Applied Linguistics Assignment 2

Mai Mustafa Fouad Rafat Ali 3rd year, General Roll No. 40

Dialect

[1]

Everybody speaks a dialect. It is a mark of ones social and geographical origins. No dialect is more superior than the other. Nobody can judge that this dialect is old-fashioned or vulgar. That is completely a misconception. Dialects are just different and should always be accepted, not scorned. Besides, if the people of a country speak several dialects, this may signify that it is a civilized and refined community because it embraces various ways of speaking as it also embraces various races, sexes, and religions. To illustrate, the dialect of the BBC broadcasts is not superior to the dialect of Bristol Dockers or Suffolk frame-workers.

There are two categories of dialects: the traditional dialect and the mainstream dialects. The traditional dialects are used by a small minority usually the elderly and mostly associated with the rural communities. They are quite difficult to understand; for example: Her bainta-goin (She aint going)

The mainstream dialects are used by the majority especially young people in the cities. These dialects are similar to the Standard English, for example, Shes not going.

Accent
Just like dialects, everybody has an accent. Accents developed because of the social and geographical differences between communities. That is why an accent is a mark of where you come from, like dialects. When a certain social group with a certain accent moves to another region, the next generation or the children of this social group will develop their own new accent, having their parents accent as a basis. For example, the Australian English is very similar to English in London because of the fact that the founder generation was the poor Londoners who were brought to Australia as convicts in the 18th century. Also, the English accent in New Zealand is similar to that in Australia because a large numbers of Australians settled in New Zealand during the earlier generations.

Slang
If we want to define slang using slang words, it would be like a dope spin on a sick word that deserves props for being mad fly, yo.[2]

The term slang started to be used since the late 18th century. Before thatduring the medieval and Elizabethan

Age, one word was as appropriate as another as long as it communicated the intended message. Slang never existed then. [2] The word slang may be a blended term combining slovenly (=messy, untidy) and language.

Slang language has many forms. It is more evident in this age because of the use of the social communication networks like Twitter, Facebook and also chatting, texting (SMSs) and other forms of instant messages. It can be an acronym or abbreviation, e.g ASAP (as soon as possible), arbitrary change in the form of words, e.g yo.[3], excessive use of idiomatic expressions (e,g: Lets get the ball rolling=Lets get started) and many other forms.

Standard Variety

[4]

First of all, a standard variety is not a language. It is, as the title suggests, one variety or one type of a language. So the Standard English is not a language by itself but a form of a language used by media, printing, education and educated people. Second, what does make us call a particular language a standard variety? When a language undergoes the process of standardization, it can be called a standard variety. This process includes 5 steps: 1. Determination 2. Codification 3. Stabilization

4. Elaboration of Function 5. Acceptance Determination refers to the selection of a certain variety to be standardized. Codification refers to compiling dictionaries and writing grammar books. This step leads to the third step which is stabilization. Stabilization refers to the fixed form that the language variety should have. The next step which is elaboration of function refers to the possibility of the variety to be used in government and other various situations. That is, the variety should tolerate adding new terms to suit different fields. Finally this variety should be accepted by the society.

Why should schools use the standard variety?

It is awkward to believe that learning the standard form of the mother tongue is unnecessary just because students already know one variety of a language, which they speak. The standard variety should be taught in schools for several reasons. First, standard form is general while a dialect is regional and related to the social status. Therefore, by teaching the spoken dialect of the region, it would be unfair to the other dialects. This would also deny students the right to be exposed to a part of their heritage and culture. Second, the standard form of a language is needed in order to maintain a certain degree of linguistic excellency. Imagine that students cannot benefit from newspapers, books and other forms of media because they did not study the standard form used in these areas, or they keep silent in public meetings out of fears of violating one of the most important and appropriate social behaviours: speaking in the standard form [6]. It certainly would be ridiculous and unacceptable. Therefore, students should know the standard variety because there are certain situations when they have to use this form. Finally, a

standard variety is fixed not changeable like a dialect, so this constitutes a basis for all individuals in the big society of a country. Furthermore, parents expect their children to learn the Standard form in schools because they are likely to hold some of the entrenched and unjustified prejudices found in the society at large. [5]

References
1- Dialects, Peter Trudgill page 2 2- The lexicon universal encyclopedia, pt. 17 page 350 3- http://www.divinecaroline.com/22312/78878-yodude-origins-common-slang 4- http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/SEtrudgill.htm 5- Dialects in schools and communities-- Carolyn Temple Adger, Walt Wolfram, Donna Christian, google books page 99 6- Language Policy and Political Issues in Education Ruth Wodak, David Corson, google books page 105