|
Compiled By:
By:
Eleventh
Group
Names of Group:
AgusmanZai
SeriusHarefa
Luther
KrisyantoHarefa
FaobaliTelaumbanua
Class:
B
Subject:
Introduction
to General Linguistics
Lectured by:
Mr.
HasratSozanoloHarefa, S.pd
 |
INSTITUTE OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM
GUNUNGSITOLI
2013
LANGUAGE
VARIATION
1.
The
identity and variability of language
The existence of
language varieties side is called language
variation (synchronic variability). The coexisting varieties are in a
constant change along the dimension of time called as language
change (diachronic variability).
The first question we
have to discuss briefly is the problem of language
identity, viz. what makes us decide whether two linguistic codes are two
separated languages or just variates of one language? One may say the criterion
is mutual understandbility, but often breaks down between codes that are
regarded as belonging to the same language (e.g. northen Chinese speakers
southen Chinese speakers do not necessarily understand each other’s speech),
moreover, it can bring together codes that are regarded as separate languages
(e.g. Swedes and Danes often understand each other’s speech fairly well).
Therefore we have to admit that mutual understandbility is not a save
criterion. Language identity is a socio-psychological concept, one language is
the some of all the varieties that their user are culturally and politically
conditioned to regard as one and the same language. So English, like any other
natural language, is an abstraction, it is a cover term for all the linguistics
codes that are, or have been, or will be, regarded as English. It refers to a
bundle of partly similar, partly different codes: “Englishes”.
Languge variation can
be discussed in terms of user-related and use-related variation.
2.
User-related
variation: dialect, sociolect, pidgin, creole, child language, gender
differences
What is a
Dialect?
A dialect is a variety of
a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the
language's speakers. A dialect is very different from accent Standard English
Dialect can be divided into two types : Regional and Social.
Social Dialects vs. Regional Dialects
Examples
of Social Dialects in EnglandWords that initiate with ‘h’ à Two types of pronunciations for ‘h’ in words such as
‘house’ – [h] or Ø The rate of ‘h’
omission in world initials increase as we goà lower in social class<
Comparison between social class and the rate of ‘h’ omission>
.
A sociolect is a variety of language
associated with a particular social group. Most people use several different sociolects e.g.
occupational groups, friendship groups, family groups, cultural groups etc.
Pidgins and creoles are spoken by about ten million
people around the world.Pidgin is known as the language that groups of people
originally speaking different languages use when they come in contact. A pidgin
is a contact language, which means
that it is acquired and not learned natively. It is also different from Trade Jargons (such as Russenorsk), for
it implies an unequal relationship
between speakers.
Pidgins
can develop to become Creole languages.
This requires the pidgin to be learned as mother tongue by children, who then
generalize the features of the pidgin into a fully-formed, stabilized grammar.
This is however not always the case : pidgins can die or become obsolete.
For example :
Melanesian Pidgin English (called Tok Pisin) is used in Australian New Guinea
and the nearby islands.
3.
Use-related
variation: spoken and written varieties, styles, registers
There
are different types of use related language variation.
a. The
first type of use related variation is coditioned by the medium of language
use, i.e. by speech and writing. The langauge we speak is generally different
from the language we write. For instance, language we use in face-to-face talks
tends to differ from the language of telephone conversations. Or, the language
of text messages on your mobile phone is clearly different from the language of
your personal letters, though both are written varieties.
b. The
second type of use-related variation is style.
This is conditioned by the laguage users’ relative social status attitude
towards their interlocuters (e.g. they can talk to equals, to people in higher
or lower social positions, to older or younger people, to children, they may
talk to someone who they have never seen before or to someone who is an old
friend of therirs, etc.) we recognice a neutral
or unmarked style, which does not show any obvious colouring brought about by
relative social status and attitude. On either side of this we can distinguish
sentences which are markedly formal or informal. Compare the sentences in (1).
(1).
a. Formal : I wonder if you’d
mind switching off the light.
b. Neutral : would you please switch off the light?
c. Informal : switch off the light, will you?
Formal
style
is usually impersonal and polite, used in public speeches, serious polite talk,
serious writing (official reports, regulations, legal and scientific texts,
business letters, etc.). a very formal syle can be called rigid, it is nearly
always written and standard. Informal
(=colloquial) style characterises private conversations personal letters
between intimates and popular newspaper. A very informal style can be called familiar, this may involve the use of
non-standard features, four-letter words, and slang expressions. Slang can be defined as very informal
language, with a vocabulary compased typically of coinages and arbitrarily
changed words, such as the ones often created by young speakers.
When we use language, we must use
sentences that are not only grammatical and meaningful but also stylistically appropriate, i.e.
matching the stylistic requirements of the situation. For instance, the
sentence Be seated. Is prefectly
grammatical and meaningful, but would be ridiculously inappropriate if we said
it to a friend of ours in our home (unless we wanted to sound humorous).
c. The
third type of use-related language variation is register,hich is conditioned by the subject matter in connection
with which the language is being used. Each field of interest, activity,
occupation is associated with a special vocabulary, and it is mainly these
vocabulary differences that underlie the different registers. Thus we can talk
about the registers sport, religion, medicine, computer engineering, cookery,
weather forecasts, etc. Think, for example, of the word shutputting, which is hardly ever used outside the sports register,
or the word blackboard, which is only
used in the register of school teaching. When the register of a field is full
of technical terms which those who have received no training in that field
cannot understand,it is referred to as
jargon (think e.g. of the jargon of computer engineers or the jargon of
linguistics). Criminal jargon can be called argot or cant. Since the
most frequent and most favourite topics of one’s speech or writing are related
to one’s occuption, registers, are partly user-related, too.
4.
Idiolect,
code switching, diglossia
The
total of all the varieties of language that a person knows is the person’s
idiolect. An idiolect, then, is the
amount of a language that an individual possesses. The ability to change from
one variant to another is code
switching. For instance, a doctor switches codes when he speaks of a bon as
tibia to his colleagues in the
hospital and as shinbone to his family at home.
It
can happen that two distinct varieties of a languages co-occur in a speech
community, one with a high social prestige (such us e.g. Standard English,
learn at school, used in church, on radio programmes, in serious literature,
and generally on formal occasions), and one with a low social prestiges (e.g. a
local dialect, used in family conversations and other informal situations). The
sociolinguistics term for this situation is diglossia, and an individual having diglossia is a diglossic. (these terms are not to be
confused with bilingualism and bilingual, which mean ‘knowledge of two
languages’, respectively.)
Conclusion
1.
The existence of
language varieties side is called language
variation (synchronic variability). The coexisting varieties are in a
constant change along the dimension of time called as language
change (diachronic variability).
2.
A dialect is a variety of
a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the
language's speakers.
3.
A sociolect is a variety of language
associated with a particular social group.
4.
A
pidgin is a contact language, which
means that it is acquired and not learned natively.
5.
The total of all the varieties of
language that a person knows is the person’s idiolect. An idiolect, then, is the amount of a language that an individual
possesses. The ability to change from one variant to another is code switching.
Bibliography
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar