguistic differentiation because
contact between members of one faith or race and those of another within the same area
is very often much more superficial and less frequent than contact between members of
the same racial or religious group. An especially powerful influence is the relatively
infrequent occurrence of intermarriages, thus preventing dialectal mixture at the point
where it is most effective—namely, in the mother tongue learned by the child at home.
direction.