Language Variation,Dialects, Isoglass, Register, Standard Language, Idiolect,PIDGINS AND CREOLES

2.  Presented By Hajat Hussain
 Reg No 2016-KIU-2242
 Department of Modern Languages
 Prepared by Mam Fouzia

3. Important part of sociolinguistics
 Languages vary from one place to another,
Geographical variation,
 from one social group to another Social
variation
 from one situation to another, Contextual
variation


4.  The adjective standard means ‘recognized
as correct or acceptable’, and a standard
 language is a variety that in different ways
is recognized as more correct and
acceptable than other varieties. In many
ways, standard variety is an equally
appropriate designation. It has the following
prototypical properties:

5.  It is the variety of used by educated users,
e.g. those in the professions, the
 media, and so on.
 • It is the variety defined in dictionaries,
grammars, and usage guides.
 • It is regarded as more correct and socially
acceptable than other varieties.
 • It enjoys greater prestige than dialects and
non-standard varieties: nonstandard

6.  varieties are felt to be the province of the less
educated.
 • It is used as a written language.
 • It is used in important functions in the
society – in the government, the
 parliament, courts, bureaucracy, education,
literature, trade, and industry.

7.  It is an idealised variety, but exists for most
people as the version that is accepted as the
official language of their community or
country.
 In printed books and newspapers.
 Used in mass media.
 Taught at most schools.
 Taught as a second or foreign language.
7

8.  1.We’re not coming (Standard English dialect)
 2.We ain’t coming (non-standard English dialect)
 Dialect--a local form of "a language”; often associated with a particular
region (regional dialect) or subsection of a larger language community
(sociolect).

--regionally or socially distinctive
--vary in relatively minor aspects of their pronunciation (“accent”),
vocabulary and grammar (how words are combined into sentences)
Exercise 1
8

9.  words, sounds, or grammatical constructions
 The English pronouns yous ‘2nd person plural’
and you ‘2nd person singular or plural’
 they have different social distributions
 yous found in certain non-standard varieties
of English,
 You occurs in all standard varieties

10.  If you take a look at a dialect atlas of England,
 child is used in southern England and in
Midland
 while bairn is used in northern England.
 Child and bairn are different linguistic items.

11.  In England, the sound as in sun /»s√n/, is a
typical southern sound, found in
 southern England and in South Midland,
 while this sound is not used among speakers
 of dialects in North Midland and northern
England, where, for example, the word sun
 is pronounced /»sUn/, with the sound /U/, which
is found in put /»pUt/ in most dialects
 also in the South (some areas have /√/).The
English phonemes /√/ and /U/ are
 different linguistic items.

12.  The suffix –ing of written English, as in
coming, and comin
 two pronunciations have different social
 distributions:
 the former is a typical standard
pronunciation
 the latter a typical non-standard
pronunciation.

13.  In the English dialects of England, the most
widespread past tense of catch
is catched
while the standard dialect and some other
dialects have caught .The English past tense
forms catched /»kQtSt/ and caught /»kç˘t/ are
 different linguistic items.

14.  The dialectal variation between Have you got the
time? in British English vs. Do you have the time? in
American English.
 The dialectal variation between lift (British
English) and elevator (American English).
Exercises 2-5
14

15.  Give it to me!
 Give me it!
 and Give it me!
 is an example of a Standard English grammatical
construction, with a verb (here in the imperative)
 In traditional dialects of England, this construction is
not very common, being found primarily in the South-
west and in some areas on the south-eastern coast
 (including the London area).
 These three sentences, are instances of three different
grammatical constructions, each of which is a
linguistic item.

16.  There are many ways of speaking,
 and each way of speaking is a variety.
 a variety may be defined as a set of linguistic
items with similar social distribution.
 Child and bairn

17.  It should be emphasized that a variety is not
necessarily a full-fledged language»,
 It does not have a large vocabulary and
grammar.
 It may simply be a small set of linguistic
items, as is the case with a slang, which may
typically be defined as a quite restricted set of
new words and new meanings of older words,
mixed with.

18.  1) Varieties of language
 (a) Standard English. No one has gone to the post
office yet.
 (b) Jamaican Creole .Nobadi no gaan a puos yet.
‘No one has gone to the post office yet.’
 ( (d) New Guinea Pidgin (Tok Pisin). ‘Father, I have
sinned against God and against you.’
 ((e) Older Standard English of the ‘KingJames
version’ Bible.Father, I have sinned against
heaven, and in thy sight.

19.  (f) Scots, from Leith.When ah wis a boy ma
mither an faither died. ‘When I was a boy my
mother and father died.’
 g) Standard English & English slang (ball-ache)
Walking 5 miles to work is a real ball-ache.
 ‘Walking 5 miles to work is really
inconvenient.’

20.  Fula , spoken in 17 countries, West Africa,
 in Sahel,
 the savanna belt south of the Sahara desert,
 from Mauritania and Senegal in the west,
through Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger,
 Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and neighboring
countries areas;
 The Fula speaking area is not geographically
continuous; there are many Fula speaking areas
 across Sahel, interrupted by areas where
hundreds of other languages are spoken.

21.  It is generally assumed that Fula is a language,
that is, a single language, with a
 number of dialects. In this sense, a dialect is
regarded as a geographical variety of a
 language, spoken in a certain area, and being
different in some linguistic items from
 other geographical varieties of the same
language.
 This definition of dialect is in common use
among linguists, and differs from a
 usage found in several European language
communities among non-linguists, where

22.  dialect is often used about «provincial»
varieties that differ from the standard dialect,
 which is then regarded as the «proper
language»;
 The standard dialect is then regarded as the
«non-dialectal variety of the language.

23.  The different Fula speaking areas inWest Africa
may be referred to as dialect areas,
 and there are between ten and fifteen major
dialect areas.The most important ones are
 found in
 (i) northern Senegal and southern Mauritania,
 (2) Guinea,
 (3) Mali,
 (4) Burkina Faso, western Nigeria, and western
Niger,
 (5) central Nigeria, and (6) eastern
 Nigeria and northern Cameroon.

24.  When speakers from neighboring dialect areas
meet, they can communicate with each other
without problems, each one her or his native
 variety.
 However, if a Fula speaker from one end ofWest
Africa meets a Fula speaker
 from the other end, there may be problems,
although communication is still possible,
 perhaps with some exceptions (speakers from
eastern Nigeria and northern Cameroon

25.  would have difficulties in understanding a
speaker from Guinea), and depending to a
 certain extent upon individual speakers—
everybody is not equally good at
 understanding dialects differing from their
own.5 Undoubtedly, the Fula speaking
 areas ofWest Africa can be described as a
dialect continuum, which may be defined
 as follows:

26.  A dialect continuum is a chain of dialects, let
us say dialects 1–10, with the
 following property:
 Speakers of dialect 1 understand dialect 2
extremely well.
 Speakers of dialect 1 and dialect 3 understand
each other rather less well, and
 speakers of dialect 1 and dialect 4 less well
again.There comes to a point,
 however, say at dialect 5, where dialect 1 is no
longer intelligible to the local
 people and vice versa.

27.  that a dialect is one of several mutually
 intelligible geographical varieties. Now, there
are many «languages» that are mutually
 intelligible, for example Danish, Swedish, and
Norwegian, or several of theTurkic
 languages, includingTurkish and its closest
neighbors, and our new definition of
 dialect forces us to claim that these «languages»
are in a «dialect relationship» to each
 other.

28. 2. Dialect
Dialect
 A regional, temporal, or social variety within
a single language
 Differs in pronunciation, grammar and
vocabulary from standard language (socially
favoured dialect)

29.  Dialect:
Dialect is a specific form of a given language,
spoken in a certain locality or geographical area
showing sufficient differences from the standard of
literary form of that language, as to pronunciation,
grammatical construction and idiomatic use of
words, to be considered a distinct entity, yet not
sufficient distinct from other dialects of the
language to be regarded as a different language –
A dictionary of Linguistics (1945) A. Pie and Frank
Gaynor

30.  Some English dialects:
 Received Pronunciation
 Cockney (East London)
 East Anglian (Norfolk, Suffolk and North Essex)
 Black British English
 Geordie (Newcastle uponTyne)
 Scouse (Merseyside)
 Mancunian-Salfordian (Manchester & Salford)
 Etc.
30

31. Meaning Mauritania Mali Nigeria
Land lesdi leydi lesdi
Book Deftere Dewtere deftere
To write Winndude Winndude winndugo
Writes Windatt winndan winndan

32. 3. Isogloss
 An isogloss is a line indicating the degree of
linguistic change. (Gleason 1963 : 398)
 Isogloss is a representation of statistical
probabilities, a graphic way of portraying a
translation of speech characteristics of one
area to another, a bundle of isoglosses may
be interpreted as marking a zone of great
translation of speech.

33.  An isogloss is a line drawn on a real or
hypothetical map marking the boundary
between two distinctive linguistic features.
For example, in England one could draw a line
running vaguely across the country
separating the part where the G is
pronounced as a glottal stop in words such
as singing and shouting (the North) from the
area where people say siŋiŋ and shoutiŋ (the
South).

34. Isogloss (contd..)
 It indicates a dialect boundary
 A term modelled on geographical terms –
Isotherm( a line joining areas of equal
temperature) and Isobar (a line joining areas
of equal atmospheric pressure
 It is in contrast to Isograph- any line on a
linguistic map, indicating a uniformity in the
use of sounds, vocabulary, syntax, inflection,
etc.

35.  A term used for a line drawn on a dialect map
which marks off an area which uses a particular
variant from another neighbouring area which
uses a different variant.
 The term applies to phonological, grammatical
and lexical boundaries.
 e.g. the use of paper bag in Northern dialect of Midwest
America vs. paper sack in Midland dialect of Midwest
America.
35

36. 4. Register
 varieties of language according to use
 Stylistic functional varieties of a dialect or
language
 narrowly defined by reference to subject
matter (field of discourse – jargon of fishing,
sports etc.) to medium (mode of discourse
e.g. printed material, written, letter, message
on tape etc.) or level of formality i.e. style
(manner of discourse)

37.  Some definitions of Registers
 By register we mean a variety correlated with
performer’s social role on a given occasion.
Every normal adult plays a series of different
social roles- one man ,for example, may function
at different times as head of a family, motorist,
cricketer, member of a religious group, professor
and so on, and within his idiolect he has varieties
shared by other persons and other idiolects
appropriate to these roles.

38. Definitions (contd..)
When the professor’s wife tells him to ‘stop
talking like a professor’ she is protesting at a
misuse of register.” – J.C. Catford, A Linguistics
theory ofTranslation, OUP, 1965, p.89
 Registers are those “varieties of language which
correspond to different situations, different
speakers and listeners, or readers and writers,
and so on” R.M.W. Dixon, “On formal &
contexual Meaning,” ALH (Budapast), xiv, p.38.

39. Register (contd..)
Talking about the role of speaker, A young
lecturer, for example, will speak in different
ways when communicating with his wife, his
children, his father, his colleagues, his students,
when shopping, and so on. Each of this varieties
will be register.

40. 5. Idiolect
 a variety of language used by one individual
speaker, including peculiarities of
pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary etc.
 A dialect made of idiolects of a group of
speakers in a social or regional subdivision of
a speech community

41. Idiolect (contd)
 Idiolect is “an identifiable pattern of speech
characteristic of an individual.” or “ Ideolect is
the individual’s personal variety of the
community language system” (A Dictionary
of Linguistics: 1954)

42. 6. Diglossia
 When two or more dialects or languages in
regular use, the situation called diglossia
 One dialect or language given higher status
or prestige, and is reserved for certain
functions in a society, such as government,
education, the law, religion, literature, press,
radio andTV
 The prestige dialect often called the standard
dialect (the language)

43.  A type of linguistic situation in which there is a division
 between two languages or two varieties of a language
such
 that one variety, the so-called 'high' or H variety, is used in
 public life —in addresses, in the media, in schools and
 universities, etc. —and another variety, the so-called 'low'
 variety or L variety, is used in domestic life —with family
 and friends. Examples of diglossic situations are to be
 found in Switzerland (Hochdeutsch and Schwizerdütsch),
in
 various Arabian countries (Classical Arabic and the local
 dialect of Arabic), Paraguay (Spanish and Guaraní).

44. 7. Pidgin
 A pidgin is a contract language, a mixture of
elements from different natural languages
 Use restricted to certain groups, e.g. traders
& seamer
 Used in some parts of Asia
 Chinese pidgin – for limited purpose of trade

45.  Tok Pisin, spoken in Papua New Guinea.
 Lexifier language (main source of words):
English
 tu buk (two books)
 di gyal place (the girl’s place)
 bilong (your)
 buk bilong yu (your book)
45

46.  A pidgin is:
 a variety of a language (e.g. English) that developed
for some practical purpose, such as trading,
 among groups of people who had a lot of contact,
 but who did not know each other’s languages.
46

47.  Simple grammatical morphology.
 Somewhat limited vocabulary.
 Plural suffix –s and the possessive form (’s) on
nouns are rare.
 Use of functional instead of inflectional
morphemes:
 E.g. use of bilong instead of changing you to your.
 Syntax: quite unlike the syntax of the languages
from which terms were borrowed and modified.
47

48.  Pidgin (contd)
 Also called contact vernacular
 8. Creole
 When pidgin becomes linguafranca
 Pidgin extends beyond limited function &
enters other activities
 Has standardized grammar, vocabulary &
sound system

49.  Creole (contd..)
 Spoken by increasing number of people as
first language
 So, A creole is a mixed natural language
composed of elements of different languages
in areas of intensive contact.
 Examples: creoles of islands of Mauritius and
Haiti

50.  When a pidgin develops beyond its role as a
trade or contact language and becomes the
first language of a social community it is
described as a creole.
 Tok Pisin is now a creole.
 French creoles in Haiti.
 English creoles in Jamaica and Sierra Leone.
50

51.  It refers to the description of aspects of
pronunciation that identify where an individual
speaker is from, regionally or socially.
 We all speak with an accent.
51

52.  The pronunciation of car and year in British and
American accents (variation in /r/).
 The pronunciation of beautiful south and north
of London (variation in /ju/ and /u:/
respectively).
 The pronunciation of but and bus in the south
and the north of England (variation of /a/ and
/u/ respectively).
52

53.  In diglossia there is typically:
 a “low” variety (spoken language) acquired locally
and used for everyday affairs and
 a “high” variety (written language) learned in school
and used for important and institutional matters.
53

54.  In Arab speaking countries:
 the high variety (Classical Arabic) is used in formal
lectures, serious political events, religious
discussions, etc.
 The low variety is the local Egyptian Arabic,Tunisian
Arabic, Lebanese Arabic, etc.
 The use of katharevousa and dimotiki in Greece before 1976.
Exercise 6
54

55.  Jargon is a set of vocabulary items used by members of
particular professions, that is,
 their technical terms. For example, linguists have a large
vocabulary that is not well
 understood by non-linguists.This book is full of examples, and it
should not be
 necessary to repeat any of them here.
 Dictionary definitions of jargon usually give examples like computer
jargon
 and the jargon of the advertising business, but all professions have
their own jargons.
 We can therefore talk about farmer’s jargon or the jargon of Fulani
shepherds. As we
 mentioned in § 3.2.1, Fulani shepherds have a huge vocabulary for
cattle.

56.  I speak my favorite language
 because
 that’s who I am.
 We teach our children our favorite
language,
 because
 we want them to know who they are.
 (Christine Johnson, June 2002)

57.  Language is closely tied with identity.
 A Balti speaker is known by Balti language
 Shina langauge is the identity of a Shina speaker
 The language you speak defines who you are
 The commitment to uphold and promote the
acceptance of diversity and pluralism with
particular regard to culture is one of the core
values of KIU.
 Languages being the instruments of recording,
preserving and disseminating culture deserve
special consideration.

58.  We are thus out with all the sources and
resources to preserve and promote the
endangered regional languages of GB like
Shina,Wakhi, Domaki, and Balti through our
department of Modern Languages

59.  The loss of language also causes
 the loss of other culturally significant
practices
 oral histories
 traditional songs
 poetry
 art forms
 All these factors create a vacuum which may
lead people towards extremism: Pakistan in
general , GB in particular.

60.  Language endangerment is the result of
external forces
 Foreign aggression
 Economic, (survival of fittest)
 Cultural, (English for prestige ),
 Language contact
 Globalization
 Educational subjugation, (medium of
instruction)
 Language shift in GB (Domaki)

61. Community’s negative attitude towards its own
language.
 Even the local languages of GB like Shina,
Balti, Khawar, Brushiski and Domaki are
endangered as their speakers observe language
shift .
 These speakers prefer English at the cost of
their native languages.

62.  Language documentation requires active and
collaborative work with local speech
community (Shina, Balti, khawar, brushiski ,
domaiki) both as producers of language
materials and as co-researchers.

63.  The Department of Modern Languages of
KIU has taken the first step to document and
preserve local languages by introducing
language documentation as a core course in
its curriculum since 2011 .
 The Department of modern languages tries
its utmost to create awareness among local
speech communities on electronic and print
media regarding documentation and
preservation of local languages.

64.  More than 300 students of ML were taught
the course of Language documentation from
2012 t0 2016
 Students conducted different research
projects on regional and local languages.
 “Factors contributing to potential extinction
of Domaki language” (43 sounds)
 These thesis has been nominated as one of
the best thesis .

65. 1. Identification and dynamics of Archaic
words in Brushiski
2. Intrasentential code- switching between
English and Khawar
3. The frequent and gradual induction of
English words into Shina language
4. A comparative study of English and the
Shina morphology

66. 5 Literary devices in English and Shina romantic
poetry: A Comparative study of Keatsean
odes and Shina romantic poetry
6 A comparative study of superstitions in Shina
folktales and Shakespearean tragedies

67.  Organized different seminars atGilgit and
Skrdu Campus of KIU
 We invite local language experts who
delivered lectures on the need of
preservation and documentation of regional
languages.
 3 books are published in local languages
 2 on Shina language
 1 on Balti

71.  “Ishq Malang “
 A Book OfAzizur Rehman Malangi
 An epitome of Shina literature and culture
 It has paved way for the preservation of Shina
folklore

73.  It is not sufficient just to teach local
languages as a course at masters level
 Lacking in curriculum in these languages at
grass root level is a burning issue.
 Awareness among speech community
 Need of Language center and academy for
promoting local languages
 A strong coordination of language academy
with the department of Modern Languages
can be a mile stone in this regard.

74. ThankYou