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Where speakers differ (or vary) at the level of pronunciation only (phonetics and/or phonology), they have different *. Their grammar may be wholly or largely the same. * can index a speaker’s regional/geographic origin, or social factors such as level and type of education, or even their attitude.
WHAT IS 'ACCENT'?
It is sometimes useful to distinguish between the natural acquisition of a language variety (e.g., a mother tongue) and learning of a language variety (e.g., in the classroom).
WHAT IS 'LANGUAGE ACQUISITION'?
Changes taking place in a speech community above the level of individuals’ conscious awareness. Able to be commented on. One variant is clearly standard or has clear overt prestige. It does not refer to changes led by higher social classes (though this may often be the case).
WHAT IS 'CHANGE FROM ABOVE'?
Changes taking place in a speech community below the level of conscious awareness. Not the subject of overt comment. It does not refer to changes led by lower social classes. (See also Change from above.)
WHAT IS 'CHANGE FROM BELOW'?
A norm or target that is oriented to without the speaker even being aware that they are orienting to it. Evidence of * can be found in mismatches between speakers’ self-report of using one variant and actual use of another variant. Often used (wrongly) to refer to the value associated with non-standard or vernacular varieties.
WHAT IS 'COVERT PRESTIGE'?
Generally refers to alternations between varieties, or codes, within a clause or phrase. Often elicits more strongly negative evaluations than alternations or code switching across clauses.
WHAT IS 'CODE MIXING'?
In its most specific sense, the alternation between varieties, or codes, across sentences or clause boundaries. Often used as a cover term including code mixing as well.
WHAT IS 'CODE SWITCHING'?
A language variety arising out of a situation of language contact (usually involving more than two languages). A * can be distinguished from a pidgin: (i) on the grounds that it is the first language of some community or group of speakers, or (ii) on the grounds that it is used for the entire range of social functions that a language can be used for.
WHAT IS 'CREOLE'?
A term widely applied to what are considered sub-varieties of a single language. Generally, * and accent are distinguished by how much of the linguistic system differs. *s differ on more than just pronunciation, i.e., on the basis of morphosyntactic structure and/or how semantic relations are mapped into the syntax.
WHAT IS 'DIALECT'?
Each generation in a community shows progressively more and more frequent use of a variant. A change that can be inferred to be taking place on the basis of apparent time evidence is a generational change.
WHAT IS 'GENERATIONAL CHANGE'?
The increased contact between people of different social and linguistic backgrounds across broad swathes of geographical space. Commonly portrayed as a recent phenomenon and strongly associated with (and often attributed to) the new communication technologies (e.g., Internet, mass media, etc.).
WHAT IS 'GLOBALIZATION'?
Differences and variation that is measured between different speakers (individuals or social groups).
WHAT IS 'INTERSPEAKER VARIATION'?
Differences in the way a single person speaks at different times, or with different interlocutors, or even within a sentence.
WHAT IS 'INTRASPEAKER VARIATION'?
The study of what people think about different linguistic varieties and how those perceptions about language relate to perceptions of attitudes about different users of language.
WHAT ARE 'LANGUAGE ATTITUDES'?
Language used as a common means of communication among people whose native languages are mutually unintelligible.
WHAT IS 'LINGUA FRANCA'?
A linguistic variety that has been designated as the medium for all official, government business. There is usually a right to have all legal and public services provided in an official language, and an obligation on state or regional authorities to satisfy this right.
WHAT IS 'OFFICIAL LANGUAGE'?
The prestige associated with a variant that speakers are aware of and can talk about in terms of standardness, or aesthetic and moral evaluations like being ‘nicer’ or ‘better’.
WHAT IS 'OVERT PRESTIGE'?
Generally, a language variety that is not very linguistically complex or elaborated and is used in fairly restricted social domains and for limited social or interpersonal functions. Like a creole, arises from language contact; often seen as a precursor or early stage to a creole. It is often said that * can be distinguished from a creole in having no native speakers.
WHAT IS' 'PIDGIN'?
A measure of status which is often based on occupation, income and wealth, but also can be measured in terms of aspirations and mobility. These factors can then be used to group individuals scoring similarly on these factors into socioeconomic classes.
WHAT IS 'SOCIAL CLASS'?
The study of language in use, language in society. The field of * is a big tent: it can encompass work done in discourse analysis, studies of interaction, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, feminism, etc. It can also be used much more restrictively to only refer to variationist studies in the Labovian tradition. For this reason, when you come across the term, it is worth stopping long enough to work out how the writer/speaker is using it.
WHAT IS 'SOCIOLINGUISTICS'?
Variously defined on subjective or objective criteria. Objective criteria would group speakers together in a speech community if the distribution of a variable was consistent with respect to other factors (e.g., style). Subjective criteria would group speakers as a speech community if they shared a sense of and belief in co-membership.
WHAT IS 'SPEECH COMMUNITY'?
A linguistic feature that is widely recognised and is very often the subject of (not always strictly accurate!) dialect performances and impersonations.
WHAT IS 'STEREOTYPE'?
Relatively neutral term used to refer to languages and dialects. Avoids the problem of drawing a distinction between the two, and avoids negative attitudes often attached to the term dialect.
WHAT IS 'VARIETY'?
African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also called African American English, Black English, Black Vernacular, or Black English Vernacular (BEV), is a type variety (dialect, ethnolect and sociolect) of the American English language. It is known colloquially as Ebonics (a portmanteau of "ebony" and "phonics").
The variety of English which is used, with minor regional and national variations, as a world language. The aim of the national curriculum is that everyone should be able to use * as needed in writing and in relatively formal speaking. * may also be referred to as 'correct' English.
WHAT IS 'STANDARD ENGLISH'?