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Language II- 1
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Term Estimate
Alejandro Parini
Essays
Marked vs unmarked language: Unexpected and unusual (marked) vs expected and usual (unmarked) linguistic choices
Fractured English: Spread of English around the world. Incorrect English, used by non-native speakers who tend to make
mistakes by speaking English in a local way.
Decorative English: Adopting English culture because of status or modernity
English changing: English words change their meaning across time.
False cognates: words that have the same or very similar form in two different languages but which have a different
meaning in each. They are different to adaptations, borrowings taken from other languages and incorporated to the
usual vocabulary
Speech vs linguistic community: The difference lies in whether they just share language (linguistic community) or they
also share values and judgments (speech community)
UK and the USA are linguistic communities, they share the same language (English), UK is a speech community and USA
is another one. They do not share the same values, judgments or assessments about language. For instance, the word
fortnight for American speakers is extremely literary. On the contrary, British speakers use it every day.
International or word English: Spoken all around the world. English future/present variation. It is connected with
linguistic imperialism
Glocalization: Globalization + localization. We incorporate foreign concepts but we need to localize them, esp. for
commercial reasons.
Use of English: Inner circle: English as a 1
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language; Outer circle: English introduced by colonialists, now official with
other languages (Second language); Expanding circle: English as a foreign language.
Inner ENL, outer ESL and expanding EFL
Changing English
Chapter 1
Different varieties of English: Scots, Irish, Welsh, Jamaica, Indian. In USA (North vs South) in England (Cockney)
Accent: The way we pronounce and intone the words we speak
Dialect: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of speakers of that
language. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns
Mainstream dialects: include standard and modern non-standard varieties throughout the world.
Traditional dialects: spoken by a shrinking minority in long settled especially remote and peripheral rural areas of the
British Isles. Hoo inno goin
Sociolect: a dialect that is associated with a particular social class. (ex. Sheng)
Codeswitch: (the speakers have access to two linguistic systems) to switch back and forth between languages and in this
way capitalizing associations of each language or keeping a foot in each camp. For instance, while studying linguistics
with my friends I can tell them ok, estudiemos primero the accommodation theory y despus Audience design. Im
switching back and forth without completely abandoning any of the languages.
Morphological hybridization: Combination of English words with other language morphemes
Second Language: The language has a special status. Governments have settles English as the main language to carry on
the affairs of government
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Foreign Language: The language has no special status. It is learnt in schools, institutes, etc.
Franglais: Mixture of English and French
Borrowing: an item from a foreign language which is borrowed by the matrix language to fill a gap in it. The borrowed
item becomes part of the matrix language and the speaker doesnt have to have access to both languages in order to
understand it. For instance, the word amateur (from French) or delivery (from English). Degrees of borrowings:
pronunciation -> pronunciation and spelling -> pronunciation, spelling and meaning.
Chapter 2
Types of evidence: Internal evidence is taken from original texts written in the studied area whereas external evidence is
taken from archaeological sites or contemporary written histories
Inflections: endings with attached meanings that can be added to particular words
Slanging: the way Singaporean people adopts Americanized accent as opposed to a Singaporean accent to transmit a
Westernized identity.
Received Pronunciation: a mode of speech which is employed irrespective of the geographical origins of the speaker.
Chapter 3
Renaissance: The revival of learning. Greek and Roman cultures.
Industrial revolution and Reformation -> New discoveries ->Discussion -> New words needed
Standard English: Agreement in norms of usage codified in dictionaries (Oxford) and grammars (Cambridge). Use for
institutional purposes. It implies maximum variation in function and minimal in form, i.e. focusing, and no dialects. It
follows a process:
1. Selection: A variety is selected
2. Elaboration: ensuring that the new language can be used for a wide range of functions.
3. Codification: Reduction of internal variability, establishment of norms of grammatical usage and vocabulary.
4. Implementation: Making texts available in the language.
Eloquence: Achieving synonyms for different forms of expressions (Literature)
Copiousness: The language needs enough words to represent different ideas.
Neologisms: coining new words or expressions (Science) Achieved by: Borrowing, Calque (translation of Latin science
words), inventing new words and increasing the significance of an existent word.
Grammatical metaphor: Linguistic sleight of hand by which events and process are represented in language as state or
things, i.e. as noun or noun phrases. It is necessary for science.
Focusing: How reduction in variation in forms arises in speech communities without formal intervention by governments
and language planners. We tend to follow social practices, in order to feel part of, same happens with language. This
helps to make an identity
Vacillations: Uncertainties of linguistic usage
Chapter 4
Sequences of events that led English to become a main language in many colonies
An original settlement by English speakers
Political incorporation
Nationalist reaction that led (in some cases) to independence.
Types of colonization
Displacement: substantial settlement by first-language speakers of English displaced the pre-colonial population (Ex.
North America)
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Subjection: Sparser colonial settlements maintained the precolonial population in subjection, allowing some of them
access to learning English as a second, or additional language (Ex. Nigeria)
Replacement: a precolonial population was replaced by new labour from elsewhere, principally West Africa (ex:
Jamaica)
Dialect leveling: When speakers of different varieties of English come into contact, either because of resettlement
such as in the time of British colonization- or because patterns of communication are restructured, a process called
Dialect levelling often occurs. That is, the difference between speakers tends over time to become eroded and a more
uniform variety emerges. The speakers tend to lose the linguistic features that are not widely shared with others.
Substrate: When a language is imposed as a consequence of a colonialist process, speakers tend to incorporate linguistic
features of their own language when speaking the new one. This influence and the hybrid variety are called Substrate.
An example is Irish English, the variety that arouse as a consequence of the contact between English and Irish.
Superstrate: the target language. When speakers abandon the substrate they move onto the Superstrate.
Colonial lag: differences between British and American English. British is more conservative than American.
Pidgin: A simplified language derived from two or more languages is called a pidgin. It is a contact language developed
and used by people who do not share a common language in a given geographical area. It is used in a limited way and
the structure is very simplistic. Since they serve a single simplistic purpose, they usually die out. However,
Creole: If the pidgin is used long enough, it begins to evolve into a more rich language with a more complex structure
and richer vocabulary. Once the pidgin has evolved and has acquired native speakers (children learn the pidgin as their
first language), it is then called a Creole.
Acrolect, mesolect and basilect: In many parts of the world, especially the Caribbean, continued contact with the
standard language results in decreolization, a convergence with the lexifier language (the one from which the creole is
derived). This produces a creole continuum or diversity of language usage from the near-standard forms of creole,
known as ACROLECTS, to the most divergent, known as BASILECTS. The intermediate varieties are called MESOLECTS.
New dialect formation: (New Zealand)
Stage 1: dialect levelling of the varieties of English used by the migrs born in about 1815 onwards.
Stage 2: English speaking children are born (the offspring of the first settlers from the British Isles).
Stage 3: a distinctive New Zealand English appears coming from the offspring of the settlers which has grown up.
Notes
Accent as a social symbol: Accents may carry for a particular group or listeners implications to do with a whole range of
qualities attributable to the speaker. These implications can only be perceived by the ones who can place this accent
within its social context. Not pronouncing the h or the incorrect pronunciation of the r.
Proper accent: the accent of educated people.
Estuary English: a variety of modified regional speech. It is a mixture of non-regional and local south-eastern English
pronunciation and Intonation. Vocalized L (miwk). It is currently displacing RP.
Macro social factors:
Social class: upper and middle class have the least dialect variety in the Standard English. Lower social classes where
educational success has not so effectively imposed the habitual use of a Standard English have greater dialect
variation.
Gender: men use more non standard forms than women. Women are more status conscious, from an early age they
are expected to conform to social norms and to behave correctly and as a subordinate group, women try to sound
polite and not offensive. Then, non standard forms are seen as more masculine and declare mens superiority by not
conforming to the social notion of correctness.
Age: the use of non standard forms is high at adolescence and decreases by the time we grow older and then reverts
to non standard forms for the older age groups.
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Micro social factors: Social networks: a particular speech community in terms of relations between individual members
in a community. We individuals do not display consistent speech patterns during the course of a week or a month. We
vary depending on the social network we are immersed in.
Uniflex social networks: they are largely unrelated to each other. (Does not get involved with colleagues, matches
once a week). Your speech will alter depending on which network you are in.
Multiplex social networks: they are interrelated to each other. (Work and social life revolve around the same people).
Your speech is going to resemble theirs and rarely vary.
Register: a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. The mode of
speech we chose depending on the social network we are immersed in.
Stylistic variation: how a linguistic variable is realized (what form they take) in different contexts.
Audience design: A theory developed by Alan Bell which suggests that the person or people you are speaking to will
have the greatest effect on the type of language you use.
Accommodation theory: we accommodate to others by adjusting our communicational behavior to the requisite roles
that participants are assigned in a given context.
Converge: we will converge (sound similar) to our interlocutor when we want to reduce social distances.
(Francophone shoppers address Anglophone shop assistants in fluent English to ask for a Francophone assistant)
Diverge: we will diverge (become linguistically less similar) when we want to create social distances. (a teacher
talking to his students)
Multistyle: We shift from one linguistic pattern to another so as to resemble the one of the group or groups with which
from time to time we want to be identified or not. The desire to identify with or distinguish oneself from a group is the
major factor influencing speakers choice of language variety. British singers using American pronunciation or Punk
rockers, as they preached anti-mainstream values, adopting low prestige southern English features
Vernica Vera
Cohesive devices:
Discourse: Anything that we say or write that is structured and that it cohesive (correct use of cohesive devices) and
coherent (meaningful).
Macrostructure: The content and topic of the text.
Superstructure: the structure of the text.
Cohesion: Cohesion can be defined as the links or cohesive devices that hold a text together and give it meaning. A
cohesive text is created in many different ways. In Cohesion in English, Halliday and Hasan identify five general
categories of cohesive devices that create coherence in texts: reference, ellipsis, substitution and conjunction
Coherence: is what makes a text semantically meaningful. Coherence is achieved through syntactical features such as
the use of deictic, anaphoric and cataphoric elements.
Synonymy: (lexical chains) the lexical items do not refer to the same object but they belong to the same semantic field.
(ship, vessel)
Hyponymy: a generic lexical item is replaced by a more specific one. Flower, rose.
Hyperonomy: a specific lexical item is replaced by a generic one. Rose, flower.
Ellipsis and substitution: linguistic elements that replace other linguistic elements.
Nominal ellipsis: a noun phrase is omitted. I agree with the first two arguments but I reject the other two.
Verbal ellipsis: The verb is omitted. The children will carry the small boxes, the adults the larger ones.
Clausal ellipsis: Single elements of the clause may be omitted, doesnt matter, hope so. A whole clause is omitted. He
said he would take early retirement as soon as he can and he has ()
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Nominal substitution. One(s): I offered him a seat. He said he didnt want one. Same: she chose roast duck, I chose
the same.
Verbal substitution: Do (es): Did Mary receive the letters? I think she might have done.
Clausal substitution: So/not Do you need a lift? If so, wait for me, if not, I will see you there.
Reference: items which make reference to something else and they cannot be interpreted on their own.
Anaphoric reference: the item looks back in the text. Paul is a teacher. He ().
Exaphoric reference: the item refers to our schemata. It refers to shared worlds outside the text. For hes a jolly good
fellow and nobody can deny. Here the text does not make reference to whom that he is. He can be identified by the
ones who are in the situation in which this expression is used.
Cataphoric: the item looks forward in the text. This device is used to capture the readers attention, to create
suspense. He was a handsome man, who was able to seduce a woman with one one glance and he really loved to
seduce women. But Paul Landower didnt even notice me that day.
Theme and Rhyme:
Theme: the point of departure for what the speaker is going to say. It is what comes first in the clause. It is the topic.
Rhyme: New information, a comment about the topic.
The teapot (theme) which belonged to my grandmother (rhyme).
Semantic meaning: the literal meaning of the word regardless of the context. The denotational meaning, the one we can
find in dictionaries.
Pragmatic meaning: the one which depends on the context. It is the value the word has within the context.
Context
Context according to Goodwin and Durante: It is a juxtaposition of context and focal event. Focal event is the linguistic
context, the actual word. The context is the extralinguistic context, what surrounds the focal event. They interact with
each other. The Context constraints the focal event and the focal event is understood through the context.
Context according to Hanks: juxtaposition of figure and ground. The figure is the object of study, the linguistic context,
what is in center stage. The ground is what surrounds the figure, the extralinguistic context.
Context according to Kendon: Dissatentional Track is the extralinguistic setting, body language, the situation which is not
provoked by the communicational situation. Main attentional track is the linguistic context, what is actually being said.
According to Kendon, its not important what we say but also what we do.
Context according to Anita Fetzer: juxtaposition of linguistic cotext (what we say creates a context that will constrain our
answer that, at the same time, creates a new context for the following utterance), cognitive (mental representations,
presupposition, assumptions asado and barbeque) sociocultural (number of sociocultural facts (age, social class, etc)
that delimit our linguistic choices) and social context (number of social facts (social role, routines) that delimit our
linguistic choices).
Language of travel Brochures
Frames/scripts/schemata: we make our linguistic choices almost automatically. We change our register without even
thinking about it. This is due to the fact that we have a schemata or information acquired through experience. Nobody
taught us this information, we acquired it through experience and we can apply it depending on the situation we are
immersed in.
Prescriptive approach: what we should do according to grammatical and syntactical rules.
Descriptive approach: what we actually do.
Illocutionary force of speech acts: pragmatic function, what we mean with that utterance.
Locutionary force of speech acts: what the utterance says (context independent)
Prelocutionary effect: the effect the utterance has on the listener. Its hot in here
Acts of persuasion or linguistic strategies
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To create a new schemata or activate an existing one.
To create an initial deficiency through binary opposition. (the stresses of life back home, a relaxing spa)
Use of extreme language. (the best hotel in the world)
Isotopies
The isotope of uniqueness and friendliness: to persuade the readers to go there through the use of adjectives which
convey friendliness and uniqueness (such as warm, genuine, magnificent)
The isotope of argumentation: persuade through logical argumentation. The brochure has an introduction, body and
a conclusion, a topic sentence and a controlling idea.
The isotope of paths: to persuade by stating that the destination caters for all tastes. The use of whether, or
alternative linkers characterize this isotope.
The isotope of magic: to mystify the destination using adjectives such as magical or mysterious.
The isotope of desire: to persuade through the display of emotions and sensations with paragraphs full of imagery of
any kind.
Persuasion through dialogic interaction: Objective strategy: the writer and the reader are omitted. No modal verbs. The
verb to be is extremely present due to the fact that what is being said is taken as a fact. The brochure intends to inform.
Process known as shifting out.
Subjective strategy (shifting-in): the writer and the reader are included in the text. The reader embarks himself in a
virtual tour.
Like as a discourse marker
Discourse markers are words or phrases nearly depleted of semantic meaning, i.e. they dont make any semantic
contribution, and they dont affect the semantic meaning of the utterance. They serve a number of communicative
functions to facilitate the speakers encoding of the message as well as the addressees of it and serve interpersonal
as well as textual ends.
Like as a discourse marker is not dummy filler. It can modify noun phrases, quantifiers, adverbs, propositional
phrases and clauses.
It may act as a filler (when indicating a pause, or hesitation), as an approximator (used before numerical expression,
it signals numerical imprecision), as a hedge (used to soften the impact of an utterance. Usually face-threatening) as
a quotative (used to introduce non verbatim speech. Follows the structure BE+LIKE) and as a focuser (used to draw
the listener attention)
Well Weird and Incredibly interesting
Types of study
Social: studies variation in language between speech communities. Descriptive study of the effect of any and all
aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects
of language use on society. Sociolinguistics differs from sociology of language in that the focus of sociolinguistics is
the effect of the society on the language, while the sociology of language focuses on language's effect on the society.
It also studies how language varieties differ between groups separated by certain social variables, e.g., ethnicity,
religion, status, gender, level of education, age, etc.
Pragmatic: studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. Pragmatics studies how the transmission of
meaning depends not only on structural and linguistic knowledge (e.g., grammar, lexicon, etc.) of the speaker and
listener, but also on the context of the utterance, any pre-existing knowledge about those involved, the inferred
intent of the speaker, and other factors. In this respect, pragmatics explains how language users are able to
overcome apparent ambiguity, since meaning relies on the manner, place, time etc. of an utterance.
Socio-pragmatic: combines both
Qualitative: Exploratory and/or investigative. Findings are not conclusive and cannot be used to make generalizations
about the population of interest. Develop an initial understanding and sound base for further decision making. Its
purpose is to gain an understanding of underlying reasons and motivations, to provide insights into the setting of a
problem, generating ideas and/or hypotheses for later quantitative research and to uncover prevalent trends in
thought and opinion. The sample is usually a small number of non-representative cases. Respondents selected to
fulfil a given quota.
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Quantitative: The sample is usually a large number of cases representing the population of interest. Randomly
selected respondents. Its purpose is to quantify data and generalize results from a sample to the population of
interest, to measure the incidence of various views and opinions in a chosen sample
Qualitative and quantitative types of study are usually combined.
Diachronic: (Gk, chronos, time; dia-, through, across) study or analysis concerns itself with the evolution and change
over time of that which is studied; it is roughly equivalent to historical. Thus diachronic linguistics is also known as
historical linguistics.
Synchronic: (Gk, chronos, time; syn-, with, together) A synchronic study or analysis, in contrast, limits its concern to a
particular moment of time. Thus synchronic linguistics takes a language as a working system at a particular point in
time without concern for how it has developed to its present state. The extent to which synchronic study really does
as it were take a frozen slice of history for study is itself not absolute: to talk of a system necessarily implies
movement and interaction, and movement and interaction take place in time.
Outlier: Someone/Something in the sample that do not follow the pattern. Observation point that is distant from other
observations.
Variables
Dependent: it is the object of study, it cant be controlled.
Independent: they are chosen and can be controlled.
Delexicalization
Is an internal factor of change, is consists on the reduction of the independent lexical content of a word, or group of
words, so that it comes to fulfill a particular function. The more delexicalized a word is, the more it collocates (width
of collocation)
The process of delexicalization begins with a word with independent content weakening its original sense and being
use to convey emphasis. Then the word starts to be used with attributive adjectives. Finally, it changes its syntactic
function and develops into and adverb.
Collocation patterns: more delexicalized items collocate more widely
Syntactic functions: intensifiers with predicative function are more delexicalized than those with attributive functions
Multifuncionality: The more functions an intensifier has, the more delexicalized it is


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Exam (2013):
1) Compare the theories of context posited by Goodwin and Duranti, on one hand, and Hanks on the other hand.
2) Mention and exemplify 4 socio-cultural factors that constrain the linguistic choices speakers make.
3) Define the concept of frames.
4) How has the English language been shaped within England and outside England? Examples.
5) What is the difference between a pidgin and a creole?
6) What is Standard English?
7) Difference between speech community and linguistic community.
8) Mention 5 lexical differences between British and American English.
9) Mark lexical cohesive devices in the following text. Concept of cohesion and coherence.