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Harold Somers
Professor of Language Engineering Office: Lamb 1.15
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Varieties of English
The aim of this course is to show you how English varies regionally and socially, and to introduce you to the basic methods and concepts required for the study of language variation and change in progress. Accents and dialects Style and register Case studies, but also methods and concepts
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Topics
Language, dialect, idiolect Languages in contact:
speech communities regional and social variation language change language and society
Topics (cont.)
Style and register
Language use is defined by purpose as well as region Language codes marked by lexis and grammar LSP, sublanguage
Reading matter
Readings will be recommended in connection with specific topics Some main recommendations:
A. Hughes, P. Trudgill and D. Watt. English Accents and Dialects: An introduction to social and regional varieties of English in the British Isles. (4th edition) London (2005) Hodder Arnold. P. Trudgill. Dialects. London (1994) Routledge. R. Wardhaugh. An introduction to sociolinguistics. (2nd edition) Oxford (1992) Blackwell N. Coupland and A. Jaworksi (eds) Sociolinguistics: A reader and coursebook. Basingstoke (1997) Macmillan. [contains various articles which will be mentioned later]
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Assessment
No coursework Multiple-choice exam in summer Dont look at last years exam
I have taken over this course My syllabus is quite different from last years
Lecture notes
Lecture notes will be available on website
http://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/harold.somers/ LELA10082/ Alternatively:
Go via School home page Or via search engine
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Accent vs dialect
Accent generally refers only to phonetic differences Dialect usually means differences on all linguistic levels:
Phonetic Lexical Grammatical Pragmatic
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Standard vs non-standard
For many languages, one or another variety is recognised as standard Other varieties may be referred to as dialects, or just non-standard varieties Often, non-standard varieties are more or less stigmatised As linguists, we should not make value judgments, though as sociolinguists we may report other peoples value judgments
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Standard vs non-standard
Everyone has an accent Why are some varieties of English perceived to be better, or more correct? Likewise, why are some accents believed to be uglier than others? Important to distinguish objective facts about accents and dialects, and subjective opinions And notice how perceptions about accents impinge on their use: features of prestigious accents spread to other accents
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Standard vs non-standard
For many languages, the standard is the local dialect of some prestigious region, typically (though not always) the capital Not the case for English, which has a non-regional standard, called RP (received pronunciation)
RP is a variety of southern English, but is not the local accent of London, nor Oxford or Cambridge (or anywhere else) More on RP later
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