12/2/09
What is more common in language uniformity or variability?
Variability is more common in language than uniformity because language is VARIABLE in time, according to
Milroy.
What kinds of variability exist?
Historical, geographical and social variability.
How do we decide if a particular group of speakers belong to a particular dialect or language?
Because of their historical, geographical, economical and political notions.
Saussure emphasized the importance of synchronic descriptions of languages rather than diachronic. He and his
disciples (structuralists) focused on language at different periods as finite entities. Is this reasonable?
I think that this point of understanding is unreasonable because languages are variable- they constantly change. This
means that it is reasonable to study diachronic linguistics not obtaining a better understanding of all the evolution of
the language.
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?
Linguistic change isn’t abnormal because languages are in continuous states of evolution. Changes don’t reflect a
“disturbed structure” because they show that language progress for adapting to new situations of language.
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 thinkwe can apply these ideas to the situation of Valencian, nowadays.
Following different criteria, Valencià, Català and Mallorquí can be different languages, but linguistically they are the
variants of the same language.
Some criteria consider it as a “non-standard” dialect due to some factors as the use of castellanisms and
geographical variations. This usage is perpetuating the misconception of an irregular language.In reality, we are
simply observing a necessary evolutionary process brought about by the years of suppression of the Valencià.
Why does Milroy use “scare quotes” around non-standard and errors?
Because he is expressing non-professional ideas and he doesn’t agree.
Are non-standard dialects “incorrect, irregular, ungrammatical and deviant.”?
Any language which serves for the purpose of communication and with a set of grammatical rules complied to
shouldn’t be regarded as incorrect, irregular, ungrammatical or deviant, they are simply different to the “standard”
languages
Which of these systems is more irregular? Why?
Myself
Yourself
Himself
Herself
Ourselves
Themselves
Myself
Yourself
Hisself
Herself
Ourselves
Theirselves
The second system is certainly more regular than the first one because the terms “hisself” and “theirselves” are not
commonly used;they are not correct in grammatical terms. We can affirm that the reflexive pronouns in the
first column are grammatically “normative”. They are prevalent in certain contexts.
“… 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 decontexutalized 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?
I think that this is due to the variability of spoken contextual language.If we base our change theories in situated
speech, we would find that the most of the people don’t tend to follow grammatical rules and use of colloquialism
which lead to destructuralisation of languages. Everyone has his own idolect.
Complications can arise when we interpret the changes in speech and theories are generally based on
decontextualized language.
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?
Refering to norms and rules we must also keep in mind that there are always exceptions and that in the colloquial
variety there is a tendency to overlook them. The phrase “he ate the pie already” is
acceptable in colloquial speech. In a more formal, academic context, it could be “he has already eaten the pie”.
What is the difference between descriptive and prescriptive grammars?
A descriptive grammar looks the way a language is used by its speakers and then analyses it and formulates rules
about the structure. It doesn’t deal with what is good or bad language use; forms and structures not used by
speakers of Standard English forms and structures are considered valid and included. It is based on the way a
language actually is and not how some think.
A prescriptive grammar is based on rules about the structure of a language. Unlike a descriptive grammar it deals
with what the grammarian believes to be right and wrong, good or bad language use; not following the rules will
generate incorrect language.
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?
The prestige motivation for change refers to the way in which we view our language and how others speak it.
Sometimes, we do not speak in a certain manner because we do not feel that it would be correct to do so and we
tend to stereotype others who use terminology ungrammatical or deviant. It shows us how we often use language to
express our superior social status.
Solidarity constraint means that we can observe the way in which we use language to feel on par with our peers.
Our language will vary depending on the social context in which we find ourselves. We tend to imitate others in
order to fit in and feel accepted, collectively altering our language.
They are opposed due to the fact that the first is wanting to stand out and indicate a superior social status and the
second is a collective movement, related to fitting in socially.
Sound change: post-vocalic /r/ in New York. The change from long ā to ō in some dialects of English.
Post-vocalic /r/ in New York
Many of English speakers pronounce words as they write them: with vowel followed by r in the same syllable. But
there are many English speakers who do not pronounce the r - sound in this place (called ‘postvocalic r’) -
they have the sound everywhere else. Linguists use the classy terms for these two pronunciations.
American speakers who most commonly drop the r (‘r-less’ pronunciation) are those from Eastern New England
and parts of the South, where the old ‘plantation’ culture once existed. Even though there is no officially recognized
’standard’ English in the U.S., ‘r-speakers’ are clearly an overwhelming majority, something you hear reflected in
the mass media.
In‘Received Pronunciation’, do not pronounce r after vowel.
The change from long ā to ō in some dialects of English.
The father-bother merger is a merger of the Early Modern English vowels /ɑː/ and /ɒ/ that occurs in almost all
varieties of North American English (exceptions are accents in northeastern New England, such as the Boston
accent, and in New York City).
Actuation: Why did /k/ palatalize before certain front vowels? PrsE: cheese, German käse English/Norse doublets
shirt/skirt?
The place and degree of palatization varied for differentiating meaning between doublets.
What is the biological metaphor in language change?
A language is “a population of idiolects that enable their hosts to communicate with and understand one another”.
The biological metaphor is the fact that languages are passed between generations, evolving by steps.
What is the difference between internal and external histories of a language?
Internally motivated change usually leads to balance in the system, the removal of marked elements, the analogical
spread of regular forms or the like. As language consists of various modules on various levels, a change in one
quarter may lead to an imbalance in another and provoke a further change.
Look up Neogrammarians and lexical diffusion. Why are they often found in the same paragraph or chapter?
Because the theory of lexical diffusion is opposed to the Neogrammarian hypothesis. Lexical diffusion
(Wang,1969) refers to that all sound changes derive from a variation of a single word or a small group of words
that later affects other words with similar characteristics, but don’t necessarily have an effect on all words that they
potentially could do.
Look up social norm-enforcement, childish errors and slips of the tongue. What have they to do with language
change?
Social norms are “the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and
behaviours. These rules may be explicit or implicit. They indicate the established and approved ways of doing
things, dress, speech and appearance. These vary and evolve not only through time and from one age to another
and between social classes and groups. Deference to the social norms maintains one’s acceptance and popularity
within a particular group. What is deemed acceptable to young people is often unacceptable to elderly
people. They tend to be tacitly established and maintained through body language and non-verbal communication
between people in normal social discourses. We also come to know through experience what types of people we
can and cannot discuss certain topics with or wear certain types of dress around.
Children often make mistakes due to their lack of knowledge of possible linguistic irregularities.