Standards and Variation in Urban Speech

Standards and Variation in Urban Speech PDF Author: Ronald K.S. Macaulay
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027275750
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
Standards and Variation in Urban Speech is an examination and exploration of the aims and methods of sociolinguistic investigation, based on studies of Scottish urban speech. It criticially examines the implications of the notions ‘vernacular’, ‘standard language’, ‘Received Pronunciation’, ‘social class’, and ‘linguistic insecurity’. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods using examples from comedians’ jokes, dialect poetry, formal and informal interviews, and personal narratives, the work illustrates the actual norms that speakers exemplify in various ways.

Talk that Counts

Talk that Counts PDF Author: Ronald K. S. Macaulay
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190291672
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Talk That Counts is a sociolinguistic study of variation in discourse employing quantitative methods to explore age, gender, and social class differences in the use of features such as you know, I mean, adverbs, and pronouns. Unlike many studies of discourse variation that focus on a single social factor, Talk That Counts examines age, gender, and social class differences in a gender-balanced sample of middle-class and working-class adolescents and adults, recorded under the same conditions. Differences between adults and adolescents provided the greatest number of statistically significant results, followed by differences between males and females. The smallest number of statistically significant differences were related to social class. The range of variation underlines the need to look at more than a single extra-linguistic variable when examining discourse. It also shows the dangers of generalizing about social class, for example, on the basis of a limited sample (e.g., adolescent boys). In Talk That Counts, distinguished sociolinguist Ronald Macaulay presents an important new approach to the sociolinguistic investigation of discourse variation.

Varieties of English in Writing

Varieties of English in Writing PDF Author: Raymond Hickey
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027249016
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 391

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Book Description
This volume is concerned with assessing fictional and non-fictional written texts as linguistic evidence for earlier forms of varieties of English. These range from Scotland to New Zealand, from Canada to South Africa, covering all the major forms of the English language around the world. Central to the volume is the question of how genuine written representations are. Here the emphasis is on the techniques and methodology which can be employed when analysing documents. The vernacular styles found in written documents and the use of these as a window on earlier spoken modes of different varieties represent a focal concern of the book. Studies of language in literature, which were offered in the past, have been revisited and their findings reassessed in the light of recent advances in variationist linguistics.

Saint Helenian English

Saint Helenian English PDF Author: Daniel Schreier
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027248974
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
This volume provides the first-ever sociolinguistic analysis of English on the island of St Helena, the oldest variety of English in the Southern Hemisphere. It is based on a concise synchronic profile of the variety (describing its segmental phonology and morphosyntax) and an evaluation of diachronic material in the form of letters, court cases, ghost stories, etc. The analysis is embedded into a theoretical framework of contact linguistics (contact dialectology and pidgin/creole linguistics) and builds upon the social and sociodemographic development of the community. The aims of this book are to trace the origins and evolution of the variety, to pinpoint the forms of English it affiliates with today and the inputs it derived from historically and to investigate whether local contact scenarios have led to the formation of regionally distinctive varieties across the island. Insights from St Helenian English thus challenge us to rethink principles of classification that are applied to determine the status of post-colonial varieties of English.

Chicano English

Chicano English PDF Author: Joyce Penfield
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027286353
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
Chicano English can rightly be said to be, in its different varieties, the most widespread ethnic dialect of U.S. English, spoken by large sections of the population in the American Southwest. It represents a type of speech referred to by E. Haugen as a ‘bilingual’ dialect, having developed out of a stable Spanish-English setting. In their book, the authors provide a comprehensive examination of Chicano English, devoting particular emphasis to the social factors determining its characteristic features and uses. Special attention is given to the question of homogeneity as against ordered variation within Chicano English, to features of pronunciation and grammar, to its communicative functions, to the evaluative attitudes of its speakers and others and, finally, to its uses in literature and the media. In spite of its importance, Chicano English has been insufficiently documented; this monograph is intended to contribute towards redressing the balance.

A Survey of Modern English

A Survey of Modern English PDF Author: Stephan Gramley
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134420463
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
Fully revised and updated, the second edition of this authoritative guide is a comprehensive, scholarly and systematic review of modern English. In one volume the book presents a description of both the linguistic structure of present-day English and its geographical, social, gender, and ethnic variations. Covering new developments such as the impact of email on language and corpus-based grammars, this accessible text has been extensively rewritten and brings the survey of modern English right up to date. It also offers new examples and suggestions for further reading.

World Englishes – Problems, Properties and Prospects

World Englishes – Problems, Properties and Prospects PDF Author: Thomas Hoffmann
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027289069
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description
World Englishes is a vibrant research field that has attracted scholars from many different linguistic subdisciplines. Emphasizing the common ground of all research on World Englishes, the 22 articles in this collected volume, selected from more than a hundred papers presented at the 2007 conference of the International Association for World Englishes in Regensburg, cover a broad range of topics which together reflect the state of the art of research in this field. The volume focuses on regions as diverse as Africa, the Caribbean, the Antipodes and Asia, but also promotes a globally comparative perspective by analyzing selected characteristics of the English language across a wide range of varieties. Methodologically, a number of different approaches are applied, including corpus linguistic studies, socio-phonetics as well as historical discourse analysis. Due to its wide scope, the book is of interest not only to World Englishes scholars but also to sociolinguists as well as applied, contact or corpus linguists.

Doric

Doric PDF Author: J. Derrick McClure
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9789027247179
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
The dialect of North-East Scotland, one of the most distinctive and best preserved in the country, survives as both a proudly maintained mark of local identity and the vehicle for a remarkable regional literature. The present study, after placing the dialect in its historical, geographical and social context, discusses in some detail a selection of previous accounts of its distinctive characteristics of phonology and grammar, showing that its shibboleths have been well recognised, and have remained consistent, over a long period. Passages of recorded speech are then examined, with extensive use of phonetic transcription. Finally, a representative selection of written texts, dating from the eighteenth century to the present and illustrating a wide variety of styles and genres, are presented with detailed annotations. A full glossary is also included. This study clearly demonstrates both the individuality of the dialect and the richness of the local culture of which it is an integral part.

The Handbook of World Englishes

The Handbook of World Englishes PDF Author: Cecil L. Nelson
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119147263
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 935

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Book Description
The definitive reference work on World Englishes—fully revised, expanded, and updated The Handbook of World Englishes is a collection of articles on the cross-cultural and transnational linguistic convergence and change of the English language. Now in its second edition, this Handbook brings together multiple theoretical, contextual, and ideological perspectives, and offers new interpretations of the changing identities of world Englishes (WE) speakers and examines the current state of the English language across the world. Thematically integrated contributions from leading scholars and researchers explore the expansion, modification, and adaptation of English in various settings and discuss the role of English in local, regional, and global contexts. This highly regarded text has been fully updated throughout the new edition to reflect the current conditions, contexts, and functions of major varieties of English across the world. Significant revisions to topics—such as an overview of the varieties of modern world Englishes and the First Diaspora in Wales and Ireland—reflect expanded scholarship in the field and new directions of research. Each chapter from the first edition has been updated in content and citations, while 11 new chapters cover subjects including world Englishes testing and Postcolonial theory, as well as world Englishes in South America, Russia, Africa, China, Southeast Asia, the United States, and Canada. Examines both traditional and contemporary perspectives on World Englishes Written by international authors, experts in their respective fields Emphasizes the historical development of the English language through a series of diasporas Highlights research into a wide range of sociolinguistic contexts and processes including code switching, newly established WE varieties, and new data on Chinese and Russian Englishes Explores future directions in WE research, development, and application The Handbook of World Englishes is an essential resource for academics, researchers, practitioners, and advanced students in fields including applied linguistics, language teaching, the history of the English language, world literatures, and related social and language sciences.

Late Modern English

Late Modern English PDF Author: Merja Kytö
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027261431
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
The past few decades have witnessed an unprecedented surge of interest in the language of the Late Modern English period. Late Modern English: Novel Encounters covers a broad range of topics addressed by international experts in fields such as phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis, spelling and pragmatics; this makes the collection attractive to any scholar or student interested in the history of English. Each of the four thematic sections in the book represents a core area of Late Modern English studies. This division makes it easy for specialists to access the chapters that are of immediate relevance to their own work. An introductory chapter establishes connections between chapters within as well as between the four sections. The volume highlights recent advances in research methodology such as spelling normalization and other areas of corpus linguistics; several contributions also shed light on the interplay of internal and external factors in language change.