Linguistic Connection: Dialects and Language

First, come up with a list of five words that you think are part of a dialect and not part of standard English. You might rely on words that you and your family use but might not be understood in every part of the US. For example, I’m from east Texas. My Aunt Lee would often say, “I’ll do that directly.” And by directly,she meant “pretty soon.” This is a standard word used in a non-standard way. You might also include a word that is not really in any dictionary but is used in everyday speech such as the word poke, which in Appalachia means a “bag.” The Scots speaker in the clip used the word wheen (small amount). I had never heard that word. That would be a good example of a word that is not part of standard English, at least in the U.S. However, check out in the OED. The first recorded use is 1400, and it can be traced to Old English. So, is wheen English? Yes, but it has fallen into disuse in most dialects.

Second, I want you to come up with a list of an additional five words that have non-standard pronunciations in certain dialects. In east Texas, we would often say the word theater like this

/ ieider /

instead of the standard

/ ider /.

Type up these two lists of words. For the first five, be sure to explain what the word means in the dialect. For the second list, try as best you can, to type the words in IPA. . You could also use the OED for help on the IPA transcriptions. Of course, the OED gives the standard pronunciation and maybe a widely used non-standard pronunciation. It will not give the IPA transcription for every pronunciation in every dialect.

Third and finally, answer this question in a concise paragraph: How does McWhorter problemtize the standard linguistic definition of a dialect being a variety of a language:

So your hw would look something like this:

List 1: Non-standard words:

1) My relatives say directly for “soon.” For example, my aunt would say, “I’ll do that directy.” I noticed that my older relatives do this but not my younger relatives.

2) I’ve heard people in Appalachia say poke to mean “bag.” I’ve even heard it on a television show that was set in the mountains of West Virginia.

3)

4)

5)

List 2: Non-standard pronunciations:

1) Speakers of east Texas English often pronounse theater as / ieider / instead of / ider /. I hear it both ways in my home town of Tyler, Texas.

2)

3)

4)

5)

Your paragraph

McWhorter notes….and I think…