1. Language Variation and Change Prof. R
Language Variation and Change Prof. R. Hickey WS 2007/ 08 American English
Lisa Jansen: Bachelor of Arts (LN)
Anne Mörs: Bachelor of Arts (LN)
Bushra Sheikh: Bachelor of Arts (LN)

2. Overview: Why do Languages have Dialects? 2) Levels of Dialect
1.1) Settlement
1.2) Language Contact
1.3.) Linguistic Explanation
1.4.) Rule Extension
2) Levels of Dialect
3) Regional Dialects in the US
3.1.) Southern Dialect
3.2.) Northern Dialect
3.2.) Western Dialect
4) References

3. 1) Why do languages have dialects?
Possible reasons for language dialects:
 social factors:
- Settlement
- Language Contact
- Linguistic Explanation
- Rule Extension

4. 1.1) Settlement
Earliest English speaking inhabitants arrived from different parts of the British Isles
South Eastern England  Virginia
Northern and Western Part of England  New
Jersey, Delaware
Scots- Irish from Ulster  Western New England,
Upper New York, Appalachia
British Isles  Boston, Richmond, Charleston

5. Settlement
Phases of Settlement: 1) group of people move to an area, bring their own culture of origin 2) development of a new cultural identity 3) define roles  not only immigrants from the British Isles came to the United States, also immigrants who spoke languages other than English (German, French, Spanish, Italian, etc.)

6. 1.2.) Language Contact 18th Century: American English influenced by:
 French: depot, prairie
 German: delicatessen, kindergarten, hamburger
 Spanish: canyon, rodeo, patio
Suffixes are borrowed:
 German: -fest (songfest, slugfest),
 French: -ee (draftee, enlistee)
Syntactic Structure: (Pennsylvania)
 “Are you going with?” => “Gehst du mit?”
 Instead of “Are you going with us/me?”

7. 1.3.) Linguistic Explanation
 social pressure lead to acceptance or rejection  language change is systematic, follows certain principals of language development (e.g.: Shakespearian English vs. Today’s English)

8. Linguistic Explanation
American English has changed over the years:  Old English ( ) Fader urer du bist in heofnas, sie gehalgad noma din.  Middle English ( ) Oure fadir part in heuenes, halwid be pi name.  Early Modern English ( ) O oure father which arte in heven, hallowed be thy name.  Modern English (1800-today) Our father who is in heaven, may your name be sacred.

9. 1.4.) Rule Extension - English: place adjectives before nouns
“the blue house”
- Spanish: place adjectives after nouns
“la casa azul” - the house blue
 fixed rules and not only common sense

10. Rule Extension - pronouns for subjects: “I walk, we walk, she walks”
- pronouns for objects: “Terry gave the book to her”
- it is I instead of it’s me
- Charlie and I went to the store instead of Me and
Charlie went to the store

11. 2) Levels of Dialect
Different forms of Language Variation:  Pronunciation Difference: “this” = t or d sound  Grammatical Difference: “the house needs painted” or “the house needs painting”  Greeting Difference: “Hi”, “Hello”, “What’s up?” Levels of dialects:  Lexical differences, slang, phonological differences, pragmatics…

12. Levels of Dialect
Lexical differences: - different drinks for “soda” in USA - Broaden: barn originally used for storing grain (Britain), broadened to store all sorts of farm-related items (America) - Narrow: corn refer to any type of grain (Britain), referred to only one specific type (America) - Meaning shift: knight originally = young person, today “Ritter”; pen originally = feather, today “Stift” - Blending: smoke+ fog= smog, situation+ comedy= sitcom - Borrowing: delicatessen

13. Levels of Dialect
Slang: - belongs to a certain subculture - used by minority groups - slang expressions commonly used  e.g.: “cool”

14. 3) Regional Dialects in the US

15. 3.1.) Region of Southern Dialect

16. Upper South & Lower South
The Southern Dialect
South falls into two regions:
Upper South & Lower South
 absence of foreign immigration
 few non-english words
 no European words
 new terms
 adaptations of old words

17. Upper South Lexicon  "snake doctor" = dragon-fly
 "sawing gourds" = to be snoring
 "egg turner" = a spatula
 "before day"=time before sun rises,predawn
 "a cat's head" = a large biscuit
 tendency to disregard the „standart rules“ of verb conjugations; (e.g.: "knowed" instead of know)

18. Lower South Lexicon - "grits" = coarsely ground grain
- "chitterlings" ="chitlins" -fried hog intestines
- "Collard greens“ = smooth leaved kale
- "hopscot" = children's game Hopscotch
- "to disremember something" = "to forget"

19. Lower South Lexicon Similarities to Black Speech:
- “big mamma” = grandmother
- “big daddy” = grandfather
Words of African Origin:
- goober (peanut), banjo (Zupfinstrument), bogus (fake), jive (dance, swing music)
 Influence of black speech is still alive

20. > Audio Clip of Southern Speech

21. 3.2.) The North and Northeast

22. The North and Northeast
Original coastal centers from which most
American dialects developed:
 Boston, Philadelphia, Tidewater Virginia,
Charleston and New Orleans
Northern dialects were enriched by other cultures
which shaped their dialects:
 New England dialect, Northeast dialect
 This is believed to have impacted the American Regional dialects

23. NEW ENGLAND dialect Lexicon
 drop postvocalic r's : "go pa'k the ca',"
 inserting r's where they don't belong: eg.: "that's a good idear"
 Pronounciation: "aunt", "glass" like proper Englishmen
 "Sour-milk cheese" for "cottage cheese "
 "Tonic" meaning "carbonated soft drink"
 Indians of this region also left imprint on speech and food

24. > Audio Clip of Boston speech

25. Northern Dialect  Origin in New England dialects
 conservative parent dialect
 uses old and relic expressions
 is less colloquial than any American regional dialect
 speech is heavy with new coinages, regional colloquialisms and slang usage

26. THE NORTHEAST Lexicon  basically an extension on New England
 settlement first into New York (Yankee speech evolved)
 "brook" instead of "stream"
 "buttonwood" for a sycamore tree
 Huge influence of immigrants (Dutch, German)

27. > Audio Clip of Brooklyn Speech

28. The North  Upper North (New England)
 Lower North (Southern Pennsylvania)
THE NORTH LAYER
(area north of Ohio river territory west of the Mississippi)
Lexicon:
 loan-words, some borrowings from Europeans:
eg.: "fest" (German) for "festival" or "holiday"

29. The North  influence of immigrants:
eg.: calling s.o. from Poland a "Polak"
 a substantial number of slang and colloquial expressions:
e.g.: "to sweat like a butcher" = to do strenuous physical work
"grind" = s.o. who studies all the time
"duffer"= an old man
"toss your cookies"= to vomit

30. > Audio Clip Michigan Speech

31. THE UPPER NORTH
Extension of New England and its early settlements in NY
Lexicon:
- few loan-words , influence of immigrant groups
e.g.:"sheeny" = a Jewish person
"mick" = an Irishman
- many slang words and colloquial speech
e.g.: to be "strapped" = to be without money or broke
to be "strapped" = to be without money or broke
"yap" = mouth; "schnozz"= nose
colloquial phrases: "I wouldn’t do that for all the tea in China"

32. 3.3.) The West
 1870: language of the west has barely gone through two or even three generations
 known as being half of the nation
 The mid-west would just mean the western part of the eastern half of the nation
 physical environment (mountains): cut them off from their primary European cultures
 variety of people: Native Americans, Mexicans, Chinese, Mormons, Cowboys, Miners, etc.

33. South Texas Texas was split into two first order culture regions:
 area dominated by Anglo-Americans north of San Antonio River
 Hispanic cultural region south of the river
Lexicon:
 many loanwords - borrowed from Spanish
 words are to be associated with cattle raising
Toro for bull; hacienda for main ranch house

34. > Audio Clip of Texas Speech

35. Density of Population

36. Northern California - most populous western state
- 1848: gold was discovered  reason for population
- people from all over were bringing diverse languages
- booming mining economy - people of different languages had to come to a common way of speaking so trade could be well established
- the idea of year-round sunny weather and an attendant laid back life -Yorkers had become largest emigrant element
Lexicon:
 almost the same characteristics as in South Texas

37. > Audio Clip California Speech

38. Transitional Zones

39. Transitional Zones  Language has no particular boundries
 the traits of the transitional zones are a mix of the bordering regions characteristics
 they generally have no distinct qualities that are not found in the regions they border

40. Do You Have Any Questions?

42. 4) References - American English by Walt Wolfram.
(pages and pages 56-89) - -