Appunti di Lingua Inglese I

Language change and variation in English its history and sociolinguistical status

A language is a system of communication on the intelligibility of the speakers and variety and open and dynamic, adapting easily to the history and culture of the people in which they're used. English is itself a dynamic language constantly change, a process that can take place either suddenly (such as the introduction of new words) or slowly (such as a change of pronunciation overtime).

• USER when it depends on the user, it can depend on their geographical location or social variables such as social class, sex, and ethnicity, age, etc.
• USE when it depends on the use; a language could change due to the occasion, the medium used, the topic under discussion, the interlocutor themselves, etc.

However, according to sociolinguistics, although all the varieties of a language have the same status they are affected by social, ethnic, and racial prejudice towards the socio-cultural, economic, and political status of the speaker(s).

So some varieties are perceived as more prestigious and are more accepted than others: they're seen as an aid for both social mobility and the access for cultural studies.

Indeed, women talk a variety closer to the standard language, because they want to be valued and taken into consideration, something not always easy in a patriarchal society such as ours.

This can be seen into the differences between high/formal styles and low/informal styles.

First, when we talk about "correctness" we mean an appropriate use of language in a certain situation. Moreover, there is a difference between spoken and written form:

• SPOKEN
• More than one participant
• Implicit
• Simple structure
• Concrete, common vocabulary
• WRITTEN
• Single entity
• Explicit
• Elaborate structure
• Abstract, less common vocabulary + Passive verbs more common

Different types of variation:

• Synchronic - when there are changes in a specific moment of time
• Diachronic - when there are changes over time, along a historical continuum
• Dialect - depends on geographical factors (accents and dialects)
• Sociolect - depends on social factors
• Diaphasic - depends on the function of the message, needed different registers and styles
• Dianessic - depends on the medium of communication

Linguistic levels of differences

• Lexis ("lexical variation" refers to the use of words specific to a particular variety of English)
• Phonology ("phonological change" deals with the sound systems of different variety; and changes within it, something that can be sporadic and regular, and it includes variation regarding the pronunciation of sounds)
• The great vowel shift - a massive sound change affecting the vowel system during the early stages of Modern English. The long vowels shifted upwards in their positions in the mouth.
  • [i:] rise (n) - [ɪi] - [ʌɪ] - [aɪ] rise
  • [u:] mouth - [ʊu] - [ʌʊ] - [aʊ] mouth
  • [i:] feet - [iː]
  • [o:] goose - [uː]
  • [e:] beam- [e:] - [ɪi] - [iː] goose
  • [ɛ:] stone- [o:] - [oʊ] - [əʊ] _stone
  • [ɑ:] name - [æɪ] - [ɛi] - [eɪ] _name

Semantic - it refers to any mutation in the "meaning" of single lexical items, mostly influenced by external factors such as socio-cultural change, scientific progress and borrowing from foreign languages.

Creoles

It's a stable and autonomous variety; when a "pidgin" is used long enough, it gains a complexity and a settled structure and acquires native speakers; it creates a model. It can also be defined as a pidgin that has become the first language of a new generation of speakers.

It is used by more people everyday in informal situations.

Eg. Tok Pisin, spoken in Papua New Guinea

Standard languages: official languages, used for education, government, etc.

World Englishes

Every variety of English including those developed by communities in which English was not indigenous in modern history.

ELF vs. EIL

- EIL, use of English in an international context as a lingua franca between people with a different native language

- ELF, mostly used by non native speakers in academic, tourist and communication contexts and specific workplaces.

English as a global language

A global language is a language that develops a social role recognized in every country as an official language (second language) or as a foreign language.

A language doesn't become such because of its structural properties but for one main reason: the political, economical and military power of the people who speak it.

This was a product of:

• Politics -> the British Empire, carried over into the 20^th century
• Economics -> the Industrial Revolution led to economic Imperialism
• Press -> 1/3 of world's newspapers are published in English

Lexical Features

Cockney is characterized by its own vocabulary and usage!

• Cheèrs = “hello/goodbye” and “thanks”
• Mate = to address someone

Rhyming Slang

Cockney rhyming slang uses substitute words, usually two, as a coded alternative for another word.

• The final word of the substitute phrase rhymes with the word it replaces
• “Look” ➔ “butcher’s hook”
• When only the first word of the replacement phrase is used, as is usual, the meaning is difficult to guess.
• e.g. “butcher’s” = look ➔ “let's have a butchers”

Cockney rhyming slang is so prevalent in British English that many employ it in everyday speech. Since the 1980s there has been a resurgence in the popularity of rhyming slang!

George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”

His work tells a story of a phonetics professor, Henry Higgins, who makes a bet that he can transform Eliza Doolittle, a thick-accented Cockney flower girl, into a fine duchess within three months. He can still guess a person comes from by their accent.

The emphasis in changing one's social class is focused on learning to speak the right accent; this is because in the early 1900s, Britain was a class-ridden society and one's accent was a good marker of one's social class.

« The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain »

• Usage notes are really important; they explain the difference between words of roughly similar meaning, different points of grammar, styles and varieties.
• Pragmatics refer to the way words are used, how and when.
• with Register we talk about the style of language used in a particular situation (formal, written, slang).
• Register (notes will show if you should use that word or not, if it's old-fashioned or not polite, used in only spoken or written form, or both.

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

Language is made by two elements: Structure (graphology - we start from the sign phonology - transmission, morphology, syntax, lexicon and text)

• use (temporal variation, regional v, personal v, generally said v.)

Phonetics and Phonology are two areas of linguistics, the former is the study of speech processes and articulation, meanwhile the latter is the study of the sound system of a language.

Phonology is about the patterns of sound in the same or even different languages, it also regards different patterns in different positions in words, etc.

The unit it works on is a "phoneme", a single sound segment, it's the smallest phonetic unit in a language having a distinct meaning; it can create variation of sound and semantic opposition, they are essential to understand a sentence, e.g. /y/ of r-ø, j, /b/ of b-øt