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Language Variation - Science topic
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Given the fact that English is no longer owned by speakers in the US or the UK, several scholars believe that today's learners should be encouraged to learn more about the different varieties of English speech spoken worldwide. As language teachers, we should be well-prepared to deal with this changing sociolinguistic reality of English, and we should accept the language variation exhibited in English as spoken today.
Since the 1800s, linguistics have been using Reed-Kellogg diagramming to teach about English syntax, but in 1916 we have Ferdinand de Saussure’s “Langue vs. Parole.” In 1954 we have John Gumpers’s and Dell Hymes’s S.P.E.A.K.I.N.G. model for language variation. In 1955 we have George Trager’s and Henry Lee Smith’s –eme and allo- forms (phoneme, allophone, etc.). In 1957 we have Noam Chomsky’s Generative Transformational grammar. In 1959, we have Kenneth Pike’s “Particle, Wave, and Field” grammar. In 1966 we have Charles Fillmore’s Deep Cases. In 1969 we have John Searle’s and J. L. Austin’s “Speech Acts” grammar. In 1980 we have George Lakoff’s “Metaphors we Live By.” In 1989 we have H. P. Grice’s “Conversational Implicatures.” In 2000 we have George Lakoff’s Embodiment. In 2000 we have Victor Raskin’s Script-Model Grammar, Salvatore Attardo’s adaption of Script-Model Grammar to long and sophisticated discourses, and Christian Hempleman’s adaption of Script-Model Grammar to Artificial Intelligence. So what is next in the continuing history of linguistics?
If I’m looking at language variation, and expecting a gender difference between ‘style’ and ‘content’, and how does that interact with different meanings of a specific terms used by male or female? i.e. one would be more content-ful than the other?
Naturally, a combination of criteria should be taken into account but I am trying to include all relevant literature, be it quantitative, pragmatic, or semantic approaches. The goal is to have objective criteria and avoid the usual clash between prescriptivists who reject everything, and anti-prescriptivists who say that recurrent errors are just idiolects. I know that many idioms and phrases (e.g. I could care less vs I couldn't care less) have been debated but I am trying to work out a generic solution. Thanks a lot for your help.
I would like to know if the analysis includes level of intelligibility of the interlocutor. Or does it focus only on the language variation and its social surroundings? (does sociophonetics (in general) covers intelligibility anyway?)
I am new on sociophonetics so please correct any idea that does not match on sociophonetics concept.
I hope hearing the answer soon. Thank you.
Any tips on running small-scale research projects with undergrads as part of coursework component? (It will be something on sociolinguistic variation). I want them to collect some data which we will pool together and analyse. What have you learnt from past successes/failures?
I'm aware of some projects in sociolinguistics and historical linguistics that share their data either in an open access format, without any substantial restrictions or delays, or without any "application" process as long as the work is for non-profit purposes. The idea is that everything that goes beyond a simple "Safeguard" letter hinders the maximal exploitation of limited and valuable resources.
These best practice examples, which make (often publicly-funded) data collections available to the public deserve recognition. While I can think of many historical data collection, the Helsinki Corpora Family or the BYU corpora, the more contemporary the data get, the fewer resources are publicly accessible. On the more contemporary end, I can think of, as exceptions,
* the Linguistic Atlas Project (http://www.lap.uga.edu)
and our own
* J. K. Chambers Dialect Topography database (http://dialect.topography.chass.utoronto.ca)
* Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles (www.dchp.ca/dchp2).
Which other projects of active data sharing do you know?
I'd appreciate your input for a list of Best Practice Data Collections that I'm preparing.
Best wishes,
Stefan D.
I'm considering using Twitter data I've collected for one research project to also do a study of orthographic variation. It seems like a topic that could be treated in much the same way as phonetic variation is treated in sociolinguistics, but I'm not familiar with any studies that treat it as such or that even consider the pitfalls of such an approach. What would be some relevant literature to review on the topic, assuming that any literature even exists on it?
Most of the studies looked at main/subordinate clauses to infer clausal architecture of a given language and how it has evolved over time. One of the most discussed topics is pragmatic domain and the interplay between syntactic structure and information structure, e.g. topicalization, clefting etc. Would you agree or disagree that infinitival clauses may be a better source to look at the word order change, as it is a reduced clause and we are not "distracted" by some stylistic variation? Looking forward for your opinions! Thank you!
Are there any articles dealing with variation in (English as) a foreign language? Sociolinguistic approach to language variation mostly focus on shift between languages, or between standard and dialect. Do fellows here find any research talk about (conscious) variation in a foreign language? Or Could any one suggest any study on language variation from a CDA approach? Thanks.
I am working with intonational bilingualism, but I am addressing the linguistic issue in a general way and answers from segmental phonology are welcome:
if on one hand I have a pair of synonymous (due to bilingualism), phonetically similar but phonologically distinct patterns that converge phonetically in a gradient way, creating a continuity of in-between forms without creating new phonological categories (gradent phonetic fudging), thus progressively (in time) eliminating their phonological distinction, and on the other hand I have another synonimous pair which creates a third intermediate fusion-form but also a fusion-category associated to it (phonological discrete fudging), am I allowed to say that (or is there a possible way to assess, and in this case, are there studies assessing whether) the first process is a more "below the level of awareness" than the second one (and therefore, is more bound to result in permanent change)?
Probably the very definition of phonological implies a "more" conscious process, but I mean specific self-awareness tasks, which in intonation may be of the kind "have you said it with an accent?" giving clearly polarized answers in some cases and many "I don't know"s or "sort of"s in others.
I m interested in finding out if anyone has any information or a location where I can get my mind on writings between the time frame of the Greek Empire to the Roman Empire. The goal is to trace the symbols in the book back to its original Algorithm, which again is between the Greek Empire and the Roman Empire.
