Language variation is the appearance of a multitude of dialects which are still represented by one language. Dialect encompasses many aspects of a language, not just limited to pronunciation. Pronunciation, speech patterns, word choice, grammatical agreement, or basically any aspect of a language can be changed when a dialect is created. The actual language spoken between dialects is still the same; therefore, individuals are able to understand people using a foreign dialect, although they may not be able to fully replicate it themselves.
Language variation is a three dimensional process , meaning that variation can come from three sources. Every language has a prestige standard dialect from which the divergence is defined. This very specific dialect is the prototypical example of how the language is meant to be used. It is often used as the “proper” written form of the language. The first source of variation is social variation . Different social groups adapt the language to their own culture, creating a new dialect associated with that social group. An example of social variation is Ebonics, a dialect used primarily by the African-American individuals throughout the entire United States . The second source is regional variation . Examples of regional dialects are closely linked to stereotypes of individuals coming from different regions of the United States . Characteristic regional dialects include southern dialects, Texan dialect, New Yorker dialect, Bostonian dialect, as well as many others. The third source is functional variation . This is determined by the intended use of the language. The differences between register or formal and casual speech is an example of functional variation. All variation acts simultaneously on language to drive the dialect further away from the prestige standard dialect, causing a pyramid to be formed where the base (represented by all possible variation) is much broader than the peak (represented by the one particular prestige standard dialect). The farther away from the prestige standard dialect, the more stigmatized the dialect becomes since it is less conformed to the conventional rules of the language.
Since language variation is defined by so many factors, it is able to reveal a lot of information during typical conversation. The listener is able to extrapolate information about a strange speaker's background which would not otherwise have been stated by analyzing the social and regional variation that contributes to the spoken dialect. The speaker is able to indicate their "social allegiances" by varying their dialect to match that of the person with whom they are speaking. The easiest way to determine whether or not a person is similar to you is by their speech. If two people share the same dialect, they must share similar personal histories in order to obtain such a dialect. Both individuals must have experienced similar social, regional, and functional experiences in order to become fluent experts at a given dialect. Social allegiances created by using the same dialect come from the desire for "solidarity" on the part of the speaker. This solidarity can be represented by the use of dialect as a mark of pride, such as the frequent code switching between English and Spanish in conversations between Hispanic immigrants in the United States . Both immigrants are capable of maintaining a solely English conversation when speaking with only monolingual speakers, yet vary their language use substantially when conversing with someone to whom they wish to express ethnic solidarity.
People are able to include themselves in multiple social allegiances because they maintain a diverse "repertoire of social identities" from which they are able to choose at will. The term linguistic convergence is used to describe a change in an individual's dialect as a result of a desire for social approval. Another use of language variation is to create and maintain role and power relationships between the speaker and listener . This is mostly represented in the disparity of the use of formal language for one speaker and casual language for the second speaker during a conversation. Child/parent or student/teacher relationships demand that the child/student indicates respect for the parent/teacher during their conversation. Teachers refer to students only by their first name, while students must use the teacher's title and last name. The intent of such a situation is to subordinate one of the speakers and to remind them of who has the dominate persona throughout the interaction. Upon meeting an adult for the first time, a child is expected to speak with him or her in a formal tone. It is only after the adult has given the child permission that they are able to refer to them on a first name basis and speak more casually. This ensures that the social hierarchy stays intact, since it is always the dominate persona that is in control.
Although there are three main parameters for language variation (social, regional, functional) there are many other influences on language variation. Sociolinguistics is the study of the connection between language and societal influences. These influences can change with time, such as age, socio-economic status, or geographic location, or they can be stabilized, such as gender and ethnicity.
The following recordings are meant to be used for analysis of societal influences on language variation between the parent and the child generation. The individuals recorded in Recording One are my roommate, Molly, and her mother and father at their home in Roxboro , NC . The individuals in Recording Two are Molly, our suitemate Shea, and myself in our dorm room in Chapel Hill , NC . The pronunciation of the word yellow is of particular interest between both recordings:.
Transcription
Recording #1
Molly: Mama did you put blue cheese in this?
Mom: Li'l bit, I put four different cheeses.
Dad: Did you put egg in it?
Mom: No, no egg.
Molly: It tastes good. It's not as spicy as usual.
Dad: There was something that was yellow. It wasn't egg?
Molly: It was cheese.
Dad: Looked like egg.
Molly: Yeah it looks like eggy, but it's not.
Mom: There are lots of cheeses. I guess the yellow would be, umm…
Riiiing
Mom: What do you call that cheese?
Molly: Velveeta?
Mom: Yeah.
Riiiing
Riiiing
Recording #2
Shannon : Did you do this?
Shea: Yeah, thanks.
Shannon : Oh, I really like these squares. Like I really like the orange and the yellow squares. And the blue.
Shea: Yeah, I don't… I don't know. I think the yellow looks too orange.
Molly: I think it's a pretty yellow.
Analysis
Molly, her mother, and her father all have southern accents with long vowel sounds, although they are very different. Her father has a very distinct, deep Georgian accent; he frequently shortens and slurs his words. Her mother has a very precise, enunciated accent. Molly's southern accent is a lot more subtle, possibly due to the fact that she has been surrounded primarily by peers with minimal southern accents at school for the last few months. Molly's consonants are very clear, but her vowels are a lot more drawn out, which still gives her more of a southern accent than Shea and I. In particular, there is contrast in the pronunciation of the word 'yellow' between Molly and her parents. Her father pronounces the final oh sound as uh, or 'yella.' Her mother pronounces it as 'yel-oh' with extra emphasis on the yel- part of the word. Molly, Shea, and I all pronounce the word the same as 'yel-oh' with the emphasis on -oh part of the word.
The differences leading to the variation in recording one are subtle because the individuals come from the same family, but are nonetheless substantial. Molly and her parents are obviously very far apart in age. They are members of two separate generations, each of which is defined by their own linguistic styles and tendencies. They were all raised in different areas. Molly was born and raised in Roxboro , NC , while her mother comes from Knightdale, NC and her father from Waycroff, GA. The regional variation separating the Georgian dialect from the North Carolinian dialect is a major factor for the difference between the dialects of Molly and her father. It is possible to adopt aspects of a regional dialect that is foreign to you after inhabiting the area for a long time, although the dialect can never be fully mastered. Her father may have some semblance of the Roxboro dialect after having lived there for so long, but not enough to attain the native speaker status Molly has. Molly and her parents spend the majority of their time in separate social groups, therefore are less exposed to the same style of speaking. They have formed separate social allegiances in which the other members of the family do not take part.
The similarities in recording two could be predictable. Molly, Shea, and I all share the same age, gender, and ethnicity and have similar socio-economic statuses, therefore would have similar social histories. We grew up in the same generation with the same exposure to cultural icons and events. We are all from North Carolina , despite being from different regions of the state. There is still variation across the state, however this variation is much less than the difference between North Carolina and Georgia . As her suitemates, Shea and I represent a very important social allegiance in Molly's life. Since we all live together, we have become very close and have developed our own sort of culture. The convergence of dialect between us makes this culture more apparent and exclusive.
There was no sample available of Molly saying the word yellow with her parents. It is possible that Molly exhibits linguistic convergence and would have a different dialect with her parents since they represent a different social allegiance in her life. However, this does not seem likely since her voice in recording one is how she sounds when she is at school. These samples also only analyzed the affect of societal influence on pronunciation, although language variation encompasses the complete dialect of an individual.
The selection of an appropriate dialect for a given situation is very important, since (as shown above) dialect reveals much more about the speaker and the speaker/listener relationship than is actually said. A listener would be more likely to believe a credible source if the source used a prestige dialect associated with higher education. Language variation makes it very easy to discriminate against individuals because dialect is so linked with cultural stereotypes, yet is not a characteristic such as skin color that is protected from discrimination by legal regulations. Hawaiian meteorologist James Kahakua was not given a promotion to a radio broadcasting position because his native Hawaiian dialect was considered a representation of poor English. Many actors, such as the Welsh Catherine Zeta-Jones, were forced to adopt an alternate dialect for use on stage because their regional dialects were too stigmatized for acceptance by the general public. In order to avoid miscommunication or possible discrimination it is important that speakers, when choosing how to speak, are always aware of whom they are talking to, their relationship the listener, the topic of the conversation, and the intent of the conversation.
Sources:
Foulkes, Paul. "Sociophonetics." Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics . 2nd ed. 2005.
Meyerhoff, Miriam. "Linguistic change, sociohistorical context, and theorybuilding in variationist linguistics: new-dialect formation in New Zealand ." English Language and Linguistics 10.1 (2006): 173-94.
My name is Shannon Mentock. I was originally born in Denver, CO, but only lived there for a short time before moving to Durham, NC so my mother could do her residency at UNC-Chapel Hill. I attended high school at Cary Academy in Cary, NC. Cary Academy considers itself to be technologically advanced, so I am no stranger to computers.
I have studied French for the past 7 years and, therefore, understand basic Spanish. The summer before last I spent 3 weeks abroad in Tours, France as part of a school exchange program. My favorite part of foreign language is studying how words in different languages come from the same roots or how the Romance Languages have given English many words. I have very diverse musical interests and I like discovering new artists, especially foreign. One of my favorite things to listen to right now is a Brazilian Portugese CD made by one of the main characters in the movie "City of God." I was in chorus for a few years, so I can read music well and play basic piano. I have attempted to learn how to play the guitar a couple times, but it never works out.
I have always been really interested in the concept of communication and how people understand each other. It's really bizarre to me to actually breakdown common, underappreciated things, like speaking, and examine them. One of the things I really enjoy doing are the daily puzzles in the newspaper. After a lot of practice I have gotten really good at the cryptograms. People will ask me how I do them, and I really don't know. After looking at the jumbled letters for awhile it just makes sense which letter is represented by which other letter in the code. Certain combinations appear regularly, therefore are easy to identify. The description of a chessmaster knowing the optimum move reminded me a lot of this.
Language variation is the appearance of a multitude of dialects which are still represented by one language. Dialect encompasses many aspects of a language, not just limited to pronunciation. Pronunciation, speech patterns, word choice, grammatical agreement, or basically any aspect of a language can be changed when a dialect is created. The actual language spoken between dialects is still the same; therefore, individuals are able to understand people using a foreign dialect, although they may not be able to fully replicate it themselves.
Molly, her mother, and her father all have southern accents with long vowel sounds, although they are very different. Her father has a very distinct, deep Georgian accent; he frequently shortens and slurs his words. Her mother has a very precise, enunciated accent. Molly's southern accent is a lot more subtle, possibly due to the fact that she has been surrounded primarily by peers with minimal southern accents at school for the last few months. Molly's consonants are very clear, but her vowels are a lot more drawn out, which still gives her more of a southern accent than Shea and I. In particular, there is contrast in the pronunciation of the word 'yellow' between Molly and her parents. Her father pronounces the final oh sound as uh, or 'yella.' Her mother pronounces it as 'yel-oh' with extra emphasis on the yel- part of the word. Molly, Shea, and I all pronounce the word the same as 'yel-oh' with the emphasis on -oh part of the word.
My name is Shannon Mentock. I was originally born in Denver, CO, but only lived there for a short time before moving to Durham, NC so my mother could do her residency at UNC-Chapel Hill. I attended high school at Cary Academy in Cary, NC. Cary Academy considers itself to be technologically advanced, so I am no stranger to computers.