66
The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneity An Introduction to the Study of Varieties of Present-day English Rodica Albu Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi [email protected]

The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

  • Upload
    lehanh

  • View
    240

  • Download
    5

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneity An Introduction to the Study of Varieties of Present-day English

Rodica Albu

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi

[email protected]

Page 2: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:
Page 3: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Iaşi

Page 4: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

The systematic nature of language

A language = a set of interrelated systems, each acting in accordance with specific rules and restrictions and each being studied by specific branches of linguistics.

- Phonology;

- Morphology;

- Syntax;

- Semantics;

- Discourse analysis;

- Pragmatics.

Page 5: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Basic assumptions in traditional language studies:

Language as a set of interrelated systems.

The assumption of language uniformity (dominating in pedagogical grammars) and of an ideal speaker of a homogeneous language.

The idea of correctness.

Page 6: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

One needs to have:

Knowledge of language + knowledge of things in the world

a small elephant vs. a big mouse

Imaginaire linguistique + creativity

a pink elephant

Page 7: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:
Page 8: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Pink +

Page 9: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

For discussion: ENL

*Football plays the bugs.

?He ain’t got no money./?You tired, isn’t it?

He hasn’t got any money./You’re tired, aren’t you?

“How are you?” “Fine.”

----------------

EFL

He has come here since last summer.

Either I put on weight or my clothes shrinked.

Page 10: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Language as…

Language as expression of logical thinking >

Congruence (Logic, Cognitive linguistics)

Language as system (Descriptive linguistics)

Language as norm > Correctness

(Prescriptive/Normative linguistics)

Language as speech > Appropriateness

(Pragmatics, Sociolinguistics, Cultural

linguistics, Functional stylistics)

Page 11: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

eHistLing http://www.ehistling-pub.meotod.de/

View like this lead to the

development

Page 12: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

The notion of “right” and “wrong” revisited: congruence, acceptability,

correctness, appropriateness

Task: Use an asterisk (*) to mark the

unacceptable sentences in the set

below. Use a question mark (?) if you

are in doubt about the correctness/

acceptability/ appropriateness of any of

these sentences:

Page 13: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

The notion of “right” and “wrong” revisited

1. Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.

2. John drinks bricks.

3. John drinks liquids.

4. I don’t need no help.

5. I don’t need any help. / I need no help.

6. I live in Rome but my family live in Bari.

Page 14: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

The notion of “right” and “wrong” revisited

7. This is the woman about whom I told you.

8. I wonder if it might be at all possible for you

to pass me the salt.

9. People whose professional activity lies in the

field of politics are not, on the whole,

conspicuous for their respect for factual

accuracy.

10. I have come to Bari since Sunday.

Page 15: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Remember the three broadest criteria by which a text or text extract is commonly judged.

We say that a text is clear, coherent, that is, congruent if it is "in agreement with the general principles of human thinking or with a certain knowledge of things" (COSERIU 1994: 44);

A text is correct if it conforms to the rules, to the norms, of a certain language;

A text is appropriate if it conforms to the norms of discourse (that is, appropriate to the subject matter, to the interlocutor, to the situation...).

Page 16: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Potential English

= the set-theoretical union of all the varieties of English

(Kangiesser 1972)

Question: Can anyone ever master the whole set of “Englishes”?

Electronic Corpora…

V1

V2

V3

V4

V5

V6

Page 17: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

The common core

= the set-theoretical intersection of all the varieties of a language

(C. F. Hockett 1958)

Page 18: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

The common core?...

Appalachian English: you was and y'all were

People don’t be afraid any more.

Newfoundland English (regularly occurring events): I bees, you bees…; e.g., She bees over here quite often

Somerset: I be

Birmingham (personal experience): you’m…

Page 19: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Dynamic approaches to language

Acknowledging the permanence of language change and variation, and of the role time and geographic space play in the evolution and structure of language.

Looking upon language as a social phenomenon => The sociological, psychological, ethnological and even politological perspectives to the study of language are added.

Replacing the idea of an ‘ideal speaker-listener’ (Chomsky) by the idea of an idealised selection process (pragmatic and sociological orientations).

Page 20: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Variation and varieties

“Variety and variation are […] alternative ways of seeing the same thing as, respectively, product and process.” (Pope 1998: 229)

Variation = “the historical process of differentiation; it embraces shifts and switches within the usage of an individual – even within a single speech – as well as large-scale change across whole language

communities”. (Pope 1998: 229) Varieties = the relatively stable and relatively

homogeneous entities resulting from variation.

Idiolect = a variety of a language unique to an individual.

Page 21: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Variation - basic types

Diachronic variation =

variation in time, i.e., language change in progress

Synchronic variation, further subdivided into:

regional variation (in space),

social variation (along the social ladder) and

stylistic variation (determined by occasion of use).

Note

Some authors also speak of:

unconditioned / free / inherent variation.

Page 22: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Language change exemplified

Changes in pronunciation: a tendency towards simplifying certain diphthongs and triphthongs has been remarked even within RP (Received Pronunciation).

Lexical change: gramophone, record player, tape recorder…

Changes in grammar…

Q: Which type of change is slower?

Page 23: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Regional variation and social variation

Regional variation goes hand in hand with social variation. Trudgill’s rules:

(a) The higher a person is on the social scale, the less regionally marked is his accent, and the less it will differ from RP;

(b) The higher a person's position on the social scale, the less his/her speech is regionally marked and the less it will differ from Standard English.

Page 24: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:
Page 25: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Illustration of (a): % aitches dropped in hat

Upper middle class 12

Lower middle class 28

Upper working class 67

Middle working class 89

Lower working class 93

(the Bradford area of Yorkshire)

Page 26: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Illustration of (b): no –s in the third person singular

Class

Norwich

Class

Detroit

UMC

0%

UMC

1%

LMC

29%

LMC

10%

UWC

75%

UWC

57%

MWC

81%

LWC

71%

LWC

97%

Page 27: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

The spread of English throughout the world and its contact with new realities and local languages has contributed to regional variation. Geopolitical and ethnic factors impinge on the patterning of the so-called new “Englishes” side by side with social factors.

Page 28: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Stylistic variation = Variation in the pronunciation, lexical and

grammatical choices of an individual, which is conditioned by the perception of the situation in which he/she is speaking and by the intended effect of his/her speech act; the socially determined variation in the speech of an individual.

In pronunciation, e.g., the forms of to be…

In vocabulary and grammar, e.g., alcoholic beverages, drinks, booze; The person to whom I spoke vs…. ? (Q)

Page 29: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Unconditioned variation

Within RP there are differences in pronunciation which cannot be explained in terms either of change or of speech style (e.g., economic may be pronounced with initial [i] or initial [e], according to the speaker's preference.) Whenever linguists have not identified a plausible explanation of variation, they use the label “unconditioned” or “free”.

Page 30: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Language varieties as products of variation

Variety = “A neutral term used to refer to any kind of language – a dialect, accent, sociolect, style or register – that a linguist studies for some particular purpose. Such a variety can be general (e.g., “American English”) or very specific (e.g., “the lower working class dialect of the Lower East Side of New York City”). (Trudgill 1992: 77).

Page 31: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Types of varieties:

(1) variety in space;

(2) variety between the social-cultural strata of the community; and

(3) variety of expressive purposes, determined by the basic elements of the concrete speech act – subject matter, addressee, circumstances.

(Coşeriu 1994:142)

Page 32: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

The homogeneity within heterogeneity principle (Coseriu, Martinet, Kangiesser)

What do the prescriptivism of traditional grammar and the transformational-generative approaches have in common?

They look upon language as a monolithic, homogeneous object of study. They are interested in an idealised, psycholinguistic competence, labelled as “linguistic competence”.

In contrast, sociolinguists are more concerned with how and why speakers use the language they do, and look upon Standard English itself as a social variety, one among many, prestigious as it is.

Page 33: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Sociolinguists seek to correlate the linguistic variables with the traditional demographic units of the social sciences: age, sex, socioeconomic class membership, regional grouping, status and so forth. (Cf. Bell 1976: 24)

Dialectologists are mainly interested in the homogeneity of language use in certain areas that are ideally outlined by the presence of (bundles of) isoglosses (q.v.).

Page 34: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

One can also study:

the individual’s linguistic behaviour against the speech habits of the elected group with a view to evidencing the indices of antagonism or affiliation to that group;

the way one’s linguistic choices depend on subject matter, channel of communication, context of situation.

Page 35: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

In other words…

Language varieties function as indicators of social identity, hence language varieties have social meaning.

People speak the way they do not only because they observe the structure of the language code but also because of the role played by each of the following factors:

Page 36: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

1. type of speaker (regional and ethnic origin, socioeconomic status, education, sex, age)

2. type of addressee (same as in 1)

3. topic of speech (politics, sex, linguistics)

4. genre (religious sermon, academic writing)

5. medium (TV, Internet)

6. Mode (spoken, written, multimedia)

7. situation / setting (classroom, bar, a walk in the fields)

8. degree of formality (informal, formal)

9. type of speech act (statement, command, question).

Page 37: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Concepts:

system, rules and constraints;

correctness, acceptability, appropriateness;

language dynamism, centrifugal and centripetal forces;

standardization, Standard English;

idiolect;

the common core, Potential English, language corpora;

pidgins and creoles;

the homogeneity within heterogeneity principle.

Page 38: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Language and dialect

Dialects = mutually intelligible versions of

one language.

When mutual intelligibility is lost, then the

two versions are separate languages.

A dialect comes to be called language for

purely linguistic reasons or for social,

cultural and political reasons.

Page 39: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Language

A historical language is a language whose limits are established in the course of history and is recognized as such by its own speakers and by the speakers of other languages. It does not necessarily coincide with

a national language, the latter label being also a matter of political decision.

Page 40: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

The spread of English

A four-phase model for the overseas development of English:

(1) Transportation to overseas coasts by explorers, traders, settlers. The English language establishes its dominant position.

(2) Spread inland through conquest, prepared by geographical surveys, supported by railroad building; treks and goldrush; romantic legends (the American Dream, the Australian Legend) of frontiersmen (Davy Crockett, Paul Bunyan), slaughter of the aboriginal population (except in South Africa).

Page 41: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

australia

(3) National Consciousness. Political independence from the Mother Country, democratic ideology; attempts to set up a 'national language' different from (British) 'English' (Noah Webster, Sidney J Baker); cult of regional slang (witness the reception of Salinger's novel Catcher in the Rye).

(4) International Prestige The overseas varieties of English influence usage in Europe, e.g., Australian English black tea 'tea without milk', American English square 'old fashioned'. Technically, we say that the FOCAL AREA (i.e. the area whence innovations spread) shifts overseas from London.

Page 42: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

1. A variety of accents

A. (Minicontest) Identifiy six capital cities of English-speaking countries. Listen!

1. ............ 3. ............ 5. .............

2. ............ 4. ............ 6. .............

B. A joke told by a boy (local English accent )

C. Scottish doctor (local Scottish accent – audio/video) in Stornoway, Lewis and Harris

Page 43: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

D. An Arranged Marriage Listen to the

recorded interview. In the following

summary of the interview there are

some factual mistakes and some gaps..

Correct the mistakes and complete the

gaps.

Page 44: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Raj's father arranged her marriage when she was still at school. He chose her husband by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In Raj's case, this didn't take long, but sometimes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Two men were introduced to Raj and her family, and together they decided . . . . . . . . . . . The men were of similar background, but one of them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , and this was the one . . . . . . . . . Raj didn't agree with her father, but she had no choice. She has now been married for twenty-two years, and in fact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Most marriages in India are still . . . . . . . . . . . and the usual age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Page 45: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

2. International vocabulary – local vocabularies

A. British, American or International/ World/ Global English?

The psittacosis group of organisms, including the agents of trachoma and lymphogranuloma venereum are obligate intercellular parasites. The infectious particles or elementary bodies measure about 0.3μ diameter. They are commonly described as viruses though such classification is not easily reconciled with available evidence on their chemical composition and biological properties.

Page 46: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

B. An example of modern Glasgow dialect (a Glasgow woman is talking about the use of Scots words)

Aye - what was it now - Ah heard the wuman saying, an Ah was laughin, see. What did she say for "rinsin'"? She had this soapy water aw left, see. An she went, "Au, that's a shame tae waste thon..." - an what did she say? It was a right auld-fashiont word. Au, Ah canne remember. An, Ah mean - "sapple'" ? "That's a shaame tae waste thon sapple." It was aw this lovely soapy waater, see, an she'd only washed wan wee thing in it, an she went, "Anything else tae get washed? That's a shame tae waste thon sapple." Ah thought that was dead funny!

Page 47: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

3. Dialect grammar vs. standard grammar

A. A passage in Berkshire dialect:

Yes, we often has a drink in there, but I haven't got a lot of money, and I has to be careful about how much I spends. They don't pay much at my sort of work at the moment, though I dos a lot of overtime when I gets a chance. Do you find you has much left over these days? - you always have worked as many hours as you could. But they don't seem to be a lot to show for it, do there? Well,

Page 48: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

I'd better be off. My children always has their meal about now, and they haven't got much patience when it comes to waiting for me. My wife dos the best she can, but she […].

You done plenty of that in your time, didn't you? I wouldn't have done it myself, but my sister done the same sort of work, and she never did regret it. What did you think when you heard about it? I bet you didn't think it was him what done it.

Page 49: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

B. More regional grammar rules. Here are some sentences in Somerset dialect. Work out what the rule is for using the two different types of past-tense verb forms. (Ignore the other dialect features!)

I did go there every day. I went there last night.

I seen 'im last Thursday. I did see 'im regular.

We did play football when we was kids. We played football yesterday afternoon.

Page 50: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

4. “Eye dialect” in literature

Text A (St. Lucian English):

A Noble Prize Mooma what a fete! Dem St. Lucians

dance an prance till the back door tumble down

De boys say, “Charlie, have you heard the news?”

He turn on the radio an ah hear a Loshan win a Nobel prize

You hear how he say Nobel Speakey-spokey like the

Queen?

All the pickney know dat de word is Noble

He say is de second Nobel a Looshan win

Page 51: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Dey say he win it for potery and play

He never know dem uses to give price for dat

(Min you, me doesn play much) but me got nuff potery in my yard

Mus can give dis Walcott competition

Ah goin aks de boss to write up my petition

All you tink dis is fete? When ah get de tird Noble

Mama it go be pure bacchanal till nex year carnival.

Hazel Simmons McDonald

Page 52: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Text B: Hiberno-English

NORA [In a low voice.] Where is she?

CATHLEEN She's lying down, God help her, and may be sleeping, if she's able.

[Nora comes in softly, and takes a bundle from under her shawl.]

CATHLEEN [Spinning the wheel rapidly.] What is it you have?

NORA The young priest is after bringing them. It's a shirt and a plain stocking were got off a drowned man in Donegal.

Cathleen stops her wheel with a sudden movement, and leans out to listen.]

Page 53: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

NORA We're to find out if it's Michael's they are, some time herself will be down looking by the sea.

CATHLEEN How would they be Michael's, Nora. How would he go the length of that way to the far north?

NORA The young priest says he's known the like of it. "If it's Michael's they are," says he, "you can tell herself he's got a clean burial by the grace of God, and if they're not his, let no one say a word about them, for she'll be getting her death," says he, "with crying and lamenting."

[The door which Nora half closed is blown open by a gust of wind.]

CATHLEEN [Looking out anxiously.] Did you ask him would he stop Bartley going this day with the horses to the Galway fair?

Riders to the Sea. A play in one act by John Millington Synge. First performed at the

Molesworth Hall, Dublin, February 25th, 1904.

Page 54: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Text C: Afro-American English

He beat me like he beat the children. Cept he don't never hardly beat them. He say, Celie, git the belt. The children be outside the room peeking through the cracks. It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. That's how come I know trees fear man.

(Alice Walker, The Color Purple, New York, 1982)

Page 55: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Text F:

STOP AND THINK! What about the following? Does it look closer to Standard English, to some non-standard dialect, to a hybrid (pidgin/creole) variety,

or to none of these?

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote

The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,

And bathed every veyne in swich licour,

Of which vertu engendered is the flour; [...]

Page 56: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

5. Pidgins and Creoles

Pidgins = “‘Simplified’ varieties adopted as means of communication between speakers of two mutually unintelligible languages” (Petyt 1980: 187). (See also Text E)

Creole languages = “Pidgins that have acquired native speakers” (Trudgill 1983: 182). These illustrate “the human capacity to ‘create’ language” (Mühlhausler 1991: 160).

Page 57: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

DIATOPIC

(Coseriu, Rona)

also called local-regional

or

geographic dialect

(Gregory) (variety according to)

Region (Quirk et al.)

Halliday:

Quirk et al:

Halliday:

DIASTRATIC

(Coseriu, Rona)

also called

social-cultural

or

social dialect

(Gregory)

(variety according to)

Education and Social Standing (Quirk

et al)

DIAPHASIC

(Coseriu)

also called

diatopic (Rona)

or

functional-stylistic

(according to)

Content

Subject matter

Field

Channel

Medium

Mode

Participants

Attitude

Tenor

“ the language of..."

spoken

written

(See styles below)

Summing up: SYNCHRONIC VARIETIES

Page 58: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

STYLES

(JOOS 1967) frozen formal consultative casual intimate

(QUIRK ET AL. 1972) (rigid) FORMAL normal INFORMAL (familiar)

Page 59: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Styles along the formality scale illustrated:

Intimate Out!

Casual Run along, now!

Consultative Would you mind leaving room a moment?

formal The audience is required to kindly leave the room for a few moments.

Frozen The management respectfully requests the conferees to vacate the auditorium between sessions in order to facilitate the operations of the custodial stuff.

Page 60: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Concepts:

System; rules and constraints;

correctness, acceptability, appropriateness;

language dynamism, centrifugal and centripetal forces; variation and varieties; idiolect

standardization, Standard English(es);

the common core, Potential English, language corpora;

pidgins and creoles;

the homogeneity within heterogeneity principle.

Page 61: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

The English language – whither now?

English – today’s global language and most popular foreign language.

In its spoken form – many shapes in private conversation.

Public spoken forms are widely intercompre-hensible and written forms are remarkably homogeneous

For the EFL speakers (the “expanding circle”) the recommended variety should be one of the “inner circle” (a wide range of purposes).

Page 62: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Convergence or divergence?

Two scenarios – two “catastrophies”:

- the Americanization catasptrophe;

- the disintegration catastrophe.

Phonology…

Lexis…

Grammar…

Page 63: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Thank you!

Page 64: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

See you in Iasi!

Page 65: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

Test – true or false? 1.Social variation correlates with regional

variation.

2. Multiple negation is the rule rather than the exception in many varieties of English.

3. Accommodation is the term in sociolinguistics for the influence that housing has on the choice of a certain functional variety.

4.There is far more regional variation in the British Isles than there is in the United States.

5. RP is a social accent.

Page 66: The English Language between Homogeneity and Heterogeneitymanageweb.ict.uniba.it/.../laviosa/VarietiesofEnglish.pdf · linguistics, Functional stylistics) ... Types of varieties:

6.More as well as more complex subordination patterns are typical of spoken in contrast to written language.

7. You cannot speak a standard dialect with a regional accent.

8. Field, tenor and mode all relate to functionally motivated variation in language use.

9. More as well as more complex subordination patterns are typical of written in contrast to spoken language.