Dialects of English

There has been little academic consideration of the life, work and ideas of the BBC radio producer Charles Parker. Where he is remembered it is for his work on the prize-winning series known as the Radio Ballads. Beginning with ‘The Ballad of John Axon’ in 1958 the series addressed the lives and work of working-class people, and was one of the first programmes to use ‘actuality’ incorporating original, spontaneous testimonies. The author values Parker’s work as an expression of the mentalités of welfare-state Britain and that wider project evinced by his colleagues and collaborators that sought to challenge the circumscribed lineaments of class, culture, history, education and language. However, an appreciation of Parker and his role in the process of democratizing the cultural sphere also
lends itself to a critique of the assumptions behind categories such as class, authenticity and experience that proved to be so useful in this moment.

This paper examines individual differences in constraints on linguistic variation in light of Labov's (2007) proposal that adult change (diffusion) disrupts systems of constraints and Tamminga, MacKenzie, and Embick's (2016) typology of constraints. It is shown that, in pooling data from multiple speakers, some of the complexity in structured community variation may be overlooked. Data on rhoticity from speakers of Bristol English are compared to 34 previous studies of rhoticity in varieties of English around the world. Constraints found to be consistent across varieties are also found to be consistent across speakers of Bristol English, whereas those that differ between varieties also differ between individuals, implying that only those which differ are truly part of the grammar, and that these are indeed disrupted by diffusion.

Braj Kachru is a major figure in linguistics and English studies, and he has left us an intellectual legacy that speaks to a wide range of fields in language studies, including sociolinguistics, variation studies, bilingualism and multilingualism, applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and teaching English as a second or foreign language. This article sets out to provide a detailed and nuanced study of the intellectual trajectory of one of the most influential figures in contemporary sociolinguistics and English studies. 1 | INTRODUCTION Braj Kachru is a major figure in linguistics and English studies, along with their ancillary fields, sociolinguistics, variation studies, bilingualism and multilingualism, applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and teaching English as a second or foreign language. He brought about a change in the way we understand the use of English around the world. He exposed the limitations of contemporary colonial, ethnocentric models of teaching English, which insisted on one proper way-the native speaker's way-of using English as the only one appropriate for any occasion. He showed that it is limiting to view the many ways in which English is used in Asia, Africa, and elsewhere as erroneous perversions of this ideal. Instead, the educated versions of the different usages should be seen as parallel, legitimate varieties of English, systematic in structure and autonomous in function, resulting from the interplay of linguistic and social contexts of their learning and use. In fact, the differences are creative innovations that extend or enrich the resources of English to express new meanings, values, and experiences not encountered in native uses. Hence, what is needed is a pluralistic conception of English-beautifully captured in the term 'world Englishes'-which recognizes that there is more than one model of English and that different models are appropriate for different contexts. In adumbrating this new paradigm through a half-century of meticulous scholarship and energetic advocacy, Kachru 'liberated' the language of hundreds of millions of non-native speakers of

Phonological characteristics of a voice, such as th-stopping (pronouncing them as " dem ") associated with African American English (AAE), provide indexical sociolinguistic information about the speaker. Word usage also signals this social dialect, i.e. usage of crib to mean house. The current study examines the effect of these sociolinguistic characteristics on word recall, as well as the interaction between the phonological and the lexical levels of variation. In a modified word recognition task, listeners displayed more accurate veridical word recall of AAE lexical items and voices. Furthermore, there was an interaction between phonological and lexical variation: listeners were even more accurate at recognizing AAE-specific lexical items heard in an AAE voice. This study adds to a growing body of work finding that sociolinguistic information influences word memory.

Teaching English Language Variation in the Global Classroom offers researchers and teachers methods for instructing students on the diversity of the English language on a global scale. A complement to Devereaux and Palmer's Teaching Language Variation in the Classroom, this collection provides real-world, classroom-tested strategies for teaching English language variation in a variety of contexts and countries, and with a variety of language learners. Each chapter balances theory with discussions of curriculum and lesson planning to address how to effectively teach in global classrooms with approaches based on English language variation. With lessons and examples from five continents, the volume covers recent debates on many pedagogical topics, including standardization, stereotyping, code-switching, translanguaging, translation, identity, ideology, empathy, and post-colonial and critical theoretical approaches. The array of pedagogical strategies, accessible linguistic research, clear methods, and resources provided makes it an essential volume for pre-service and in-service teachers, graduate students, and scholars in courses on TESOL, EFL, World/Global Englishes, English as a Medium of Instruction, and Applied Linguistics.

https://wvupressonline.com/node/853
Appalachian Englishes in the Twenty-First Century provides a complete exploration of English in Appalachia for a broad audience of scholars and educators. Starting from the premise that just as there is no single Appalachia, there is no single Appalachian dialect, this essay collection brings together wide-ranging perspectives on language variation in the region. Contributors from the fields of linguistics, education, and folklore debunk myths about the dialect's ancient origins, examine subregional and ethnic differences, and consider the relationships between language and identity-individual and collective-in a variety of settings, including schools. They are attentive to the full range of linguistic expression, from everyday spoken grammar to subversive Dale Earnhardt memes. A portal to the language scholarship of the last thirty years, Appalachian Englishes in the Twenty-First Century translates state-of-the-art research for a nonspecialist audience, while setting the agenda for further study of language in one of America's most recognized regions. Edited by Kirk Hazen September 2020 · 240pp · 6x9in PB 978-1-949199-55-0 · $29.99sp CL 978-1-949199-54-3 · $99.99s eBook 978-1-949199-56-7 · $29.99 5 images · 2 maps · 7 tables

Here is the first chapter of my most recent book (thanks to Benjamins for permission to post and it share it here).
TOC and abstract of the entire book can be accessed here: https://www.academia.edu/18162995/The_Written_Questionnaire_in_Social_Dialectology_History_Theory_Practice_Dec._2015_

This essay aims to focus firstly on the typical features of Cornish dialect, also called Anglo-Cornish, Cornish English or Cornu-English (the variety of English spoken in Cornwall) and then on how those typicalities are rendered in Gordon William's novel The Siege of Trencher's Farm (1969). One of the two film versions, Straw Dogs (1971) by Sam Peckinpah, will be later analysed in order to see if and to what extent these regional characteristics are preserved.

Besides showing the schizophrenic data analysis, this article lays out how data should be elicited, or, if spontaneous, is actually deviant or, despite starts and stops , is really normal.
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The analyses and criteria in this article have not changed and researchers have to lean what's the stakes are in verbal output.

The study of dialects offers an innovative and engaging opportunity to learn about language. Ideally, by learning about the variations of language, students will come to understand at least three basic facts: languages change over time; languages always have variation; social identity influences language. From this knowledge, teachers and students can begin to understand that their languages, regardless of the social stigmas stacked against them, are beautifully complex, rule-governed systems. One kind of language variation, dialect diversity, reflects the fact that languages change over time and that people who live in the same geographical area or maintain the same social identity share language norms; in other words, they speak the same dialect. Although dialects differ geographically and socially, no dialect is better linguistically than another

This article analyzes the frequency of three traditional features of New York City English—vocalized /r/, raised tense /æh/ (bath), and raised tense /oh/ (thought)—in the on-screen speech of 22 actors raised in the greater New York City region, in a diachronic selection of films that appeared between 1933 and 2003. Vocalization of /r/ is coded impressionistically as either present or absent; the vocalic variables are subjected to acoustic analysis. The resulting data show that the prevalence of New York City features in the actors' speech closely parallels that identified in both historical accounts of New York City English and more recent sociolinguistic studies of the speech of ordinary people. The data also correspond well with previous research on nonfilm speech in showing a decline in the frequency of traditional variants starting in the 1960s, at least for some speakers. Sociolinguistic analysis of more recent films and characters indicates a shifting social evaluation of traditional New York City English. This underlies a divergence between speakers who continue to use traditional dialect features, which now have exclusively covert, local prestige, and those who converge with nonlocal speech norms, which carry overt, global prestige.

This paper aims to address concerns of English teachers considering opening up their classrooms to multiple varieties of English.  Drawing on the author’s experience as a teacher educator and professional developer in different regions of the USA, this narrative paper groups teachers’ concerns into general categories and offers responses to the most common questions.

Teachers want to know why they should make room in their classrooms for multiple Englishes; what they should teach differently; how they learn about English variation; how to balance Standardized English and other Englishes; and how these apply to English Learners and/or White speakers of Standardized English.

The study describes the author’s approach to teaching about language as a way to promote social justice and equality, the value of increasing students’ linguistic repertoires and why it is necessary to address listeners as well as speakers. As teachers attempt to adopt and adapt new approaches to teaching English language suggested in the research literature, they need to know their challenges and concerns are heard and addressed. Teacher educators working to support these teachers need ways to address teachers’ concerns.

This paper emphasizes the importance of teaching mainstream, White, Standard English-speaking students about English language variation. By emphasizing the role of the listener and teaching students to hear language through an expanded language repertoire, English teachers can reduce the prejudice attached to historically stigmatized dialects of English.

This paper provides a needed perspective on how to work with teachers who express legitimate concerns about what it means to de-center Standardized English in English classrooms.

In the English language, there are various settings and states of reference where a certain type of dialect is used. The importance of diserening which setting of language of dialect is used is determined by the important structure of necessary emphasized clarity in the information given and received.

The history of the English language is still fascinating scholars because of its absolute uniqueness: even though it belongs to the Germanic languages, its distinguishing feature is the important influence of several languages including also non-Germanic languages such as Latin or French. However a fundamental role was played by Old Norse, the language of the Scandinavian tribes which settled in England between the eighth and the eleventh century.

This paper focuses on one of the biggest desiderata in practical lexicography: the labelling of lexemes by region in the widest sense of the word. In a highly mobile world, regional labelling is bound to receive more attention, yet it is perhaps the least precise aspect of English dictionaries more generally. Largely comprised of two groups – of national terms, such as Americanisms or Briticisms, and of regional terms of a certain more local provenance, such as Southwestern Ontario or Scottish – regional labelling in English dictionaries suffers from both a theoretical neglect and a practical lack of adequate data that dictionary editors could easily use in their assessments of their terms' regional dimensions. This paper reports on the method developed for the forthcoming Second Edition of the Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles (DCHP-2). Using site-restricted web searches, in combination with a long-term web monitoring, the method rests on a normalization routine that produces "Frequency Indices" that are easily visualized. It will be shown that, counter to recent lexicographic best practices, web-scaled resources, which are generally preferred by computational linguists and lexicographers as clean yet large resources, are unfortunately not adequate for this task. For better or worse, the unfiltered, messy web, when used with fail-safe routines and some heuristic reasoning, is the best chance for attaining regional information on large numbers of items; items that would otherwise be marked in a highly subjective manner or not at all.