Variation

Here we’ll talk about language variation.

If you’d like to dig deeper into these concepts, check out Chapter 11 of How English Works.

 

What is language variation?

Variation: systematic differences (between dialects, between speakers, between contexts) in usage

Dialect: a “variety” of a language that is structurally or lexically distinct

Accent: phonological differences (a subset of dialect)

 

Most of the time, we’ll be talking about variation at the community level – what features are distinctive of certain groups of people?

 

 

Distinctive Features

When we talk about language variation, we often focus on distinctive features – language features which distinguish one dialect/variety from another.

The features could be phonological (sound/accent-related), morphological (related to word structure), syntactic (related to sentence structure), or lexical (related to vocabulary).

 

A few examples:

Phonological

• /r/-dropping (“pahk the cah”) in Boston English, NY English, many varieties of British English

Morphological

• a-prefixing in Appalachian English (a-huntin’)
• Verbal morphology (“He walks” versus “he walk”)

Syntactic

• Negation (Multiple versus singular)

Lexical

• Fireflies versus firebugs versus lightning bugs
• Fixin’ to versus about to/intend to/prepare to

 

 

What is a Dialect?

Languages versus dialects – what’s the difference?

There’s an old adage in linguistics that says:
“A language is a dialect with an army and navy“

Linguistically, the difference is arbitrary, but it often corresponds to differences in political power

 

In this class, will use the terms “dialects” or “varieties” to describe linguistic practices that are similar enough to “feel” like the same language

But know that it’s not so simple!
For example, many “dialects”/“varieties” of Arabic are less similar to each other than Romance “languages” like Spanish and Italian

 

Some dialects have more mainstream prestige – sometimes these are labeled “standard”

Often, dialects that are spoken by less politically powerful people are labeled “non-standard”

In this class, we’ll try to focus on describing the ways certain communities/regions speak, without evaluating these dialects as “standard” or “non-standard”, or “proper” or “improper”, etc.

 

Regional dialects are defined by geography.
Examples: British English, NYC English, Cuban Spanish, etc.

Social dialects are dialects defined by shared social identity, including aspects like race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexuality, etc.

Examples: African-American Language, Chicano English, Millennial English.

We’ll go through some of the different approaches to studying variation and dialects/varieties.

 

 

Dialectology

Dialectology involves mapping regional dialects

This study has been traditionally focused on historically conservative dialects

• And conservative speakers! Traditional dialectology focused on NORMs (Non-mobile, Older, Rural, Males) because their language was the least likely to change over time

 

Differences between regional dialects are gradient, but cluster in certain areas to make dialect divisions

These clusters form isoglosses, which can point to general dialect boundaries. Sometimes, these dialect boundaries correspond to physical boundaries as well (e.g. mountain ranges, rivers, etc.)

 

This is an example of an older style of dialect map, where differences are broadly generalized

This is an example of a newer style of dialect map, where differences are gradient, and focus on just one feature

 

 

Variationist Sociolinguistics

Variationist sociolinguistics examines patterns according to social factors (age, gender, class, race/ethnicity, etc.)

Historically, it looked for variation within regional dialects in order to understand social dialects.

 

William Labov is often considered the “pioneer” of Variationist Sociolinguistics.

His early study “The Social Stratification of (r) in New York City Department Stores” looked at patterns of r-dropping according to class.

 

Labov focused on 3 department stores in NYC, which each catered to a different class level – Saks, Macy’s, and S. Klein (now closed)

One of the findings of the study:
the rate of “r-dropping” corresponded with the class level of the store/customers

You can find a good overview of the study here

 

This was one of the first studies that showed how linguistic features can vary according to social characteristics – variation is not just about where you’re from, but also, what social groups you’re part of

 

Sociolinguists, like all researchers, need to be aware of the observer’s paradox

• The paradox – people might not act ‘naturally’ when they know they’re being observed
  (And research ethics prohibit uninformed observation)

Researchers do what they can to minimize this effect, but we always have to consider the possibility of this influence

 

 

Effects of Language Contact

Sometimes, variation is a result of contact with other dialects or other languages

This contact can occur through geographic proximity, overlapping social networks, or, more recently, social media

 

Language contact often fits one of two models:

1. ‘Borrowing’ from L2 (second language) into L1 (first language), L1 maintained
   An example of this is French influence on English (during the Norman Conquest), or English influence on Spanish (as in words like “carro” or “troque”)
2. ‘Interference’ from L1 under a shift to L2
   An example of this is the development of ‘immigrant varieties’ of English

 

Pidgins and Creoles

Sometimes, extreme and sudden language contact leads to the creation of new varieties – often called pidgins and creoles.

This most often happens in cases of colonization and/or conquest, but pidgins also emerge in trade situations.

Traditionally, the terms pidgin and creole have only been used to refer to language varieties spoken by ‘colonized’ populations, particularly in the Caribbean:

• Haitian Creole, Jamaican Creole (Patwa), etc.

But, languages like English are linguistically similar to ‘creoles’ in many ways (e.g. huge influence from French, tracing back to the Norman conquest of England)

Pidgins usually have a limited set of vocabulary and are restricted to certain contexts (e.g. only spoken at work)

Creoles emerge from the same sort of situation, but are full languages that are used across contexts and have native speakers

What pidgins and creoles are you familiar with?

 

This is the example of a text written in Tok Pisin, a creole spoken in Papua New Guinea. You can see influence from English alongside unique grammatical features:

The Lord’s Prayer
(in Tok Pisin)

Papa bilong mipela
Yu stap long heven.
Nem bilong yu i mas i stap holi.
Kingdom bilong yu i mas i kam.
Strongim mipela long bihainim laik bilong yu long graun,
olsem ol i bihainim long heven.

(in English)

Our father,
who art in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven

 

Jamaican Creole (Patwa) is another example.

Some distinctive features of Jamaican Creole:

• Lexical items from West African languages (nyam ‘eat’ from Ewe)
• English words that carry different meanings (dem as a plural marker: wuman-dem)
• English words that carry the same meaning, but have different pronunciation (di ‘the’, wata ‘water’)
• Different grammatical constructions (a to signal the progressive: Mi a nyam di bammy ‘I am eating the cassava patty’)
• Different intonational patterns

 

 

Representations of “Variation”

Variation is often represented within media, both as a tool for characterization and also as a way to perpetuate stereotypes.

Let’s go through a few basic examples.

 

Imagine this character speaking:

What linguistic features do you associate with this character?

Are they speaking a particular dialect?

Why do you think that dialect was chosen? Are there any stereotypes involved?

 

Another example – imagine this character speaking:

What linguistic features do you associate with this character?

Are they speaking a particular dialect?

Why do you think that dialect was chosen? Are there any stereotypes involved?

 

What are some other examples of “variation” within media that come to mind?

Is the portrayal of variation positive? Negative? Neutral?

What purpose does it serve?

What stereotypes does it perpetuate?

 

Where does “variation” come up in our teaching?

Is there linguistic variation in the content we use? Should there be? How is it represented?

 

We’ll talk through more examples in our Zoom meeting, and discuss how linguistic variation shows up in our classrooms!

 

 

Up next

Next week, we’ll keep talking about variation!