Transcript Language and dialect - University of Iceland

Language and dialect
(first-year course: The Talking
Animal, Autumn 2009)
What do we mean
by:
language?
dialect?
Language
?
dialects
•Some possible definitions:
Languages are divided into dialects
Dialects are regional varieties of language
Dialects are regional and social varieties of language
But first we have to ask: what do we
mean by a language?
ei
stein
e
sten
Eidskog
Eda
Eid
stein
Eda
sten
Oslo
← dialect continuum →
Stockholm
Stockholm
Oslo
Eid
Eda
Stockholm
Oslo
Eid
Norwegian
Eda
Swedish
socio-political entities
Dialect continua in Europe
Gorb
Garobia
Porkistan
Langauge B
Porki
A national border in a
dialect continuum
Language A
Language B
Nanamai
Banandia
Gorskch
Pthsiskt
A national border between two
different language families
Language A
Language B
bilingual area
Dialect continua in Europe
What is a dialect?
What a language?
Popular understanding:
1. A dialect is a type of language spoken by
uneducated or country people. It is a
corrupt form of the “correct” language. It
is derived from the “corrrect” form.
Those who speak the language
“correctly” do not speak “dialect”.
What is a dialect?
What a language?
Or:
2. A language is a collection of dialects,
one of which has been adopted as the
standard variety, which people think of
as “the language”.
The standard variety is simply another
dialect.
A dialect becomes a standard:
1. Selection. The dialect of the ruling or most
influential class is adopted as the standard.
2. Literacy. It acquires a written form.
3. Standardizaton. Grammars and
dictionaries are composed, spelling
becomes fixed, and are competing
grammatical or spelling forms current, one
is adopted as correct and the other(s) are
deemed incorrect.
4. Elaboration. Its vocabulary increases with
cultural, philosophical, technological and
scientific development.
the standard language:
“French”, “German”
Social
axis
REGIONAL DIALECTS
Geographical axis
Norsk
Eidskog
Svenska
Eda
To Sweden, 1658
I
Weinreich 1945
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_language_is_a_dialect_with_
an_army_and_navy
"Vos iz der khilek fun a dialekt biz a
shprakh?" Ikh hob gemeynt, az es ruft zikh
im der maskilisher bitl, un ikh hob im gepruvt
aroyffirn afn rikhtikn veg, nor er hot mikh
ibergerisn "Dos veys ikh, ober ikh vel aykh
gebn a besere definitsye. A shprakh iz a
dialekt mit an armey un flot."