#language variation

[aromanticduck]

Another language poll! Which of these do you say?

1. Different from

2. Different to

3. Different than

1 and 2 but not 3

1 and 3 but not 2

2 and 3 but not 1

All of these

None of these

Voting ended onNov 19, 2023

[immersionfrancaise]

One price speakers pay for standard dialects is that they change more slowly, since the fact that a standard dialect is used in writing and public media puts something of a brake on change. However, since non-standard dialects are freer to change on the basis of the human child’s linguistic and cognitive systems, non-standard dialects are, in a sense, often ‘more logical’ or ‘more elegant’ from a linguistic point of view.

Social Linguistics and Literacies by J. P. Gee 

[allthingslinguistic]

An interview with Anne Charity Hudley on The Ling Space youtube channel. From the description: 

In our interview, we discussed the following topics:  - the importance of attending to language variation in the classroom - what teachers and students have to learn from linguists, and vice versa - the role language and linguistics has played in racialization, and how to get away from that - how to work to convince people of the importance of interacting with language variation and linguistic justice - why we should do more to get younger people involved in linguistics and research

[sociolingarticles]

What does your accent say about you?

Accents can be subject to subtle forms of prejudice, but does that mean some are more appealing and trustworthy than others? BBC Future takes a look.

[snaplanguage]

Video: Sociolinguistics (and the basics of language attitudes)

This video covers what sociolinguistics is and some of the language-related phenomena sociolinguists study. It includes a discussion of how language and language varieties trigger language attitudes and stereotyped perceptions of linguistic groups. [CC] English | Español | Português

Visit the Snap Language channel for more language- and linguistics-related videos.

[phonaesthemes]

Les différents accents de la Péninsule acadienne

Vidéo qui décrit les différents accents acadiens de la Péninsule acadienne située au nord-est du Nouveau-Brunswick au Canada. Découvrez les différentes coule...

vidéo super intéressant à propos de quelques différents accents français des régions acadiens à nouveau-brunswick. le monsieur démontre bien (selon moi) les belles variations entre des exemples, avec une petite explication pour chacun  really interesting video about different french accents from some of the acadian regions in new brunswick, canada. the gentleman does a good job at demonstrating some of the lovely variation between the different examples, and gives a brief explanation of each. 

[superlinguo]

Superlinguo Classroom Resources, now includes Australian Word Mapping task

These are resources we’ve created for teachers who want fun and engaging classroom activities about language.

A couple of years ago I helped the Linguistics Roadshow produce a survey and some very lovely maps of word variation across Australia. It was a nifty illustration of how most people who rhyme ‘dance’ with ‘aunts’ are from South Australia:

It also showed the battlelines in the potato cake/scallop wars:

I’ve teamed up with Linguistics Roadshow crew once again to turn these maps into a classroom activity, aimed at teaching Australian high school students about language variation. From the activity description on the Superlinguo resources page:

This activity will introduce students to some of the differences in Australian English, and encourage them to consider reasons why languages vary and change. Students will first think about which words they use for particular things, and then explore data showing the patterns across Australia via an interactive map.

You can find this activity, along with others on the Superlinguo resources page.

See also:

Original post on the results of the Australian Words Survey

Mapping Words Around Australia with the Linguistics Roadshow

[linguisten]

With the recent news of the North Korean defector making it to South Korea it made me wonder.... Do North and South Korea speak or write in the same language? I know I could Google this, but I like your view on things 😀

Thank you for asking. :)

I know, I am notorious for (almost) always pulling that rhetorical trick, but this time it is actually necessary: any useful answer will depend on (y)our definition of 'same language' (or of ‘same’ and ‘language’ separately, if you prefer. 

As far as I know and can google, Koreans from both sides of the border can still understand each other quite well. During a conversation, they will, sooner or later, notice differences in vocabulary and in diverging connotations of identical words, but all in all these differences will probably not be more than 5 to 15% of the utterances. 

I am drawing these assumptions from my own experience with German. I grew up in what was West Germany (FRG) and lived for eight years in East Germany (former GDR), beginning about 14 years after the reunification. Leaving aside obvious topics of political and social life that had their ideologized vocabularies on both sides, I’d say most differences i encountered were rather due to underlying regional/dialectal variance. 

Hence I’d say Koreans from both sides of the DMZ speak two varieties of the same language — Korean.

It would take much more than forty or sixty years of separation to turn these varieties into separate, mutually unintelligible languages.