Филологические науки/

3. Диалект как социальный и

культурный феномен.

Umarova A.M.

L.N.Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Kazakhstan

DIALECT: GEOGRAPHICAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH

As is known dialect is a variety of a language spoken by a group of people and having features of vocabulary, grammar, and/or pronunciation that distinguish it from other varieties of the same language [1]. Dialect studies began in the latter half of the 19th century. The idea of dialect studies began in 1876, by Georg Wenker who sent postal questionnaires out over Northern Germany. It should be noted that Joseph Wright produced the six-volume English Dialect Dictionary in 1905. In the 1950s, the University of Leeds undertook the Survey of the English dialects, which focused mostly on rural speech in England and the eastern areas of Wales [2].

It must be mentioned that dialect is defined by Funk and Wagnall’s Encyclopedia as a “version of a language differing in some aspects of grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary from other forms of the same language” [1]. Dialect includes various terms that as a whole define the meaning. Dialectology had linguistic geography and three components which correlate with dialect. The traditional study of dialectology focused on regional dialects but evolved to include social and geographical placement. Historically speaking, the most important event in the changing linguistic situation was the rise of the London dialect as the prevalent written form of language. The history of the London dialect reveals the sources of the literary language in late ME and also the main source and basis of the Literary Standard, both in its written and spoken forms. The Early ME written records made in London – beginning with the Proclamation of 1258 – showed that the dialect of London was fundamentally East Saxon [2].

The Soviet linguists (A.V. Kunin, A.R. Smirnitsky and others) believe that Dialectology is the scientific study a sub-field of Sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based on primarily on geographic distribution and their associated features. Dialectology treats such topics as divergence of two local dialects from a common ancestor and synchronic variation [3].

Dialectal words are obviously opposed to the other groups of the non-literary English vocabulary and therefore its stylistic functions can be more or less clearly defined. As is known dialectal words are those which in the process of integration of the English national language remained beyond its literary boundaries and their use is generally confined to definite locality. Here C.M.Carver excludes expressions of social dialects like poetical dialect or styles of dialects. H. Orton and E. Dieth are not concerned with the historical aspect of dialectal words. For our purpose it will suffice us to note that there is a definite similarity of functions in the use of slang or any other form of non-literary English and dialectal words. Some dialectal words have become so familiar in good colloquial or standard colloquial English that they are universally accepted and recognized units of the standard colloquial English [4].

We agree that dialect that is associated with a particular social class can be termed a sociolect; regional dialect may be termed a regiolect or topolect. The other usage refers to a language socially subordinate or national standard language, often historically cognate to the standard, but not a variety of it or any other sense derived from it. A dialect differs from the regional or national standard literacy language. The distinctions between these terms are made by Michael Halliday in 1978 [5].

W. Wolfram states several types of dialect. He underlined that sociolect is the dialect used by social group: a variety of speech that is used by a particular social class or group. Regiolect is the dialect spoken in a particular geographical region; a blend of region and dialect. Idiolect is a person's own personal language, the words they choose and any other features that characterize their speech and writing. Some people have distinctive features in their language; these would be part of their idiolect, their individual linguistic choices and idiosyncrasies [6].

R. Fasold has defined that there is no universally accepted criterion for distinguishing a language from a dialect. Sometimes mistake by mixing language with dialect is made. A number of rough measures exist, sometimes leading to contradictory results. Some linguists do not differentiate between languages and dialects, i.e. languages are dialects and vice versa. The distinction is therefore subjective and depends on the user's frame of reference.

Language varieties are often called dialects rather than languages on the basis of:

¾ they have no standard or codified form;

¾ the speakers of the given language do not have a state of their own;

¾ they are rarely or never used in writing (outside reported speech);

¾ they lack prestige with respect to some other, often standardized, variety [6].

The following researchers – Labov and William - have worked out the classifications of dialects. We know that there is no easy way to classify dialects. One must first select the criteria on which a classification is to be based. It should be noted that sometimes dialect classification is based strictly on geography; sometimes it is based strictly on the structural features – lexicon, phonology and morphology – of the dialects [5].

A standard dialect (also known as a standardized dialect or "standard language") is a dialect that is supported by institutions. We know that such institutional support may include government recognition or designation; presentation as being the "correct" form of a language in schools; published grammars, dictionaries, and textbooks that set forth a "correct" spoken and written form; and an extensive formal literature that employs that dialect (prose, poetry, non-fiction, etc.).

A nonstandard dialect like a standard dialect has a complete vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, but there is not the beneficiary of institutional support. An example of a nonstandard English dialect is Southern American English. The Dialect Test was designed by Joseph Wright to compare different English dialects with each other. Sometimes in stories authors distinguish characters through their dialect [6].

A geographical dialect is when groups of speakers are isolated from one another by a barrier - rivers, mountains, lakes, oceans, and national boundaries, to name a few. It was considered that the speakers on each side of the barrier sound less and less alike. It should be noted that dialectologists therefore began to study social, as well as geographical dialect in the 30s of the previous century and William and Labov is one of the most prominent researchers in this field [5].

As a result of the above mentioned information we would like to tell that English language spread around the globe. It is now the third most spoken language in the world after Chinese and Hindi. Due to its global property, it has also bred a variety of English dialects. As the most spread dialects we will compare Cockney, American Central dialects, Newfoundland and Southland. It should be noted that there is the greatest distinction between a dialect and a language. There are several English dialects: Britain, American, Canadian, and New Zealandish.

A British dialect Cockney comes from a Middle English word, cokenei, which means “a city dweller.” It is probably derived from a medieval term referring to the runt of a litter or clutch of eggs, which was used pejoratively to refer to people living in the crowded, disease ridden, and dirty cities [7]. It is widely believed Cockney spoken by older people that we hear now will disappear within another generation. It should be said Cockney speech can be extremely difficult to understand, especially for foreigners, as it is littered with word replacements due to rhyming slang, cultural references, and shifts in vowels and consonants which can render words incomprehensible to the listener. Like other unique dialects, a thick Cockney accent can seem almost like another language. Care should also be taken when attempting to mimic it as the Cockney dialect can be very slippery, especially when it comes to the use of rhyming slang, and native users may be confused or amused by the attempts of a non-native [7].

American Central dialect in the USA is characterized by a relative uniformity throughout the country. One can travel three thousand miles without encountering any but the slightest dialect differences. Nevertheless, regional variations in speech undoubtedly exist and they have been observed and recorded by a number of investigators. The following three major belts of dialects have so far been identified, each with its own characteristic features: Northern, Midland and Southern. Midland is considered to be divided into North Midland and South Midland. The differences in pronunciation between American dialects are most apparent, but they seldom interfere with understanding [6].

A Canadian dialect Newfoundland was settled in the early 1600s, one of the first areas settled by the English speakers in North America. Let us remember that Newfoundland is a name for several dialects of English found in the province of Newfoundland and Laborer, often regarded as the most distinctive dialect of English in Canada. We agree that Newfoundland dialects are similar to the West Country dialects particularly the City of Bristol and the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset from which the majority of Newfoundland's population emigrated [5].

A New Zealand dialect Southland is a regional variant of New Zealand English popularly associated with the provincial district of Southland in the south and south-west of the South Island. It has developed from the original lowland Scottish dialect-complex of the early immigrants. Although a dialect of the Southland region is well-known and documented, linguists (Bartlett 1992, Hay, Maclagan and Gordon 2008) have yet find concrete evidence about Southland and other regional dialects of New Zealand. Yet the general New Zealand public is often adamant that there are regional differences in New Zealand dialect [5].

In this report we would like to compare the lexemes of above mentioned dialects. These lexemes are Cockney, American Central dialect, Newfoundland and Southland.

Cockney American Newfoundland Southland

wing flat type filling station gear lever bonnet silencer roof transport boot windscreen motorcar van lorry tyre petrol

fender flat gas station gear shift hood muffler top transportation trunk windshield automobile delivery truck truck tire gasoline

mudguard puncture petrol station gear stick cowl silencer top side transit automobile truck windshield auto delivery van motortruck tire gasoline

mud guard flatcar oil station shifter cowling muffler upper side transport luggage truck windshield machine panel truck camion tyre petrol

Here we notice the wide varieties of the English dialects and differentiate them from each other. There are differences in usage and dictionary will note the different meanings in its definition of the term. Many vocabulary items are also used in one form and not in the other. One of the best examples of this is the terminology used for automobiles. In other cases, Newfoundland and American Central dialect differ from Cockney spelling, such as in the case of nouns like tire and curb, which in Cockney are spelled tyre and kerb. Newfoundland spelling rules can be partly explained by Canadian's trade history. For instance, the Cockney spelling of the word bill probably relates to Canadian's once-important ties to British financial institutions. Newfoundland's automobile industry, on the other hand, has been dominated by American firms from its inception, explaining why Canadians use the American spelling of tire and American terminology for the parts of automobiles (e.g., truck instead of lorry, gasoline instead of petrol, trunk instead of boot). Lexical differences of American Central dialect highly extensive on the strength of multiple borrowing from Spanish and Indian languages, that was not in Cockney. Also claim attention differences in writing some words in American Central dialect and Newfoundland the same writing tire, windshield etc. American Central dialect is most similar to Newfoundland, due to their similar history and geographical proximity. (such words like windshield, tire, gasoline) Most of the specialists (Crystal, 1988: 240) in vocabulary derive English local dialects. On the other hand, in recent years the influence of American Central dialect has been apparent... Thus we find American central dialect gasoline, truck and wing alongside Cockney petrol, boot (of a car) and fender.

As we above mentioned the Soviet linguists (A.V. Kunin, A.R. Smirnitsky and others) believe that Dialectology is the scientific study a sub-field of Sociolinguistics. When dialectologists study language they are principally concerned with identifying how the same language can vary, based on a number of circumstances. These include that the dialect can be well understood by speakers of the language who don’t use it, and that those using the dialect can understand the common language used by others. A good example of this might be someone who speaks in an American dialect but can understand a British television show; this is called mutual intelligibility. Those interested in dialectology also take into account how speakers of the dialect would perceive their own language, and if they view it as part of a larger language or as separate from it. Additionally, dialect may sometimes be defined politically, even if it bears similarity to another dialect. In dialectology determines that the use of language in a particular area or social group constitutes a dialect of a main language, study of the development of that dialect can prove helpful. Since languages frequently have multiple dialects, this can say much about the development of a society over time.

Bibliography

1. McArthur, Tom (2002). Oxford Guide to World English. Oxford: Oxford

University Press. ISBN 0-19-866248-3 hardback, ISBN 0-19-860771-7 paperback.

2. Cassidy, Frederic G., ed. 1985-. The Dictionary of American Regional English. Cambridge:Belknap Press.

3. Kurath, Hans. 1949. A Word Geography of the Eastern United States. Ann Arbor:University of Michigan Press.

4. Carver, Craig M. 1989. American Regional Dialects: A Word Geography. Ann Arbor:University of Michigan Press.

5. Labov, William. 1991. The Three Dialects of English. In Penny Eckert, ed. New Ways of Analyzing Sound Change. New York: Academic Press,

6. Wolfram, W., & Fasold, R. (1974). The Study of Social Dialects in American English. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

7. Labov, William, Sharon Ash and Charles Boberg. 1997. A National Map of the The Regional Dialects of American English.