We have seen that:

• Everybody speaks a dialect
• Dialects vary in terms of phonology, morphology, syntax and lexical items.
• A dialect can signal either geographic or socioeconomic differences
• Linguistically, there is no such thing as a "lazy" or "bad" dialect

Some questions:

• Where do dialects comes from?
• How and why do they change?
• What role do they play in society?

Some more characteristics of "Non-Standard" dialects.

/r/-deletion

• In some dialects, /r/ is dropped following a vowel:

AAVE: guard. god

nor, gnaw

• Boston: "Pahk yah cah in Hahvahd Yahd"
• Traditionally, these are not seen as prestige dialects

British /r/-deletion

• In British dialects, the /r/-deletion rule is a character of prestige dialects
• Lack of /r/-deletion is a characteristic of non-prestige dialects
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• There are no characteristics which make one dialect superior
• The same exact rule signals different things in different societies

Some comments on "Standard English" (SAE)

• There is nothing about SAE that makes it superior to any other dialect
• The biases against "non-standard" dialects stem from purely social factors
• You do not need to speak SAE to "get ahead" in this country

• AAVE dialects are just as different from SAE than British dialects.
• British dialects are seen as prestige, AAVE is not
• These social differences mean that AAVE speakers will be viewed differently speakers of other dialects

Some interim conclusions:

• Each and every dialect is as sophisticated and complex as the next
• There is no scientific basis for the superiority of one dialect over another
• Biases are a purely sociological phenomenon
• Non-standard dialects are not "sloppy" or "lazy"
• Dialects play an important social role in our society
• They can signal membership to a group help define us as individuals

Who speaks the "best" langauge?

The most successful users of language are not the ones who speak the "best" dialect; they are the ones who are able to switch freely among dialects and registers according to their audience

Language Change

What causes languages to change?

Language convergence

• Languages or dialects may change to become more like other languages around them

Ex: The development of AAVE

One popular theory

1) AAVE began as a slave pidgin language

• A pidgin is a language that is used when speakers of two different languages are brought together.
• Pidgins are often based on one of the languages but contain characteristics of one or many other languages
• A pidgin is always a second language and is used in very limited contexts

2) Children born into a society where the pidgin is commonly used may grow up speaking a creole.

• Creole languages are languages unto themselves, not dialects.
• As more and more generations use the creole language (based on an original pidgin), it will develop and refine rules of it's own.
• Children raised in areas where the slave pidgin was spoken acquired a creole as their first language.

3) As this creole spread into the States, it became more like English (the language in common use)

• Eventually, the creole converged with English to create AAVE.

Are all dialects converging?

• There is plenty of evidence for language divergence.
• For some groups of speakers, language is a way of expressing identity

Ex: Martha's Vineyard

• Descendants of original islanders: /aj/ <-> /^j/; /aw/ <-> /^w/
• In the early part of this century, these sounds were is free alternation
• As the tourist trade increased, the inhabitants felt threatened
• The island dialect changed to almost exclusive use of /^j/ and /^w/
• This signaled in-group status as a native of the island

Languages will change for different reasons

• Social factors are only one reason
• Many think that as technology "shrinks" our world, we will all eventually speak the same language (witness increasing language death)
• Many dialects are actually diverging for the same reason
• Speakers want to distinguish themselves from other speakers
• Identity is an important part of our society