Synchronic and Diachronic

Variation

Variation in space and time

 Synchronic variation :
Sociolinguistics
Geographical variation (dialects)
Social variation (social dialects)
Social class
Ethnic group
Sex
Age
Profession
Other occupations
The illusion of the linguistic unity
The English language
The French language
Role of schools, mobility and media
 Synchronic variation
British vs American English
Phonological differences
pronunciation of final r (near, hurt)
pronunciation of // vs. // (goat)
stress patterns laboratory vs laboratory
cigarette vs cigarette
applicable vs applicable
 Synchronic variation
British vs American English
Lexical differences
petrol vs gasoline
lift vs elevator
trousers vs. pants
 Synchronic variation
British vs American English
Syntactic differences
X is different to Y vs X is different than Y
Have you met Mr. Hawkins? I think I might
have (done).
 Ideolect, dialect, language
Each speaker of English/French has an
internalized grammar ideolect
No platonic ideal form for the
English/French language
Dialects (first definition)
systematic differences
mutually intelligible
not inferior: standard English is a dialect
 Dialects vs accents
Accent (within the linguistic community):
variation limited to pronunciation
Accent (foreign, e.g. French accent):
systematic variation in pronunciation due
to influence of native language
 Dialect maps and isoglosses
Choose a linguistic variable, e.g. what do
you call the shoes that you use for doing
gym and sports?
Carry out a survey over a given
geographical area, using observation
points
Plot the results on a map
 Dialect map for gymshoes
What do you call the shoes you use for
doing gym?
Trudgill, Dialects, p.102
 Dialect map for gymshoes
Lexical variation in present day English
Correlation with the dialect areas
established on phonetic criteria
 Dialect map for Arm
Phonetic variation in present day English
Trudgill, Dialects, p.53
 Dialect map for Arm
Phonetic variation in present day English
Originally r is pronounced in all positions and
in all dialects of English
250 years ago some dialects begin to drop r
before a consonant (arm) or at the end of a
word before a pause (far)
 Dialect map for but
Phonetic variation in present day English
 Dialect map for but
Phonetic variation in present day English
north and south are distinguished in their
pronunciation of e.g. but, up, cup, butter,
some, other, luck etc.
south: but [] vs put []
north : but and put : same vowel []
The north preserves the Middle English vowel
system
 Traditional dialects
Extensive variation in
phonology
lexicon
morphology
syntax
Data based on a survey carried out in 313
localities in England in the 1950s (cf. The
Linguistic Atlas of England)
 Phonological variation
Pronunciation of arm in traditional dialects
in the 1950s
 Phonological variation
Pronunciation of arm in traditional dialects
in the 1950s
compare map for present day pronunciation
begins in the south east and spreads towards
north and west
areas of partial retention (r)
 Arbitrariness of value judgements
on pronunciation
stigmatization of r retention in Britain
compare h deletion (hill = ill = [])
(innovative variant stigmatized)
positive judgment on r retention in certain
US varieties
 Lexical variation in traditional
dialects
play in traditional dialects
 Lexical variation in traditional
dialects
play in traditional dialects
heavy influence of Old Norse on English
(they, egg, skirt, )
especially in the lower North (200 years of
bilingualism
Compare Norwegian leike
 Lexical variation in traditional
dialects
child in traditional dialects
compare with Norwegian barn
 Lexical variation in traditional
dialects
dig in traditional dialects
 Lexical variation in traditional
dialects
dig in traditional dialects
dig is borrowed from Old French diguer (dig a
ditch)
previous verbs delve and grave are limited to
the geographical edges of the country
 Lexical variation in traditional
dialects
trough in traditional dialects
 Lexical variation in traditional
dialects
trough in traditional dialects
trough cannot be adopted independently in 3
areas
new form manger (standard technical term)
spreads along communication lines
 Morphological variation in
traditional dialects
you in traditional dialects
 2nd pers pronouns before 1700

subject object

sg thou thee

pl ye you
 Change in 2nd pers pronouns
plural becomes polite form for singular
addressees (compare Fr. vous)
complete disappearance of the old
singular forms in standard English
introduction of youse as 2nd pers pl in
some English dialects
introduction of yall (= you all) as 2nd pers
pl in some American dialects (southern)
 Morphological variation in
traditional dialects
Am I in traditional dialects
What about French?
Specificities of French in the North
Phonological differences
Je ne sais pas (rounded a)
Tiens ! Thierry. (palatalization of [] [])
Lexical differences
wassingue (vs. serpillre)
souper (vs. dner)
Syntactic differences
Cest pour moi manger ce soir
 French traditional dialects
Latin origin of the romance dialects spoken
in France: historical depth of change
No mutual intelligibility between
geographically separated dialects
No mutual intelligibility with standard
French
Dialect continuity: usually no complete
breaks, mutual intelligibility at (relatively)
short distances
 French traditional dialects
Bunches of isoglosses separate major
dialect areas
e.g. between the oil and oc dialects and
between wallon and picard
often corresponding to geographical or
political boundaries
Politics of eradication of dialects in France
Schools
The army
..... Southern limit of mener
(cp Occitan mina)

---- Southern limit of heure

(cp Occitan ora)

_._. Southern limit of chanter

(cp Occitan cantar)
 Situation of Romance dialects in
Belgium
Speakers of Walloon and Picard are dying
out
Theater programs on television in dialect
 Language vs dialect
Mutual intelligibility
Dialect continuity
Political and sociological distinctions
A language is a dialect with an army and a
navy Max Weinreich
Catalan was considered a dialect under
Franco
Norwegian and Danish are mutually
intelligible
 Social variation
Social class
Ethnic group
Sex
Age
Profession
Other occupations
Social class and variation: England
Social class and accent variation:
England
 Language and social class
Verbs in 3rd pers sg present tense without s
She like him very much.
He dont know a lot, do he?
It go ever so fast
Studies in Norwich and Detroit
Classify speakers according to social class
(non linguistic criteria)
Count percentage of times each speaker
uses verbs with and without s in recordings
 Language and social class
Class Norwich Class Detroit
MMC 0% UMC 1%
LMC 2% LMC 10%
UWC 70% UWC 57%
MWC 87% LWC 71%
LWC 97%

Verbs without s in Norwich and Detroit

 Language and social class
Same types of results replicable for many
different features
Phonology, morphology, lexicon, syntax
 Language and ethnic group
African American English (AAE)
Studies in Detroit
80% success rate in recognition of blacks vs.
whites given a few seconds of recording
Speech specificities not due to ethnic group
but to environment
AAE is not inferior to other varieties
 Some characteristics of AAE
Phonological
Loss of interdental fricatives
[] [], [] []
Ruth [] (=roof), brother []
[] [] (word initial position)
those [] (=doze)
 Some characteristics of AAE
Syntax and semantics
Double negatives (far broader than AAE)
He dont know nothing.
Habitual be
John be happy. John is always happy.
John happy. John is happy now.
He be late. He is habitually late.
He late. He is late this time.
 Language and sex
Study of walkin (non RP) vs walking (RP) in
Norwich
(4% means speakers used the in variant in 4% of the
cases where it is possible and the ing variant in 96%)

MMC LMC UWC MWC LWC

Male 4% 27% 81% 91% 100%
Female 0% 3% 68% 81% 97%
 Language and sex
General tendencies noted in England
Women are more status conscious than men
Working class culture (and speech) are
associated with masculinity
Under-reporting of RP uses by men and
over-reporting by women
 Language and age
Age grading: specific usages identifying
speaker with age group
Differences in language between age
groups representing ongoing change
 Language and profession, etc.
Technical or specialized vocabularies
(jargon)
Utility based aspects
Identificational aspects (e.g. groupe nominal
vs. syntagme nominal)
Slang
Identificational aspects
Language use and identification
Centralization
of vowels in
Marthas
Vineyard
Language use and identification
Centralization of vowels in Marthas
Vineyard [] [] and []
[]
while, pie, night
out, house, trout
Language use and identification
Centralization of vowels in Marthas
Vineyard [] [] and []
[]
Age ay aw
75- 25 22
61-75 35 37
46-60 62 44
31-45 81 88
14-30 37 46
Geographical distribution of
centralization

ay aw

Down-island 35 33

Up-island 61 66
Degree of centralization and
orientation towards Marthas
Vineyard

Persons Orientation ay aw
40 Positive 63 62
19 Neutral 32 42
6 Negative 09 08