1. Notes for “Language and Society” (Sociolinguistics)
Chapter Ten of Fromkin, Rodman, Hyams

2. Terms
Idiolect – unique characteristics of the language of an individual
Dialect (variety is more appropriate)
Mutual intelligibility is key to definition
Accent – phonological traits
Isoglosses – a geographic line dividing two speech communities
Dialect leveling – movement towards greater uniformity. (Is it happening?)

3. Concepts Dialect variation increasing Dialects of English
Effects of travel and mass media
Dialects of English
General Exmamples
r vs. r-less (FDR Example) (New York City Example)
Cot vs. caught
Sorry
Double modals
Phonological Differences
“pen” [ p i n ] vs. [ p e n ]
Syntactic Differences
“between you and I” (growing in acceptance)

4. Purity Language Purity – video on debate Examples
Who decides what is standard and what is corruption?
Examples
media, date, belittle (Jefferson)
French Academy, Royal Spanish Academy
Banned Languages and revival of languages

5. SYSTEMATICITY

6. African American Vernacular English (AAVE)
General points
discuss because it is widely misunderstood (p. 424)
not genetic (LM p. 105)
not all African Americans speak nor write using AAVE
not limited to African Americans
not the same all over but remarkable uniformity (p. 424)
Characteristics
[ r ] deletion (recall the prestige factor in England and the stigma in U.S.)
Consonant cluster simplification
pen and pin neutralization
Loss of interdental fricatives
Deletion of “be” (superior linguistically??)
Habitual “be” (superior linguistically??)

7. African American Vernacular English (AAVE)
Origins
Anglicists
Creole – West African influence
contributions to English: tote, nitty gritty, Okay (?)
Isolation (distance) remains a factor in growing differences
early 20th century recordings show little difference between African American dialect and southern dialect (recordings from WPA)
migration North
Concluding points
myths dealing with nurture/grammaticality are harder to debunk (LM p. 106)
“No one is saying that this structure should be considered standard English – just that its linguistic integrity stands apart from its social assessment.” (LM p. 109)

8. Latino English Phonological traits Code-switching Double negatives
five vowels (influenced from Spanish)
“sh” becomes “ch”
/ t / or / d / for “th”
/ t I n / and / d e /
/ e / before s cluster
Higher vowels – goween for going
Code-switching
Double negatives

9. Social Issues & Latino English
“If English was good enough for Jesus, then it is good enough for me.”
Ma Ferguson – First Woman Gov. in
Texas (and US)
English speakers feel threatened
English speakers feel frustrated

10. More Terms Lingua franca Pidgin Creole Style or register Slang
Jargon or Argot
Euphemism

11. Men and Women
Do you feel language influences your perception of gender roles?
Kind of talk does show difference (LM p. 45)
Classroom implications (LM pp. 46, 47)