Midterm study guide Flashcards
Folk Linguistic views
Some languages are superior to others, varieties of language are superior to others
Folk Linguistic belief
Proper grammar provides more clarity, assumption that other varieties are lacking order or regularity – stereotypes
Variation
is intristic to spoken language on every level, phonology (sounds), Lexicon (words), Morphology , syntax (grammar) etc
ex ) fond = foolish , nice = ignorant
variation = progress
Consequences of Variation
social meaning, social identity, does not mean a casual relationship, inaccurate observations, allow someone to make a particular claim, these influences are influenced by stereotypes, attitudes or beliefs
Stereotypes
Generalization to which one assigns a trait to someone, categorical, general statement
empirical
based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic, bad claims
empirical observations
accent
Observation
a claim about some aspect of language
Attribution
attempt to explain a given observation
Folk linguistics
stereo types, fails to recognize other types of variation
ex) members of this group___ do this ____
Folk Linguistic consequences
misrepresentation of language usage, stereotypes, word rage, and linguisitic shaming
Language Standarization
an attempt to stop language change aka controlling variation
Whats wrong with english
1) it doesn’t differentiate like romance languages do 2) no impersonal 3rd person singular pronoun ex) a person can’t help THEIR birth
Syntax
a way a word is put together
Nasal airflow
everyone has it, some more than others
nasality
different varieties of language have different forms of nasality
Why are we here
examine ; what people believe about language because it varies, why they do so, the possible consequences, use empirical analysis to reduce negative consequences
Studying language
produce technical precise way of observing and describing data
facts of life by lippi green
all spoken languages change over time, all languages are equal in linguistic terms
possible folk linguistic views
language change is bad, language change means loss of expressibility
folk belief
dynamic process, nonspecialists to provide an account of the environment
Abstraction
a group of error free nonlinguistic speakers
availability
some matters can be discussed
unavailability
=folk will not comment on such topics
accuracy
detail- global - sound is limited and detail is not, specific - detailed drops g’s
equal
equally capable of expressing any thought, no thought that a language can’t express
Folk linguistic belief
proper grammar provides more clarity and predicated or assumption that other varieties are lacking order or regularity
lexical variation
discourse marking like
folk linguistic view
some varieties of language are unaccented, accent is chosen and easy to change
highlighting
aka foregrounding / generalization over emphasizes or over perceives a difference in the observed group/. ridcule and shame
erasure
aka backgrounding / generalization under emphasizes , variation within the observed group, properties shared between groups.
stereotyping
denies that there is variation
standard variety , SE
standardization consists of the imposition of uniformity upon a class of objects
folk linguistics observation on SE
answers differ
internal
proper correct preset, best grammar
external
educated, reference point, even for neutral linguists, an idealization or abstraction
correctness
standard is correct, other forms are not
standardization
the one with the best grammar
beliefs about standards
common sense suffixes, based on logic, somehow designed , those who trust nonstandard are not to be trusted, definable in external terms only, highlight privilege
ideology of standard
belief in controlability, tolerance of nonstandard
prescriptivism
imposition of a particular set of rules for grammar and word usage for the purpose of idealized standard // rules of language that are learned by all users without explicit instruction// rules of language that are set and imposed by a select group of language arbiters
ebonics
observations- nonstandard form of english, attributions- racially motivated targeting black people
consequences of prescriptivism
confidence booster, marker of privilege
regional variation
stereotypes, the south
folk linguistics on regional variation
items for folk linguistics analysis can be measured by availability - can speakers detect item, accuracy- observation matches item, and detail - how precise can they be in describing it
folk linguistics awareness in regional variation
some items are more obvious ( salient) than others ex) pop/soda, includes claims about presence , extent, origins of a feature, these influences are influenced by stereotypes, attitudes and beliefs
linguists on dialect
any variety of a language ex) regionalism= geographic variety/ accent = sound system of a dialect
isogloss
geographic boundary that distinguishes word usage
drawl
to prolong the sounds of speech / to speak slowly
twang
differing from usual, regarded as standard
qualitative labels
twang flat drawl slow
folk observation on accent ex)
Californians say dude / salient features
chain shift
a series of related innovations in vowel incidence like a chain reaction
Californian shift
musical chairs, vowels come and go
shibboleth
a custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular class or group of people, especially a long-standing one regarded as outmoded or no longer important
stereotypes chain shift
highlights trait as shibboleth, possibly inaccurate/ exaggerated, assumes all members have that trait,
southern chain shift step one
step 1 ; glide deletion ex= high = ha / rise = raz/ wide = waid, price= prais
southern chain shift step two
step2 ; trap rises and breaks
southern chain shift step three
step3; reversal of dress - face / dress rises and breaks / ex- set = say it , face lowers and maintains diphthong ex- face= fais
southern chain shift step four
step4; reversal of kit - fleece, kit rises and breaks, ex- sit = seeit/ seat =siit / mouth advances ex - loud=lawd , brown-brawn
folk ling on speech rate (south)
assume that southerners talk slow = falsation, can be measure by the syllables , and how the length of segments differ in average
style - formal
matches standard, high status
style- informal
casual slang
folk ling on style
users of formal speech are believed to be upwardly mobile, and snobbish/
cluster reduction
removal of one consonant from a sequence
properties of slang
new meaning for existing words,
indexical
additional layer not social meaning carried by some linguistic structure / usage by youth
AAE
african american english / diffusion to majority / appropriation of lexical usage - music skater surfing subcultures
Properties of slang
can become absolute, can become mainstream, can go back and forth in trendies, obscured sources
slang
you can be informal without using slang
informal examples
f word not slang if referring to sex, slang if referring to something else
final consonant deletion
ex) you is , I is
north v south stereotypes
style and regionalism and gender
folk linguistics and california
California stereotypes - conflation of slang, accent and lifestyle, valley girl, surfer dude
linguistics features in cali
hella aka hell of a / not millennial
accent in CA
low back identity - cot = thought / goose fronting = diphthong
cali shift
affects short front vowels
variable
goat fronting ex) totally
inland
less shift ex) pin/pen
cali summary
cali stereotypes/ style formality , age regionalism.
folk ling in cali
highlighting erasure, keys in on word usage, men vs women
Gender and language
empirical perspectives, conundrum, folk ling perspectives
Assertiveness training
coaching woman to change speech to be professional
chain of assumptions
1) women’s speech indirect polite weak, homogeneity among women, extent if difference from men 2) directness - implies tentativeness hesitant and non assertive, 3) claimed solution is to alter speech
verbal hygiene
the assumption within an ideology that considers verbal hygiene to be the appropriate way ti address personal issues of gender lang behavior
reality v stereotypes - ling stereotypes
politeness, indirectness in style, word count
reality
gradient effects, indirect structures have multiple functions , indirect in style
hedges
” sort of ““kind of”” it seems like”
qualifiers
“i think that”, t”his might be a silly question but “
uptalk
pitch rises towards end of the sentence
rise tones
can be used to assert dominance and control
cheng and warren 2005 study
studying business, meeting rise tones
Ritchart& arvaniti 2013 study
more during map task than recounting a sitcom episode, 45 % of floor holding & 16% of simple statements ended in uptalk
gender difference- folk ling perspective
there are categorical differences between men and woman speech, men are direct and woman are indirect
Reality - Gradient effects on gender
some woman are not indirect / men can be indirect
like -discourse
non-contrastive, focus- marks new info, grammatically constrained ex) like omg
like- qualive
ex) he said like , what am I doing here ?
sociology of like
- varying accounts of gender distribution
- varying folk perceptions
- once thought of as a hedge/ indicator of uncertainty
corpus
- both functions more frequent for younger speakers
- slight but insignificant
- quotative = more for the internal thoughts than for quoted speech
attitude data survey
- believed used more by younger speakers
- believed to be more female
- believed to sound uneducated and lazy
matched guise
- listeners hear same passages with and without like
- answer survey q’s
- presence of like pulled down the perceived age of older speakers
History of like
verb- to be pleased
adj- same qualities as another person or thing
indexicality of informality
Discourse like
developed from adj. not clear when
highlighting things that follow
can be used metaphorically
Quoatative like
directly from adj or from discourse like
Dude -linguistics behavior
indexicality = chillness ex) people who get high
Dude
typically thought of as being masculine
Face saving
manages conflicts in a chill way
face saving
preserving one’s reputation, credibility, or dignity
folk linguistic beliefs/ observations (dude)
dude replaces speech mostly male, surfer stoner young
its multifunctional
Empirical Observations on dude
dude plays an additional role in discourse - enhances speech, users are more various
functions of dude
can be used to say hi, listen or come here, you blew it, are you in the closer with a knife (examples from rob Schnyder video)
(lexical meaning)term of reference, exclamation, disclosure marker
Reference of dude
refers to 3rd person, addressed to refer to interlocutor / listener/ addressee
Dude as agreement
including commiseration - ex) that sucks dude
Dude as confrontational
stance mitigation ex) dude where are you at ?
Stance mitigation
face saving
Indexation
association between a linguistic structure and membership in some social groups / can be subconscious
Discourse features on dude
affiliation and connection with cool solidarity
history of dude
developed over a century ago/ yankee doodle dandy
standard ideology of dude
meaningless and illustrate the deterioration of speech
