Unit 2 - Individual Variation

• non-regional accent/ dialect

  accent/ dialect not offering any indication to text producers region, but does offer indication to other aspects of their identity, such as social class
• RP is a highly prestigious, non-regional accent perceived as the ‘correct’ way of speaking English.
• The 5 key ways language varies from

  RP

  1. t-glottalization
  2. schwa substitution
  3. h-dropping
  4. n-substitution
  5. th-fronting
• rhoticity - whether or not you pronounce the /r/ after a vowel sound
• overt prestige - accents associated with wealth, power, and privilege

  covert prestige - accents associated with a strong sense of pride and belonging in a community
• General features of spoken language

  • non-fluency features: features preventing spoken discourse from being completely fluent

  • paralinguistic: non-linguistic aspects of communication, such as body language and gesture
• LEXICAL features

  • Filler - a non-fluency feature where speaker uses sounds or words to signal theyre not finished

  DISCOURSE features

  • false start: when someone begins to stay something but stops

  • repair - follows a false start, speaker corrects what they’re saying

  • turn-taking
• Distinctive Grammar features of regional dialects

  1. verbs unmarked by person
  2. verbs unmarked by tense
  3. multiple negation
  4. non-standard negative forms
  5. them as a determiner
  6. absence of plural marking
  7. emphatic double subject
  8. pronoun variation
• Inter group communication: communication between people with different social identities
• CAT: communication accommodation theory
• Upwards convergence: using language similar to your audience, and speaking closer to RP

  Downwards convergence: similar language, further from RP
• Upwards divergence: using language different, towards RP

  Downwards divergence: language different, further from RP
• FEATURES OF REGIONAL VARIATION IN DIALECTS

  Person marking: verb changes depending on person

  Tense marking: verb changes depending on tense

  Multiple negation: using multiple negating words for emphasis

  Non-standard negative forms: negative forms not part of RP (aint/never)

  Plural marking: changing a word to indicate it refers to multiple things

  Emphatic double subject: use of 2 nouns/pronouns both referring to the same thing
• FEATURES OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE

  Non-fluency features: features preventing spoken discourse from being fluent

  Paralinguistic: non-linguistic aspects of communications

  Filler: words/sounds used to signal speaker isn’t done speaking, despite a pause

  False start: someone begins to say something but stops

  Repair: after false  start, where they correct what they’re saying

  Turn-taking: speaking in alternate turns
• Idiolect: variety of leagues unique to one person, based on a number of identity aspects and factors

  Sociolect: language of a social group
• Chronological age: actual age (uninteresting)

  Biological age: baby, child, teenager, adult, elderly

  Social age: linked to milestones (marriage, divorce, having kids)
• Gender theory: the 3 D’s

  Deficit – assumes male language is norm and womens is an inferior divergence

  Dominance - women’s language reflects their subordinate position in society; men are more powerful speakers

  Difference – men and women’s discourses are completely different.
• Discourse: language we use becomes part of a social practice; language shapes and is shaped by social structures and beliefs; a text’s discourse is the social message it puts out
• Performativity: gender is achieved through a series of actions that are influence by wider society rather than actions innate to biological sex