Assignments
1. Dialectal variety vs. Diatypic variety
2. What are some common types of dialectal varieties?
3. What is register? What elements are there in evaluating the register?
3.2 Dialects
3.2.2 Temporal dialect
Varieties correlating with various periods of the development of language
English: Old Eng.(450~1100)— Anglo-Saxon; Beowulf
3.2 Dialects
3.2.5 Standard dialect
Range of intelligibility— standard / non-standard
Standard dialect: based on the language of educated native speakers which enables speakers of the language to communicate intelligibly with each other
Dialectal 方言变体 Diatypic 功能变体
3.1 Two kinds of varieties
Dialectal varieties — dialects
Associated with different users Permanent features in individual, temporal,
situations is related to language use
3.5 The social meaning of language varieties
To convey many other kinds of information besides the message being communicated by analyzing the stylistic features of a text in terms of dialects and registers (p.39)
Spoken: false starts, interruptions, repetitions, grunts, shrieks, er
Written: none of the above, punctuation…
3.3 Registers
3.3.3 Tenor of discourse
Accent (伦敦小伙儿模仿全球24种英语口音) English— British Eng.
American Eng. Differences: phonology, graphology,
vocabulary, grammar (p.27-28)
3.2 Dialects
3.2.4 Social dialect
vocabulary, grammar
3.3 Registers
3.3.2 Mode of discourse
Reflecting the relationship that the language user has to the medium of communication
Speaking vs. writing Features of spoken and written language
5
Social meaning of language
varieties
3.1 Two kinds of varieties
Language is used in a context
Language in use is determined by a variety of situations
A dialect has relatively permanent features A language user may learn the language
habits of another dialect for certain uses The selection of one dialect in different
Occasions to use: taught in schools and to nonnative speakers; news; dictionaries and grammars
3.3 Registers
Fishman: who speaks what language to whom and when
Middle Eng.(1100~1500)— The Canterbury Tales
Modern Eng. (1500~now)— W. Shakespeare; Samuel Johnson
3.2 Dialects
3.2.3 Regional dialect
Different speech patterns in different places
English Stylistics
Chapter 3 Varieties of Language
WANG Yao @ SDUT
Contents
1
Two kinds of varieties
2
Dialects
3
Registers
4 Mutual dependence bet. register
and dialect
Personal tenor—degrees of formality Functional tenor—intention of the user in
using the language
3.3 Registers
3.3.4 The notion of register
Interrelation among field, mode and tenors of discourse
3.3 Registers
3.3.1 Field of discourse
Reflecting the purposive role of language user Social activity the language user is engaged in
doing in the situation in which the text has occurred The language the user uses will show what his/her language is about, what experience he/she is verbalizing, what is going on in the speech event Technical vs non-technical (p.33-34) Non-technical: non-specialist fields, casual Technical: specialist fields, restricted, formal—
Reflecting
the personal relationships between speaker/writer and hearer/reader
What the user is trying to do with language for/to his/her addressee(s)
A variety with certain social group 4 varieties: 1. Socioeconomic status —social class/rank 2. Ethnic varieties —Black Eng.: phonological,
verb, there is, multiple negative constructions 3. Gender varieties —male/female 4. Age varieties —old men/young men
Field is related to mode Mode is related to personal and functional
tenors Configuration of the 3 contextual features (p.37)
Features of registers: phonological, lexical, grammaticaldiscourse3.2 Dialects
3.2.1 Individual dialect — Idiolect
One’s own features of speech/writing habits Voice quality Pitch & stress patterns Lexical items Grammatical structures ---- xx’s language/style
Modern linguistics has worked out a system of variety categories
3.1 Two kinds of varieties
The features of the situational circumstances of speech events that can be consistently related to variations in language use fall into two groups:
Registers: distinctive varieties of language used in different types of situation