MILROY LINGUISTIC VARIATION AND CHANGE
*I haven’t
been able to activate the Oxford English Dictionary. I’ll activate it as soon
as possible. I have used in this case other sources.
What is more common in language uniformity or variability?
In language is more common
the variability. It lives with a lot of possible variations. It is not uniform.
Variability: having much variation or diversity.
Uniformity: the
state or quality of being uniform; overall sameness, homogeneity, or
regularity: uniformity of style.
What kinds of variability exist?
There are a lot of kinds of
variability. For example, geographical variability, social variability, historical variability,
educational variability, register... Taking in account the diachronic and synchronic variabilities.
How do we decide if a particular group of speakers belong to a
particular dialect or language?
We decide it because we
observe that the people speak in a similar form, they’re from the same zone or
the same speech community, they have a similar pronunciation, they have a similar education...
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 think we should not to
talk in terms as finite entities because of the reason that we are talking in
terms dealing with variability.
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?
Some linguistic changes
could be understandable because of the reason that we are working with
unattested states of language and could be in this case abnormal.
Can you think of any example of non-professional attitudes to your own
language?
Non-professional attitudes could be with family or friends.
Why does Milroy use “scare quotes” around non-standard and errors?
To distinguish the
words the non-standard and the errors. To distance himself because he
considers that word or phrase to be odd or inappropriate for some reason.
Are non-standard dialects “incorrect, irregular, ungrammatical and
deviant.”?
They are ungrammatical and
maybe irregular.
Which of these systems is more irregular? Why?
|
Myself Yourself Himself Herself Ourselves Themselves |
Myself Yourself Hisself Herself Ourselves Theirselves |
The most irregular is the
first column instead of that this is standard, so the second column is regular
and non-standard.
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?
It means that it could be
acceptable in some languages but unacceptable in other languages because of the
cohesion or coherence in the syntactic o grammar functions or in the sense that
in one language could means something and in other language a different
meaning.
What is the difference between descriptive and prescriptive grammars?
The descriptive grammar refers to the structure of a language as it is actually used by speakers
and writers. And the prescriptive grammars refer to the structure of a language
as certain people think it should be used.
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?
With the pass of time people
change biologically.
What is the difference between internal and external histories of a
language?
The internal history of a
language refers to the historical development of its
linguistic forms (phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon) and
semantics. And the external history of a
language refers to the social and geopolitical history of the 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?