This document discusses language varieties and the differences between dialects and languages. It notes that there is no clear distinction, and mutual intelligibility is often used as a criterion but creates problems. Dialects can be regional, based on geography, or social, based on factors like occupation, education, ethnicity. Prestige dialects become standardized but this designation is imposed externally and shifts over time. All speakers use multiple dialects depending on social context.

1. 1
Meeting 3
Sociolinguistics
Language, Dialect, Varieties
Siti Mukminatun

2. 2
Varieties
 Hudson (1980: 24)
a set of linguistic items with similar distribution
 Ferguson (1971: 30)
any body of human speech patterns which
sufficiently homogeneous to be analyzed by
available techniques of synchronic description
and which has a sufficiently large repertory of
elements and their arrangements or process
with broad enough semantic scope to function in
all normal context of communication.

3. 3
Varieties
 Wardaugh (1988: 20)
a specific set of linguistic items or human
speech patterns (presumably, sounds, words,
grammatical features) which we can uniquely
associate with some external factors
(presumably, a geographical area and a social
group)

4. 4
Language vs. Dialect
There is no clear-cut or watertight concept.
The criterion ‘Mutual Intelligibility’
 If two varieties of speech are mutual intelligible
→ dialect
 If they are not mutual intelligible → language
Problems
a. Chinese → language
7 languages with enormous internal dialect
variation (not mutual intelligible) (political factor)

5. 5
Problem on Mutual Intelligibility
b. Italy
1) bordering dialects are mutually intelligible
2) those farther apart → not mutual intelligible
3) Rural dialects from the south & Italy can’t be
understood by the speakers from the north.
c. Scandinavian languages (Norwegian, Swedish, Danish)
1) great mutual intelligibility
2) different countries → language (political boundaries)

6. 6
Problem on Mutual Intelligibility
D. Yiddish dialect (Jews of eastern Europe)
1) Mutually intelligible with many varieties of
modern German
2) Both German and Jews → Yiddish &
German → Language (reflection of the
separate religions and cultural affinities)
E. Kallabari (powerful and important people)
1) Do not understand Nembe (social factors)

7. 7
Problem on Mutual Intelligibility
F. German vs. Dutch → language (social factors)
G. Norfolk dialect vs. the Suffolk dialect (change
gradually from one place to another)
H. Many dialect of English not mutually intelligible.
Some dialects of English are often not mutually
intelligible
e.g. the mid-Atlantic states for the US may have
difficulty understanding English dialects in
Scotland or Ireland

8. 8
i. Urdu-Hindi
are the same language, but certain differences
are becoming more and more magnified for
political and religious reasons.
1) hindi is written left to right (devanagari
script), draws on Sanskrit for its borrowings
2) Urdu is written right to left (Persian-arabic
script), draws on Persian sources

9. 9
intelligibility
1. A matter of degree → dialect continuum → adjacent
regions can understand each other speech, regions further
apart may not understand each other
2. The problem is unresovable purely on linguistic ground.
The decision → political and culture affinities.
Amstrd dusseldo
rf
cologne trier berdpn
ik Ich ich ich ich
maken maken mache
n
mache
n
Machen
dorp dorp dorp dorf dorf

10. 10
Language vs. Dialect
Language (prestige) and dialect (stigma)
The stigmatization of the term dialect
1. I don’t speak dialect
2. in reality, all speakers of English speak some dialect,
regardless of its social status.
Most speakers use a variety of different dialects or styles in
different situations.
 Writing
 Colloquial speech (with friends, family)
 Formal speech (with strangers, authority figures)

11. 11
Everybody speaks a dialect
Accent → differences in pronunciation between
one variety of a language and another
Dialect
1. a variety of language used by a group whose
linguistic habit pattern both reflect and are
determined by shared regional, social, or
cultural perspectives.
2. all the differences between varieties of a
language, those in pronunciation, word usage,
syntax, and variation of the given community.
3. to apply to all varieties, not just to non-standard
varieties

12. 12
Kinds of dialect
1. Regional dialect
2. Social dialect
It is possible in a given community, people
speak more than one dialect.

13. 13
Social dialects
Factors such as occupation, place of
residence, education, income, racial or
ethnic origin, cultural background, caste,
religion related to the way people speak.
Social dialect originate from social groups
and depend on a variety of factors; social
class, religion, and ethnicity.

14. 14
Social dialects: examples
e.g.
1. Caste in India often determines which variety
of a language a speaker use.
2. Christian, Muslim and Jewish in Baghdad
speak different variety of Arabic.
3. Ethnic group in America, e.g. Labov’s work in
NY.
4. Speakers of Jewish and Italian ethnicity
differentiated from the standard variety or
Black English.

15. 15
Regional Dialect
Very distinctive local varieties → regional dialect
1. It is reflected in the differences in pronunciation, in
the choice and forms of words, and in syntax.
2. There is a dialect continuum.
3. Various pressures-political, social, cultural, and
educational- serve to harden current national
boundaries an to make the linguistic differences
among states
4. Dialect geography → term → used to describe
attempts made to map the distributions of various
linguistic features

16. 16
Accent
 Dialect must not be confused with ‘accent’.
Standard English is spoken in a variety of
accents. RP is the English accent that has
achieved certain eminence.
a. associated with a higher social or educational
background
b. most commonly taught to students EFL
c. other names for this accents: the queen’s
English, Oxford English, BBC English.

17. 17
Why do some dialects have more prestige
than others?
Some dialects have more prestige
1. Historical factors
2. Other factors
Such dialect is called ‘standard’ or ‘consensus
dialects.
This designation :
1. Externally imposed
2. The prestige of a dialect shifts as the power
relationship
3. The prestige of the speakers shift

18. 18
Standard vs. non standard language
Nothing to do with differences between formal & colloquial (bad
language)
Standard language
1. Variety of English, used in print, taught in schools to non-native
speakers.
2. Spoken by educated people & used in news broadcast.
3. The centralization of English political and commercial life at
London
4. Gave the prominence over other dialects
Standard English →widely codified grammar & vocabulary
RP → developed largely in the English public schools & required of
all BBC announcers (BBC English)

19. 19
Standard language
1. A small number of regional differences
2. Standard Scottish ≠ standard English
English ≠ American standard
British : I have got
American : I have gotten
English : It needs washing
Scottish : It needs washed