James Milroy : Linguistic variation and change
1- What is more common in language uniformity or variability?
Variability is more common in language .
2-What kinds of variability exist?
There are different kinds of variability such as : historical, geographical, social and diagraphical factors. These refer to the linguistic differences between speakers of the same language.
3- How do we decide if a particular group of speakers belong to a particular dialect or language?
We can decide at the moment we listen to the speakers, the use of the vocabulary, the pronounce of the words etc. gives us the clue to determinate if a particulat group of speakers belong to a particular dialect or language. In cases where it's difficult to decide we can use historical sources for example.
4- 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 consider it is unreasonable as the fact that languages are in constant change therefore, they couldn't be finite entities. Synchronic descriptions are focused on studying the language in a particular period of time, I think it's more important than diachronic descriptions.
5- 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?
I guess, it is not abnormal. Language is constantly progressing in orden to adapt to new situations.
6- Can you think of any example of non-professional attitudes to your own language?
We can find a clear example in Valencian. Many people consider Valencian a language, others a dialect of Catalan.
Spanish presents non-professional attitudes in the incorrect use of “le” (leísmo) and “de que” (dequeísmo) for instance.
7-Why does Milroy use “scare quotes” around non-standard and errors?
Milroy uses "scare quotes" because he wants to underline he's disagreement with these ideas he does not agree with.
8- Are non-standard dialects “incorrect, irregular, ungrammatical and deviant.”?
Definitely no, non-standard dialects cannot be branded as incorrect, irregular, ungrammatical and deviant. All ways of communication own it's respectives rules that must be obeyed. Each standardized dialect has it's respective grammar, lexis , vocabulary etc. it shouldn't be rejected.
9- Which of these systems is more irregular? Why?
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Myself Yourself Himself Herself Ourselves Themselves |
Myself Yourself Hisself Herself Ourselves Theirselves |
The list on the right hand is less common, the terms “hisself” and “ theirselves” are not correct in grammatical terms. Instead in the first column we can affirm they are accepted as grammatically “normative” .
“Our Living Language Speakers of some vernacular American dialects, particularly in the South, may use the possessive reflexive form hisself instead of himself (as in He cut hisself shaving) and theirselves or theirself for themselves (as in They found theirselves alone). These forms reflect the tendency of speakers of vernacular dialects to regularize irregular patterns found in the corresponding standard variety. In Standard English, the pattern of reflexive pronoun forms shows slightly irregular patterning; all forms but two are composed of the possessive form of the pronoun and -self or -selves, as in myself or ourselves. The exceptions are himself and themselves, which are formed by attaching the suffix -self/-selves to the object forms of he and they rather than their possessive forms. Speakers who use hisself and theirselves are smoothing out the pattern’s inconsistencies by applying the same rule to all forms in the set.·A further regularization is the use of -self regardless of number, yielding the forms ourself and theirself. Using a singular form in a plural context may seem imprecise, but the plural meaning of ourself and theirself is made clear by the presence of the plural forms our- and their-. Hisself and theirselves have origins in British English and are still prevalent today in vernacular speech in England. “
(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.)
10- “… 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?
Spoken language when it is used ofter suffers colloquialisms and don’t follow the rules, this dues to the invention of new words etc. Instead written language don’t change so rapidly and so it is easier to base theories on.
11- 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?
This sentence grammatically is incorrect, but in colloquial speech it would be valid , it has sense. All languages make use of a set of rules of course there would be exceptions in some cases too. We can prove norms dissapear in colloquial register, an example could be the one just mentioned.
12- What is the difference between descriptive and prescriptive grammars?
Descriptive grammar look at the way a language is actually used by its speakers and then attempts to analyze it and formulate rules about the structure. Descriptive grammar does not deal with what is good or bad language use; forms and structure that might not be used by speakers of Standard English would be regarded as valid and included. It is a grammar based on the way a language actually is and how some think it should be.
http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/descriptive-grammar.html
Prescriptive grammar lays out 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. Both types of grammar have their supporters and their detractors, which in all probability suggests that both have their strengths and weaknesses.
http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/prescriptive-grammar.html
13- 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.
14- 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 observe our language and how other people use it.
The “solidarity constraint” refers to the way we adapt our language depending on the social context, how we adecuate it in order to fit in the social context we find in.
We can conlude that both are opossed, the first one si concentrated on our wish to stand up in society whereas the second is related to the idea of fitting in socially.
15- Sound change: post-vocalic /r/ in New York/ The change from long ā to ō in some dialects of English.
Many of us who speak English as a native language pronounce words like darling, far, bore or near the same as we write them: with vowel followed by r in the same syllable. But there are many other English speakers who do not pronounce the r - sound in this place (called ‘postvocalic r’) - although they have the sound everywhere else, like at the beginning of a word. Linguists use the classy terms rhotic and non-rhotic for these two pronunciations.
In some people’s speech this ‘dropped’ r reappears when the word is followed by a vowel, so you sometimes hear nevah but never again. Such speakers occasionally go on to insert an r where it doesn’t belong, and say sofa but sofer and chair .
Looked at geographically, American speakers who most commonly drop the r (in what follows we’ll occasionally call this the ‘r-less’ pronunciation) are those from Eastern New England and parts of the South, particularly the coastal area where the old ‘plantation’ culture once existed. It is also part of Black English Vernacular speech. Until recently, dropping the r was part of New York speech as well, though more and more New Yorkers seem to be perceiving it as ‘vulgar’ and avoiding this pronunciation. 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.
British speakers today whose speech is closest to standard British English (called ‘Received Pronunciation’) do not pronounce r after vowel. Postvocalic r was still regularly pronounced in English speech back in Elizabethan times, and it was around that time (l6th century) that the ‘r-less’ pronunciation started spreading across much of England. It did not spread as far as Ireland and Scotland, which is why we hear the ‘r’ pronunciation from the Irish and the Scots today. Many of the original immigrants to the colonies were from Scotland and Ireland, although at the time of settlement most English speakers were still pronouncing r after vowel too.
http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/southern/dahling
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). In those accents with the merger father and bother rhyme, and Kahn and con are homophonous as [kɑn]. Unrounding of EME /ɒ/ is found also in Norwich, the West Country, the West Midlands and in Hiberno-English, but apparently with no phonemic merger.
16- Actuation: Why did /k/ palatalize before certain front vowels? PrsE: cheese, German käse English/Norse doublets shirt/skirt?
It palatize in order to make a distinction and be able to differenciate the meaning between the word doublets.
17- What is the biological metaphor in language change?
It’s related to the fact that languages are passed from one generation to another, always in contant generation and modification.
18- What is the difference between internal and external histories of a language?
“All kinds of language change can basically be assigned to one of two types: either the change is caused by a structural requirement of the language — this is internally motivated change — or it does not in which case one speaks of externally motivated change.
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.”
http://www.uni-due.de/SHE/HE_InternalExternal.htm
19- Look up Neogrammarians and lexical diffusion. Why are they often found in the same paragraph or chapter?
The terms are often found in the same paragraph, because the theory of lexical diffusion is opposed to the Neogrammarian hypothesis.
20-
Look up social norm-enforcement, childish errors and slips of the tongue. What have they to do with language change?A social norm is the sociological term for the behavioural expectations and cues within a society or group. They have been defined as “the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours. These rules may be explicit or implicit. The social norms indicate the established and approved ways of doing things, of dress, of speech and of appearance. These vary and evolve not only through time but also vary from one age group to another and between social classes and social groups. What is deemed to be acceptable dress, speech or behaviour in one social group may not be accepted in another. Deference to the social norms maintains one’s acceptance and popularity within a particular group; ignoring the social norms risks one becoming unacceptable, unpopular or even an outcast from a group. What is deemed acceptable to young people is often unacceptable to elderly people; this difference is caused by the different social norms that operate and are tacitly agreed-upon in such different groups of people. Social norms tend to be tacitly established and maintained through body language and non-verbal communication between people in their normal social discourse. We soon come to know when and where it is appropriate to say certain things, to use certain words, to discuss certain topics or wear certain clothes and when not to. 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. Mostly this knowledge is derived experientially.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm_(sociology)
Childish errors: ‘(…) many 'childish' errors in language occur because children instinctively understand the rules too well, and have to be taught the irregularities. (Mummy, I eated my dinner.)’
A slip of the tongue is an error in speaking in which a word is pronounced incorrectly, or in which the speaker says something unintentionally.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/slip+of+the+tongue