What is more common in language uniformity or
variability?
It is easy to see that variability is a very common
aspect of any language. Uniformity is not total in any language because
depending on the place, situation, town... every language suffers different
changes depending on the speaker.
What kinds of variability exist?
Languages are never uniform so we can find many
different kinds of variations as for example: geographical variation, social
variation, chronological variation, stylistic variation...
How do we decide if a particular group of speakers
belong to a particular dialect or language?
If we find a group of people which shares the same
characteristics in oral and written language we’ll be allowed to say that they
belong to a particular dialect or language...
Saussure emphasized the importance of synchronic
descriptions of languages rather than diachronic. He and is disciples
(structuralists) focused on language at different periods as finite entities.
Is this reasonable?
I don’t know...
The unattested states of language were seen as
transitional stages in which the structure of a language was, as it were,
disturbed. This made linguistic change look abnormal. Is it abnormal?
If linguistic change were an abnormal state of
affairs, this would not be an unreasonable way to look at language: change
could then be seen as something that strikes a language from time to time like
a disease. We could talk of healthy languages and sick languages. But this is
not how things are: no real language state is a perfectly balanced and stable
structure, linguistic change is always in progress, and all dialects are
transitional dialects.
Milroy (1992: 3) says “the equation of uniformity with
structuredness or regularity is most evident in popular (non-professional)
attitudes to language: one variety –usually a standard language – is considered
to be correct and regular, and others –usually ‘non-standard’ dialects – are
thought to be incorrect, irregular, ungrammatical and deviant. Furthermore,
linguistic changes in progress are commonly perceived as ‘errors’. Thus
although everyone knows that language is variable, many people believe that
invariance is nonetheless to be desired, and professional scholars of language
have not been immune to the consequences of these same beliefs.”
Can you think of any example of non-professional
attitudes to your own language?
I speak Catalan and personally I can explain some
non-professional attitudes to language, like for example: Moatros = Nosaltres,
Aubert = Obert, Ordenaor = Ordinador...
Why does Milroy use “scare quotes” around non-standard and errors?
Because Milroy is trying to explain something but that
explanation doesn’t correspond to his real opinion.
Are non-standard
dialects “incorrect, irregular, ungrammatical and deviant.”?
Not because even being non-standard dialects they are
standardized in its way... They can be structured and regular although they are
not the “official” and accepted one.
Which of these systems is more irregular? Why?
I guess the second system is more irregular or at
least I use to use the first one more... Those words “hisself” and “theirselves”
are not very “popular.”
|
Myself Yourself Himself Herself Ourselves Themselves |
Myself Yourself Hisself Herself Ourselves Theirselves |
“… much of the change generally accepted body of
knowledge on which theories of change are based depends on quite narrow
interpretations of written data and contextualized citation forms (whether
written or spoken), rather than on observation of spoken language in context
(situated speech). (Milroy 1992: 5) Why do you think this is so?
Any description of a language involves norms? Think of the descriptions of
your own language. Why is this so? For example: He ate the pie already is considered to be non-standard in which
variety of English and perfectly acceptable in which other?
What is the difference between descriptive and
prescriptive grammars?
Weinreich, Labov and Herzog’s (1968) empirical foundations of language
change:
Constraints: what
changes are possible and what are not
Embedding: how
change spreads from a central point through a speech community
Evaluation: social
responses to language change (prestige overt and covert attitudes to language,
linguistic stereotyping and notions on correctness).
Transition: “the
intervening stages which can be observed, or which must be posited, between any
two forms of a language defined for a
language community at different times” Weinreich, Labov and Herzog 1968: 101)
Actuation: Why
particular changes take place at a particular time.
What do you think the “prestige motivation for change” and the “solidarity constraint”
mean? How are they opposed?
Sound change:
post-vocalic /r/ in
Actuation: Why did /k/ palatalize before certain front
vowels? PrsE: cheese, German käse English/Norse doublets shirt/skirt?
What is the biological metaphor in language change?
What is the difference between internal and external
histories of a language?
Look up Neogrammarians
and lexical diffusion. Why are they
often found in the same paragraph or chapter?
Look up social
norm-enforcement, childish errors and
slips of the tongue. What have they to do with language change?