PHILIPPINE

LINGUISTICS

Recurrent
Concepts of
Language and
Linguistics

DIALECTOLOGYIS A BRANCH OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS THAT STUDIES THE

SYSTEMATIC VARIANTS OF A LANGUAGE. THE TERM DIALECT WAS FIRST
COINED IN 1577 FROM THE LATIN DIALECTUS,WAY OF SPEAKING. DIALECTAL
VARIATION IS PRESENT IN MOST LANGUAGE AREAS AND OFTEN HAS
IMPORTANT SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS. EX> BOOK OF JUDGES GILEAD +
EPHRAIM _ SHIBBOLETH
* LEAD CUT EPHRAIM OFF FROM THE
FORDS OF
THE JORDAN,
Language
or Dialect?

1. every individual uses language

in their own unique way.
2. An individual's particular way
of speaking is called anidiolect
Language variants spoken by
entire groups of people are
referred to asdialects.
3. Some linguists use the
termlectto describe any variant
of a language (family lect, village
lect, etc.)

4. factors (1)mutual
intelligibility German Vs
English vs Filipino
5.. Cultural Opinion of the
speakers ex: ENGLISH
American, British, Philippine
American English southern,
northern, New Yorker

(3) Political status Croatiancatholic-latin

Serbs Cirillic

VARIETIES OF LANGUAGE
6.. VARIATION: Natural phenomenon
7. . Language is a form of social behavior and
communities tend to split up into groups,
each displaying differences of behavior
8. Language manifests differences of
behavior
Language is the variety of speakers
Speakers vary in their vocabulary and skills
to use it
Linguistic variables have both social and
style variation, some only social, but none
style variation only

THE STATUS OF
LANGUAGE
4. the status of language is not solely determined by
linguistic criteria, but it is also the result of a historical
and political development
Mandarin and Cantonese are often considered dialects
and not languages, despite their mutual
unintelligibility, because they share a common literary
standard and common body of literature

DIALECT:
3. The number of speakers, and the geographical
area covered by them, can be of arbitrary size
a dialect might contain several sub-dialects
A dialect is a complete system of verbal
communication oral or signed, but not necessarily
written with its own vocabulary and grammar
A dialect is distinguished by its vocabulary,
grammar, and pronunciation including phonology
and prosody

MOST COMMON
CHARACTERISTICS
OF DIALECT
The regional one
Link can also be occupational and social
Sometime variety depends upon the occasion to use as
well
the word "dialect" is sometimes used to refer to a
lesser-known language most commonly a
regional language, especially one that is unwritten or
not standardized

Dialect
No universally accepted criteria for distinguishing
languages from dialects, although a number of
paradigms exist, which render sometimes
contradictory results
The exact distinction is a subjective one,
dependent on the user's frame of reference
Language varieties are often called dialects
rather than languages

DIALECT
a variety of a language characteristic of a particular
group of the language's speakers
applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a
dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as
social class

Defined as:

a sub-division of a language,
used by a group of speakers who have some nonlinguistic characteristics in common or the specific
form of a language used by a speech community

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
ACCENT AND DIALECT
a variety of a language characteristic of a
particular group of the language's speakers
applied most often to regional speech
patterns, but a dialect may also be defined
by other factors, such as social class

Defined as:

a sub-division of a
language, used by a group of speakers who
have some non-linguistic characteristics in
common or the specific form of a language
used by a speech community

the "dialects" of a "language" which itself may be a "dialect"

of a yet older tongue may or may not be mutually intelligible
8. a parent language may spawn several "dialects" which
themselves subdivide any number of times, with some
"branches" of the tree changing more rapidly than others

STANDARD AND NON-STANDARD DIALECTS

10. A standard dialect: a dialect that is supported by

institutions
Such institutional support may include government
recognition or designation;
presentation as being the "correct" form of a language in
schools;
published grammars, dictionaries, and textbooks that set
forth a "correct" spoken and written form;

NON-STANDARD
DIALECT
A nonstandard dialect: has a complete
vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, but is not
the beneficiary of institutional support
An example of a nonstandard English dialect
is Southern English
The Dialect Test was designed by
Joseph Wright to compare different English
dialects with each other

REGIONAL DIALECT

not a distinct language

a variety of a language spoken in a particular area of a
country
Some regional dialects have been given traditional
names which mark them out as being significantly
different from standard varieties spoken in the same
place
Ex: 'Hillbilly English' from the Appalachians in the USA
and 'Geordie' from Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK

MINORITY DIALECT
Sometimes members of a particular minority
ethnic group have their own variety which
they use as a marker of identity, usually
alongside a standard variety

Ex: African American Vernacular English in

the USA, London Jamaican in Britain, and
Aboriginal English in Australia

INDIGENIZED VARIETY
Indigenized varieties are spoken mainly as second
languages in ex-colonies with multilingual populations
The differences from the standard variety may be
linked to English proficiency, or may be part of a range
of varieties used to express identity.
'Singlish' spoken in Singapore is a variety very different
from standard English, and there are many other
varieties of English used in India

IDIOLECT
a variety of a language unique to an individual
manifested by patterns of word selection and grammar,
or words, phrases, idioms, or pronunciations that are
unique to that individual
Every individual has an idiolect
the grouping of words and phrases is unique, rather than
an individual using specific words that nobody else uses
idiolect can easily evolve into an ecolecta dialect
variant specific to a household
languages are congruences of idiolects and thus exist
only in the intersection between individual speakers
Idiolects change through contact with other idiolects, and
change throughout their lifetime as well as from
generation to generation

SOCIOLECT
the variety of language characteristic of a
social background or status
A dialect which evolves from regional speech
may also have sociolectical implications
Ex: standard Italian is a dialect in that it is
particular to Tuscany; yet, being the national
language of Italy, it is also a sociolect in that
it carries a certain prestige from being the
lingua franca throughout the country both in
broadcasting, in the press, and by people of
high social status

L-SIMPLEX AND LCOMPLEX

An L-simplex is a "language" both in the sense that it
can be spoken and understood by all its speakers, and in
the sense that it has a clearly defined set of speakers-no speaker of an L-simplex is the speaker of any other
language (except of a second language).
An L-complex is a language in the sense that it has a
clearly defined set of speakers but not in the sense that
it can be spoken and understood by all of its speakers. A
component of an L-complex is a "language" in the sense
that it can be spoken and understood by all of its
speakers but not in the sense that it has a clearly
defined set of speakers--a given speech variety may
belong to more than one component of an L-complex.
(McFarland 1983, 10)

PHILIPPINE LANGUAGES
Hesperonesian group into seven subgroups: Ivatan,
Northern Philippine, Meso Philippine, Southern
Philippine, Sama, South Mindanao, and Sangil
(Indonesian)

E A S T E R N I N D O N E S I A : L I N G U I S T I C I SS U E S -

C E N T R A L - E A S T E R N M A L A Y O - P O LY N E S I A N ( C E M P ) L A N G U A G E S

hongko
macau
ng

taiwan

SPEECH COMMUNITY
Bloomfield (1926:153-4): "1. Definition. An act of speech is an
utterance. 2. Assumption. Within certain communities successive
utterances are alike or partly alike... 3. Definition. Any such
community is a speech community."

Prague School approach: Neustupny coined the term

Sprechbund ('speech area'); it involves "shared ways of speaking
which go beyond language boundaries" (Romaine 1994:23). This is
parallel to the older Sprachbund ('language area'), which involves
"relatedness at the level of linguistic form" (ibid).

Gumperz (1962/71:101): 'linguistic community' is "a social

group which may be either mono-lingual or multilingual, held
together by frequency of social interaction patterns and set off from
the surrounding areas by weaknesses in the lines of communication."
LC's "may consist of small groups bound together by face-to-face
contact or may cover large regions, depending on the level of
abstraction we wish to achieve." A purely social concept.