1. Language variation
1. Languages v. dialects
2. Sociolinguistic terms
3. Dialect maps (HW 6)
4. Types of variation
5. Pidgins and Creoles

2. Languages v. Dialects
• There is no clear-cut distinction between different dialects of a
language and different languages of the same family.
– Portuguese and Spanish are different languages, but often mutually
intelligble (=more like dialects)
– Mandarin and Cantonese are considered to be versions of the same
‘language’, Chinese, but are not mutually intelligible (=more like
languages)
• Factors bearing on distinction between a language and a dialect:
– degree of mutual intelligibility
– socio-political boundaries
– existence of distinct writing system
• Crucially, all dialects are rule-governed, just like languages. Hence,
no linguistic basis for considering any dialect superior to any other.
(Adapted from Lecture slides 17-19)

3. Dialects
• “A dialect of a language is a variety of that
language with systematic phonological,
lexical, and grammatical characteristics that
set it apart from other varieties.” (Lecture
slides 17-19)
• Factors influencing different dialects:
– Geographic (Language Files 10.3)
– Social (age, socioeconomic status/class, gender,
ethnicity) (10.4)

4. Chapters 18-19
Dialects: Maine
"I was born at Damariscotta Mills which is a section of the town
of Nobleboro in the state of Maine. Uh, on the fifteenth of
November, 1915. My father at the time was working in a
factory, my mother was a housewife. However, she had been
working in a telephone office before her marriage and she,
when my youngest, when my brother became five years old she
went back to work for the phone company and my mother
always worked."
●
native Mainer
●
ethnicity: Caucasian
●
born in 1915
●
recorded in 2009
Link to IDEA transcription page:
●
http://web.ku.edu/~idea/northamerica/usa/maine/maine3.htm

5. Chapters 18-19
Dialects: Mississippi
"But first of all, southern barbeque is always pork. Uh,
secondly, the main thing is not the sauce, ever. Uh, most
people think once you put barbeque sauce on something, you
know from outside of this area that makes it barbeque. No--no
indeed it’s the cooking, and the cooking is long and painstaking.
For instance, we cooked a whole hog. This takes fourteen
hours."
●
from Oxford & Memphis, MS
●
ethnicity: Caucasian
●
born in 1930's
●
recorded in 2000
Link to IDEA transcription page:
●
http://web.ku.edu/~idea/northamerica/usa/mississippi/mississippi1.htm

6. Chapters 18-19
Dialects: Mississippi
"I, started out workin’ with my father, and later I start workin’
for the Coca Cola bottle company in Grenada. And I worked
there, ‘bout seventeen, eighteen year and, uh, they closed
down and I drove cab awhile. Then I went to Rockwell
International and worked there about sixteen years in Rockwell.
I got laid off at Rockwell and I drove cab awhile and I went to
the police department, worked there as a jailer for three and a
half year."
●
born & raised Grenada County, MS
●
ethnicity: African American
●
63 years old
Link to IDEA transcription page:
●
http://web.ku.edu/~idea/northamerica/usa/mississippi/mississippi3.htm

7. Chapters 18-19
Dialects: Southern California
"I used to work at Venice off Winward where, ah, I sold clothes
for my uncle and, ah, weird things were even happening then.
Um, my grandma had, like, the first female owned nursery in, I
think Los Angeles, I’m pretty sure. And my grandfather owned a
piece of the mountain where, ah, this radio tower’s on. So it
basically, ah, pretty rooted in Los Angeles."
●
Caucasian
●
37 years old
●
from Santa Monica and San Fernando Valley
Link to IDEA transcription page:
●
http://web.ku.edu/~idea/northamerica/usa/california/california5.htm

8. Chapters 18-19
Dialects: Southern California
"...and he had this, like, crazy room. Like, he was, like, kind of a
fucked-up kid. He was, like, doing a lot of drugs at a really young age.
And, like, his walls were painted with, like, demons. He’s an incredible
artist. So, like the walls had, like, just these amazing murals of these,
like, really evil demons all over them. And, like, the inside of cassette
tapes were stapled all over the ceiling. So there was just, like, black
stringy stuff, like, hanging down from the ceiling all over. And, like,
um, just everything was, like, black and dark and evil looking. And he
had, like, a board with, like, black widows painted all over it that he’d
caught and pinned while they were still alive."
●
Caucasian, 21 years old, from San Fernando Valley
Link to IDEA transcription page:
●
http://web.ku.edu/~idea/northamerica/usa/california/california1.htm

9. Chapters 18-19
Sociolinguistic terms: Answers
1) Jargon
(J). Terms that are specific to a certain group that are often very technical in
nature and not easily understood by non-members
2) Idiolects
(D). The language spoken by a person at any one moment
3) Slang
(H). Words used to signal one’s membership with a group, often still
understood (but not used) by non-members
4) Isogloss
(F). A line indicating a boundary in the use of a particular linguistic form
5) Dialects
(I). Mutually intelligible, socially/geographically determined, regular
variants of a linguistic system.

10. Chapters 18-19
Sociolinguistic terms: Answers
6) Euphemism
(B). A phrase used to express a somewhat controversial or “off color” idea in a very
formal context
7) Languages
(G). Mutually unintelligible, rule-governed linguistic systems
8) Register
(A). Variations in speech style based on formality
9) Accent
(E). A term referring to the phonological and phonetic variations of one’s
speech
10) Standard Variety
(C). A variant of a language that is often associatd with more prestige than
other variants of that language

11. Chapters 18-19
Sociolinguistic terms:
A cheat sheet
• Keeping all these terms straight:
– Slang vs. jargon:
• Slang is understood by non-members; jargon is not.
Jargon is usually associated with careers/jobs.
– Languages > dialects > registers > idiolects
• Where accents and the use (or lack thereof) of slang,
jargon, and euphemisms characterize different dialects,
registers, and idiolects.
• The standard variety is only one of many dialects of a
language; it is not, linguistically speaking, superior to
any other dialect. It is just associated with more
prestige by the society.

15. • To locate things on the dialect map he gives you, use a simpler map to
identify where the general area you’re interested in is located. Then go
back to the more detailed map and find it in that general area.
• Sources for other maps:
– Google search ‘dialect map’
– Textbook, p. 423

19. False
True
False

22. False
True
False
False

23. Let’s go ‘TP-ing’
• What are possible terms for TP-ing in other
areas of the US?
• Which term(s) is/are used all across the US?
• Which term(s) is/are region-specific?

24. • What are possible terms for TP-
ing in other areas of the US?
• Which term(s) is/are used all
across the US?
• Which term(s) is/are region-
specific?

25. • Which term(s) is/are used all
across the US?
• Which term(s) is/are region-
specific?

26. Let’s go ‘TP-ing’
• What are possible terms for TP-ing in other
areas of the US?
– TPing, rolling, toilet papering, wrapping, papering,
bog rolling
• Which term(s) is/are used all across the US?
– TPing, toilet papering
• Which term(s) is/are region-specific?
– Rolling (The South, Appalachia); papering (eastern
Midland, southern New England)

27. Types of Variation
Phonetic/phonological
Morphological
Syntactic
Lexical (semantic)

28. Types of Variation (10.2)
• Phonetic/phonological variation
– Differences in the way sounds are pronounced,
which often reveals differences in the way
phonemes are distributed in the dialects
• Dialects of the North/New England pronounce the
words ‘Mary’, ‘marry’, and ‘merry’ distinctly:
– ‘Mary’ [meɪri], ‘marry’ [mæri], ‘merry’ [mɛri]
– Pronunciation of ‘mayonnaise’ in Question 1 of the
homework is another example
– This type of variation is what we chiefly associate
with the idea of accent

30. Types of Variation (10.2)
• Morphological variation
– Differences in the way words are formed
• Past tense in Appalachian English:
– ‘climbed’ [klʌmb], ‘ate’ [ɛt], ‘heat’ [hɛt]

32. Types of Variation (10.2)
• Syntactic variation
– Differences in the way words are strung together
• Southern dialects can use two modal verbs in one
sentence:
– I might could go to the store.

35. Types of Variation (10.2)
• Lexical (semantic) variation
– Different dialects use different words to refer to
the same concept
• ‘soda’ can be ‘soda pop’ or just ‘pop’
• ‘TP-ing’ from earlier is an example

37. Pidgins and Creoles

38. Pidgins (12.3)
• In areas of trade and industrialization, often
many people are brought together who don’t
speak the same language
• To communicate, they develop a shared linguistic
system known as a pidgin, which is a combination
of features of all languages in contact:
– Superstratum/lexifier (more dominant language)
supplies vocabulary, basic word order
– Substratum (less dominant langauges) supplies
phonological patterns

39. Pidgins (12.3)
• Being a new communicative system, pidgins are
often very simplified/reduced.
– Phonological features:
• Consonant clusters (CCV, CCCV patterns) are reduced (to CV)
– Morphological features:
• Absence of affixes
• No case, gender
– Syntactic features:
• SVO word order often
• No articles (the, a)
• Coordination (with ‘and’, ‘but’) preferred over subordination

40. Creoles (12.4)
• As speakers of pidgins have children, those
children learn the pidgins as native languages
• It is at this stage that pidgins become creoles
• Creoles tend to be more fully developed
linguistic systems than pidgins:
– “Because of the innate capacity to develop
language, these children then turned the jargon(/
pidgin) into a full-fledged new language, known as
a creole.” (Language Files, 499)