Dialect variation - Research Paper Example

?Chloe Lin 998770183 ANT253Final Essay December 4th, Dialect variation Introduction Dialect variation is used to define written and spoken differences in the use of language within a speech society or region. The changes or dissimilarities in language may be due to various factors such as geographical, social, personal, and group influences. There is a high level of diversity among languages and variation within specific languages, such as the dissimilarity between American and British English; or even the internal variationsthat existwithin American English; and certain sentence structures and vocabulary items may be common in Caribbean countries, which can bereferredas a Caribbean dialect. There are several aspects of dialectal variation, and the most significant onesare grammar; syntax and morphology, lexicon; vocabularyand phonology; and pronunciation (Beninca 9). However, these aspects are not just qualitative, where a certain dialect uses one feature while another dialect uses another one, rather, they may be quantitative as well, where one aspect uses a particular feature more often than does another dialect. This may apply to grammar and phonology, which have stylistic and social significant features. This paper will look at the phonological aspect and the techniques that linguistics use to study it (Eckert 55). Phonological variation A common mistake made by a majority of people is to confuse accents with dialects by messing up with the differences between sounds people make and pronunciation and the words they use. If one has to consider grammar and vocabulary alongside pronunciation, then it is reasonable to use the term “dialect.” However, when discussing a dialect, an individual will usuallyfully concentrate on pronunciations. If sounds alone are what are being spoken of, then the area of study in language is phonology or pronunciation. Phonology is a special aspect of dialect that requires separate attention to be understood precisely (Riggle and Godsmith 38). Phonological variation is the difference in pronunciation across and within dialects, for instance, people from different countries may pronounce “easy” with an “s” while people from another country pronounce it with a “z”. Arguably, the most common phonological difference in England is the sound of “bath vowel” which differs between North and Southern England populations. Another example is the issue of rhoticity, relative to whether or not letter r should be sounded when it comes after a vowel (McKay Lee 70). While most Wales and England populations do not pronounce this later r, those in Lancashire and English West countries do pronounce it. Variations in phonology are important in marking regional dialects. In order to represent the pronunciations precisely, linguistics tend to use a phonetic alphabet, where distinctively dissimilar sounds are represented by varying symbols, instead of unphonetic English spelling systems. One sound is usually symbolized by different spellings, like the “sh” sound being pronounced as sh in “sheep”, but as “ti” in “nation” (Brown, 108). Approaches to phonological variations The well-known phonological variations are word stress and syllable structure. The main question is whether there are generalizations to be made in various patterns of these variations. For the no-pattern approach, no attempt is made to find an overall pattern that applies to most or all words, maybe because no generalization exists (Riggle and Godsmith 40). For instance, there are no rules to determine which syllable of polysyllabic English words swallows the stress. Consequently, stress patterns are merely listed in the lexicon. Any evident statistical preferences or trends for particular patterns are likely due to historical mistakes. The norm-and-exceptions approach assumes that English has a default stress structure with four different versions namely; language parameters, language typology, optimology theory, and rule-based theory. Language typology assumes a limited number of linguistic aspect types such as word order, syllable, and stress (Brown 43). For example, there is a limited amount of word stress types, like final stress vs. initial stress, and if stress is sensitive to syllable weight. Every language chooses a single type, which is the type of that language, but a language may also have some exceptions. However, there are a couple of problems with this approach; it is not always clear which pattern should be opted as a norm. The words Alabama and banana may be chosen as norms, America, and Canada chosen as exceptions, or vise versa. Nonetheless, as far as stress is concerned, it is not clear, if there is always a prevailing pattern for specific weight type, or if the prevailing patterns for various weight types for a logical group for the language. Another weakness isthat it is not obvious if there is any restraint that holds for all languages or for all words (McKay Lee 69). For language parameters, there are restrictions on the number of parameters for every linguistic feature, like a stress. Each language opts for one parameter set, which establishes the standard stress pattern for that language, but there may be other patterns in a language, which are exceptions.These exceptions are lexically memorized, which may break the parameter setting of a specific language. On the other hand, the rule-based theory states that a grammar is a set of rules, thus each language can own its set of stress laws, which establish the standard stress pattern for that language; just like how the set of rules in French and English are different (McKay Lee 70). Aspects of phonological variation A significant aspect of phonological variation to be considered is that it is usually determined by the phonological setting; by where an utterance the sounds take place. For example, the distinction between I and E, which can be illustrated in words such as “peg” and “pig” is neutralized or lost in southern speech prior to the next nasal consonant, meaning that “pen” and “pin” can both be pronounced as “pEn.” Due to this combiner, speakers are sometimes forced to make clear which word is meant when they use the word pEn. This is just an illustration of a generalsituation where phonological mergers in a given dialect make several words with different meanings that have similar pronunciation, yet such words are kept separately in other dialects (Beninca 11). Reasons of the occurrence of phonological variations Differences in pronunciation may occur due to geographical differences. A barren land, a mountain, or a lake may serve to separate populations, thus initiating and maintaining pronunciations between dialects in both sides. Political boundaries, migration routes, language contact, and settlement patterns may also affect the way people pronounce certain words (Eckert 57). As opposed to what most people perceive, the use of television does not influence much the differences in phonology. A reason behind this is that, television is not an interactive medium, since viewers cannot talk to it, neither can the characters in it respond to the viewers directly. It is the response of people we interact with in daily lives that indicate the various levels of approval, comprehension, and non-approval of the way we pronounce. The interactions with different people are one of the important factors that cause us to modify our sounds as it helps us to determine whether we agree or disagree to their opinions and use of pronunciation. According to McKay Lee, the variations in phonology challenge the conventional position that change is significantly passed via variations expressed in terms of features and phonemes. The wide variations discussed above require a more restrained handling of articulatory parameters in a phonetically richer symbolized framework (McKay Lee 69). The purpose of most phonological variation studies in English is to identify the exclusive segmental such as vowels and consonants, and sub-segmental such as intonation and stress aspects of the variety. One of the factors that may probably influence the use of pronunciation patterns is the identification of a particular people with a given speech community. For instance, if individuals use English majorly within their own states or with other non-native users, it is probable that they will stick to English accents in line with members of their own communities. Works Cited Beninca, Paola. Dialect Variation and the Theory of Grammar: proceedings of the Glow Workshop in Venice. New York: Walter de Beninca Publishers. Brown, Gillian. Phonological Rules and Dialect Variation: A Study of the Phonology of Lumasaaba. New York: CUP Archive, 1976. Print. Eckert, Penelope, and Rickford, John. Style and Sociolinguistic Variation.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print. McKay, Lee Sandra. Teaching English as an International Language: An introduction to the role of English as an international language and its implications for language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Print. Riggle, Jason and Godsmith, John. The Handbook of Phonological Theory. London: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Print. Read More