Sociolinguistics and Dialects

What kinds of variation do we see in language? What does it mean for a linguistic system to be classified as a dialect or its very own capital-L Language? This week on the Ling Space, we talk about linguistic variation: the ways in which dialects can differ, what underlies different grammars, and why every version of a language is okay.

This is Topic #11!

This week's tag language: Greek!

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Looking forward to next week!

[bilinguitos]

Dude you're the man thank you! I'm teaching High School Linguistics and I use your videos all the time to help explain concepts when
the students need a break from my voice hahaha

[katieseymour]

This is such amazing revision for my A level English Language exam! I've been looking for something like this! :-D Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[elizabeth]

I'm glad I came across your channel. Your explanation of linguistic issues is really coherent, comprehensive and professional. Thank you !!

[kojayeoja]

Wait...I'm from Utah and I don't hear the difference between the two ways he said "miracle." O_o

[notoriouswhitemoth]

I told a friend that AAVE may have come out of a 19th century slaves' cant, combining late colonial English with elements of African dialects. He tried to tell me that AAVE is somehow less legitimate than standard English, and takes it as a sign of stupidity and laziness. I quickly pointed out that although the public education system in the US does tend to leave the most vulnerable members of society in the lurch (mostly low-income inner-city black people), and that is a very real and very serious problem, education and speech have almost nothing to do with each other.

[RosieParent]

Love the videos. :) Thanks! But, in case you didn't know or were not aware, there are huge francophone (Canadian French) populations *outside* of Québec... And we have similar dialectical differences in our language to France French. It is a common mistake to assume all francophones live in Québec, but they are not the only Canadian French. ;)

[zoroarkking]

I never realized that "mairacle" was one of my Georgia-isms lol.

[dianedavidson]

Ooooh. That shit just got real. You have managed to make linguistics interesting in the several videos I've seen, but, in this case, you even got political. Very cool.

[MarionFiedlerMusic]

Thanks for sharing. I am in interested in sociolinguistics from the perspective of a student and songwriter. Your overview was very helpful.

[pumpkingrantaire]

i think its interesting how in england there are so many different accents/dialects that if you go to another city people speak totally differently. but in russia which is much bigger you dont really have any dialects at all? is there any explanation for that?

[SMATF]

I'm from Southern California, where we pronounce exit as "eggs-it" (people in Seattle do the same), and I have a lot of family in Utah, where instead of "Tuesday", they say "toosdee".

[dianedavidson]

Oh, and I know what else I want to ask.... I'm reading _Teaching English Language Learners" by Wayne Wright, to study for my license to teach ESL/ELL.... and he says we speak Standard English. But I have always maintained that we (educated dominant culture in the US) speak Standard American, or Cronkite-ese (After the speech of "Uncle" Walter Cronkite). How do you weigh in? Thanks!

[thelingspace]

+Emer Browne Yep, it's an actual servbot! One of the Tron Bonne ones. But it definitely did get around to some of the other Capcom games. ^_^

[danidejaneiro]

I didn't really perceive a massive difference in your two pronunciations of "miracle" - was it between a short and long first vowel?

[whereisamine]

It's always nice to hear about ourselves sometimes! Greetings from Montréal, Québec

Tsé qu'j'aime pas mal vos vidéos à vous? Lâchez-pas ;)

[Myrkvi_]

I'd like to add that in Norwegian and Swedish there are dialects that are as different (if not more) as Standard Eastern Norwegian and Rikssvensk, and that some dialects might be more similar to another across the border than the "standard dialect" of the language. The orthographies are also interesting, with Norwegian bokmål looking more similar to written Danish than Swedish.

I wholeheartedly believe that no language is more correct than another and that widespread ignorance of that fact entrenches prejudiced attitudes. At the same time, a linguistic barrier in its own right can impede social cohesion. Being able to speak the standard version is a basic requirement for assimilation into the mainstream. So I think it makes sense from a policy standpoint to promote universal competence in the standard version.

[snowpixie]

I don't get the miracle thing... they sound the same!

[sashakindel]

It was kind of disconcerting that the sociolinguistics class I took in college remained totally unjudgmental toward the countless cases of dialect-based discrimination it covered. Perhaps that's the properly academic treatment, but it's much more comfortable for at least one "and we shouldn't do this, agreed?" to come with it, as here.

[JonathanBeagley]

There are even differences in how we speak based upon sexual orientation!