S3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com



Lesson 1, Teacher Notes, DefinitionsStacy Ishigaki Arevalo, Eastside College Preparatory School, CaliforniaDialect: Exploring Different Forms of LanguageThree insights about language:Language comes in varieties (sometimes called dialects).All language varieties are structured.Language varieties are linguistically equal.Devereaux, M.D., & Wheeler, R.S. (2012). Code-switching and language ideologies: Exploring identity, power, and society in dialectally diverse literature. English Journal, 102(2), 93-100.Dialect: a form of language used in a particular region or by a certain group; includes vocabulary, syntax, and pronunciation→ Can vary by geography, ethnicity, social class, age group, subculture, and so onIn addition to identifying the different dialects of a language, anotherway to distinguish among different forms of language is through register.Register: the level of usage of a language, such as usage along a scale from formal to informalUnderstanding CONTEXT is essential.→ The context of communication determines which dialects and which registers of each dialect are appropriate (are considered to be “correct”) and effective.→ Think SOAPStone! Speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, toneVernacular: the non-standard yet systematic language or dialect spoken by people in a specific country or region→ “The vernacular” usually refers to casual speech between people. “Dialect” can include the vernacular but also includes other registers and forms, such as more formal registers and written forms.Linguists, people who study the structure and usage of languages, define many different dialects of English.The following examples may sound familiar to you. Did you know that linguists recognize many of these as dialects of English?Standard American English (commonly known as “academic English” or “standardized English”): the kind of English you learn in school that is typically supported by the institutions of American society, such as school, government, business, broadcast media, etc.Geographical/regionalSouthern American English: “I gave y’all a glass of lemonade”; “I done told you before”; “I’m fixin’ to eat about now”; etc.Appalachian English: using complex verbs like “I might could go with you”; using “a” before certain verbs like fishing (“They went a-fishin’”) Boston English: omitting the “r” sound in some words, like in the phrase “I parked the car in Harvard Yard” (= “I pahked the cah in Hahvahd Yahd”)California English: “like” as a filler word; “dude,” “rad,” “totally,” and other surf culture/Valley girl wordsHawaii Pidgin English or Hawaii Creole English: “that” becomes “dat”; “people” becomes “peopo”; “the water is cold” becomes “da water stay cold”Cultural/ethnicAfrican American Vernacular English (also called Ebonics): “We be waiting”; “He been going there”; “I finna leave soon”; “She nice”; etc.Chicano English: letters of English tend to be pronounced as if they were Spanish words (“easy” with a strong “s” sound rather than a “z” sound, the switching of “j” and “y” sounds [“job”/“yob” or “yes”/“jes”]); some Spanish words mixed with English words (“carro”), etc.Eye dialect: using non-standard spelling to draw attention to pronunciationLexicon: a specific set of vocabularyEven at Eastside we have our own lexicon: “habits of work,” “habits of mind,” “tutorial,” “C&A,” “SRI,” etc.How We Talk About How We TalkAdditional terms from PBS, “Do You Speak American?”Style-shifting or code-switching: changing the way you speak or write to make it “appropriate” for the contextLanguage prejudice: (prejudice = pre-judgment, making a judgment before knowing the whole 0story) negative value judgments made about a person based on the way he or she speaksOften directed toward a speaker of a vernacular dialect.Language prestige: (prestige = respect, admiration, higher status) positive value placed upon a particular language or features of a languageExample: Many Americans think a British accent is more prestigious.May be determined by the dominant culture.In a smaller social setting, it may be more prestigious to use features that have prestige for that specific group, such as forms of slang among a group of teenagers. HYPERLINK "" Language profiling: making decisions about people based on the variety of language they speakMost crucial when done by people in “gatekeeping” positions: that is, people who can open or close the “gate” to opportunity, such as people in positions of power who make decisions about employment, immigration, residence, and so on.This process is often closely linked to racial and economic profiling. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download