SOCIOLINGUISTICS

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

GROUP 7

Names : Priskilla C. Rantung

Murny Wati Panjaitan
Regina Siso
Putri Angelita Kerap
Steren Kalalo
Semester : 7th Semester
Task : Introduction to Language Variation & Variation at
Different Levels of Linguistics Structure
 A. Introduction to Language Variation
Many people are probably not aware of the extent to which systematic differences exist
within languages. Internal Variation refers to the property of languages of having different ways
of expression the same meaning. This is a property that is inherent to all human languages and to
all speakers of a language.

Varieties, Dialects and Idiolects

The term language variety is used among linguistics as a cover term to refer to many
different types of language variation. The term may be used in reference to a distinct language
such as Italian or French, or in reference to a particular form of people such as Appalachian
English or even in reference to the speech of a single person.
When a group speakers of particular language differs noticeably in its speech from another
group we say that they are speaking dialects. It is any variety of a language spoken by a group of
people that is characterized by systematic differences from other varieties of the same language
in terms of structural or lexical features.
The appropriate term for systematics phonological variation is accent. Its often used in reference
to foreign accent or regionally defined accents such as southern or northern accents.
The form of a language spoken by one person is known as an idiolect. One criterion used to
distinguish dialects from language is multual intelligibility.If a speaker of one language variety
can understand speakers of another language variety and vice versa, we say that this variety are
mutually intelligence. Another complication for the criterion of mutual intelligibility is found in
a fenomenon known as a dialect continuum. This is a situation where, in a large number or
contiguous dialects each dialect is closely related to the next, but the dialects at either and of the
continuum (scale) are mutually intelligible.

Speech Communities
A Group of people speaking the same dialect is known as a speech community. Speech
communities may be defined in terms of a number of extralinguistic factors (extra- in the sense
‘of outside of’ , that is,factors non based in linguistic structure), in cluding region,socioeconomic
status and ethnicity.
Communicative isolation results when a group of speakers forms a coherent speech community
relatively isolated from speakers outside of that community. This type of isolation was perhaps
once a possibility but is becoming increasingly rare these days owing to social and geographic
mobility,mass media,ect.
Bibliography
Silvia-Corvalan, Carmen (2001) Sociolinguisticsa y pragmatic del espanol. Washington D.C.
Georgetown University Press.
 B. Variation at Different Levels of Linguistics Structure
The term “language variety” is used by linguists to refer to the many different types of
language variation in common use. The term may be used to denote a distinct language such as
Spanish or Japanese, a particular variety of a language spoken by a specific group such as
speakers of Cajun English, or even the distinctive speech of an individual--such as that spoken
by William F. Buckley, Truman Capote, or Andy Warhol.
While we are probably most aware of differences in vocabulary choice and pronunciation
when we are engaging in everyday conversation, the study of linguistics recognizes several
levels of linguistic structure involving (but not limited to) the production of sound, vowel
pronunciation, allowable consonant order, and possessive designation. The five levels of
linguistic structure provided here underlie our means of common verbal communication.

Phonetic Level
In most American dialects, the sounds t, d, n, s, and z are produced with what is termed
“alveolar” articulation (articulated with the tongue against or close to the alveolar ridge on the
roof of the mouth), while other dialects heard in New York City have “dental” articulation,
whereby the tip of the tongue touches the top teeth.
Some British and Scottish dialects of English produce a trilled “r,” while most American dialects
have either a retroflex “r” (where the tongue articulates with the roof of the mouth behind the
alveolar ridge, and may even be curled back to touch the palate or uvula) or a bunched “r,” (with
the tongue in a coiled position).

Phonological Level
Most American dialects make a distinction between the “au” and “aw” sounds as in caught or
hawk, while other dialects use the same sound--with Don and dawn, for example, sounding
exactly the same.
In southern England, words like “flood,” “but,” “cup” are pronounced with an “a” sound, and
words like “full,” “good,” and “put” with a “u” sound. Many dialects of the north, however,
pronounce both sets of word types with a “u” sound.
Standard British English does not allow the sequence V-r-C or V-r-?. This is also reflected in
Bostonian English where the phrase "Park the car" is pronounced “pak d/te ka.”
Some African-American English dialects do not allow the sequence C-r or C-l, so the word
professor would be pronounced as if, “pa-fe-sa.”

Morphological Level
Some rural British English dialects use the possessive with pronouns, but not with nouns: thus,
“my life,” “his dog,” but “Tom car,” and “the old lady house.” (This is also present in some
African-American English dialects.)
In parts of northern England and southern Wales, “s” is not just a third person singular present
tense indicator, but a general tense indicator, with speakers saying, “I likes him,” and “we goes.”
Appalachian English uses past tense forms of various verbs that are different from the past tense
forms found in other commonly-used American dialects, for example, where “climbed” is
pronounced klam, “heated” is pronounced het, and “ate” is pronounced et.
Some dialects of English use hisself and theirselves, while Standard English dictates, “himself,”
and themselves.”

Syntactic Level
For many southern speakers of American English, the word “done” is utilized as an auxiliary
word, as in, “She done already told you.”
For many Appalachian speakers, the word “right” can function as an adverb: “A right good
idea.”
In many related dialects (and heard throughout the American South) combinations of auxiliaries
are prominent, such as, might could, might would, may can, and useta could.

Many American Midwest dialects use a linguistic variation whereby “The wheat needs to be
watered” becomes, “The wheat needs watered.”

Semantic Level
Reflected in cross-cultural comparison within the same language, to “knock up” in British
English means to ‘awaken from sleep by knocking,’ while in American parlance it means to
‘make pregnant.’
Cross-cultural variation within the same language (and even regional variation within the same
language) is also evident with words that have the same meaning as with soda, pop, soft drink,
and soda pop--which in American English all mean the same thing, but may be replaced with
entirely different sets of terms throughout other English speaking parts of the world.
References:

A Biography of the English Language, Rinehart and Winston

Various linguistics classes and related studies provided at USF, St. Pete, FL, USA