LANGUAGE, DIALECT AND VARIETIES

LANGUAGE, DIALECT,  AND VARIETIES

• LANGUAGE IS the method of human communication either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and convensional way.
• Language varieties refers to the various forms of language triggered by social factors. Language may changes from region to region, from one social class to another, from individual to individual and from situation to situation. This actual change result in the varieties of language. 
• Dialect is a language variety, spoken by a speech community, that is characterized by systematic features. Such as phonological, lexical, grammatical. That distinguish it from other varieties of that same language
• Varieties is a set of linguistic items with similar distribution. Anybody of human speech pattern wich sufficiently homogeneous to be analyzed by availabel techniques.

           And now What are the essential differences between a language and a dialect? Haugen (1966a) has pointed out that language and dialect are ambiguous terms. Ordinary people use these terms quite freely in speech; for them a dialect is almost certainly no more than a local non-prestigious (therefore powerless) variety of a real language. In contrast, scholars often experience considerable difficulty in deciding whether one term should be used rather than the other in certain situations. As Haugen says, the terms ‘represent a simple dichotomy in a situation that is almost infinitely complex.’
          He points out that the confusion goes back to the Ancient Greeks. The Greek language that we associate with Ancient Greece was actually a group of distinct local varieties (Ionic, Doric, and Attic) descended by divergence from a common spoken source with each variety having its own literary traditions and uses, e.g., Ionic for history, Doric for choral and lyric works, and Attic for tragedy. Later, Athenian Greek, the koiné  or common language  became the norm for the spoken language as the various spoken varieties converged on the dialect of the major cultural and administrative center. Haugen points out (p. 923) that the Greek situation has provided the model for all later usages of the two terms with the resulting ambiguity. Language can be used to refer either to a single linguistic norm or to a group of related norms, and dialect to refer to one of the norms.




QUESTION FOR GROUP 2

1. What is differences of accents and dialect?
2. How do we know the origin regional of people based on their dialect by using the same language?
3. How to distinguish between slank and idiom?
4. Do our dialect changes if we go abroad for 3 months ?

Answer

1. Accents based on pronounciation the speakers and dialect based on phonological, grammatical or region the speaker. For example colour (from british) and color (from american)
2. The dialect of a region can be known based on the sound, the preasure, the decrease of the tone and the short length of the language sounds referring to a particular area.
3. Slank is a type of language that is informal and playful, meanwhile idiom is expression that have meanings different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words in the expression.
4. Yes we do. And the factor because of our neighborhood, social status, personality and environment. 

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLINGUSTICS

SUMMARY OF PRESENTATION OF GROUP 1

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLINGUISTICS

            Any discussion of the relationship between language and society, on of the various functions of language in society, should begin with some attempt to define each of these terms. Let us say that a society is any group of people who are drawn together for a certain purpose or purpose. By such a definition ‘society‘ become a very comprehensive concept. But we will soon see how useful such a comprehensive view is because of the very different kinds of societies we must consider in the course of the discussion we follow.

            We may attempt an equally comprehensive definition of language: a language is what the members of a particular society speak. However, as we will see, speech in almost any society can take many very different forms, and just what forms we should choose to discuss when we attempt to describe the language of a society may prove to be a contentious matter. Sometimes too a society may be plurilingual; that is, many speakers may use more than one language, however we define language. We should also note that our definitions of language and society are not independent: the definition of language includes in it a reference to society

QUESTION FOR GROUP 1

Question from Shelvira Elsa Dwita

1. What is the relation of Data and Theory in methodological concerns?

Ø  Because whatever sociolinguistics is, it must be oriented toward both data and theory.

Question from Indri Christina

2. The meaning of code in language?

Ø  When two or more people communicate with each other in speech, we can call the system of communication that they employ a code.

Question from Linda Wati

3. How do we used language as well and how it may be best characterized?

Ø  The way is people can understand about someone said and the grammar to use well is something that each speaker knows.

KIND OF LANGUAGE

1. SIGN
2. SYMBOL
3. CODE
4. GESTURE
5. SOCIOLECT
6. RHYMING SLANG
7. PIDGIN

COMMENTS BLOG

Collection of comments blog

METAPHOR

Metaphor Definition

Metaphor is a figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison  between two things that are unrelated but share some common characteristics. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics.

In simple English, when you portray a person, place, thing, or an action as being something else, even though it is not actually that “something else,” you are speaking metaphorically. “He is the black sheep of the family” is a metaphor because he is not a sheep and is not even black. However, we can use this comparison to describe an association of a black sheep with that person. A black sheep is an unusual animal and typically stays away from the herd, and the person you are describing shares similar characteristics.

Furthermore, a metaphor develops a comparison which is different from a simile i..e. we do not use “like” or “as” to develop a comparison in a metaphor. It actually makes an implicit or hidden comparison and not an explicit one.

Significance of Metaphor in Literature

Metaphor is a key component of all forms of literature, including poetry, prose,  and drama. This is not only because metaphor is a highly useful literary device, but also because it is such a vital part of all language and communication. Many cognitive theorists have researched and written about the importance of metaphor in the way we understand the world around us. For example, in western culture the phrase “time is money” is quite prevalent. This is not just a cliché, though; we talk about time in terms of wasting it, spending it, saving it, and so on. The metaphorical comparison of these two concepts ends up influencing the way people in cultures actually perceive time.

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that there are examples of metaphor in literature from every culture. The use of metaphor allows authors to present unfamiliar ideas or situations in ways that the reader is able to comprehend by comparing unknown things to known things. This can be a good technique for fantasy writers or science fiction writers to make the worlds they create seem more familiar to the reader. Metaphors can also be used, however, to compare very common things to one another. This type of usage forges a cognitive link between previously unrelated objects and makes readers appreciate them in a new way.

Article Review of Shelvira's Blog

Halloooo..  My lovely readers.. Meet me again, in this time im going to review the journal from Shelvira Elsa Dwita's blog. This is the picture of article review from shelvira elsa's blog that I have outlined. Lets check it out.... 

THE BRANCHES OF SEMANTICS

The Branches of Semantics 

"Polysemy, Homophones, Homographs, and Homonymy"

   “Semantics and Theories of Semantics” is a journal that is compiled by Abbas Bukhari. This journal is uploaded by Zain Ez+1 at academia.edu. There is 15 pages in this journal that talks about semantics, one of the branches of pure linguistics that is studying meaning in language.

            This journal tells us the difficulties in the study of meaning. There are grammatical meaning and lexical meaning that we need to know. Not only that, we can know other aspects of meaning of a word by read this journal. It helps us to know more about terms that is in semantics. For example polysemy, homophones, homographs, homonymy.

A.      POLYSEMY

Polysemy is the existence of several meanings for a single word or phrase. The word polysemy comes from the Greek words πολυ-, poly-, “many” and σήμα, sêma, “sign”. In other words it is the capacity for a word, phrase, or sign to have multiple meanings i.e., a large semantic field. Polysemy is a pivotal concept within the humanities, such as media studies and linguistics.

A word like walk is polysemous :

1.    I  went walking this morning

2.    We went for a walk last Sunday

3.    Do you walk the dog every day?

4.    I live near Meadow Walk Drive

5.    The wardrobe is too heavy to lift; we’ll have to walk it into the bedroom (move a large object by rocking).

6.    She walks the tower (to haunt a place as a ghost).

7.    The workers threatened to walk (to go on strike).

8.    Walk with God! (to live your life in a particular way)

B.   HOMOPHONES

Homophones are words that have exactly the same sound (pronunciation) but different meanings and (usually) spelling.

For example, the following two words have the same sound, but different meanings and spelling :

·   Hour

·   our

In the next example, the two words have the same sound and spelling, but different meanings :

·   bear (the animal)

·   bear (to carry)

Usually homophones are in groups of two (our, hour), but very occasionally they can be in groups of three (to, too, two) or even four. If we take our "bear" example, we can add another word to the group.

·    bare (naked)

·    bear (the animal)

·    bear (to tolerant)

C.      HOMOGRAPHS

Homographs are words with different pronunciation, meanings and origins but the same spelling. They are not to be confused with homonyms, homophones and heteronyms. In order to work out which pronunciation and which meaning is appropriate, you need to be aware of the context. Here are a few homographs and their meaning.

Examples :

·            agape - wide open/a Greek word meaning “love”

·            attribute - a characteristic or quality/to think of as belonging to ororiginating in some person,place or thing

·            axes - the plural of ax or axe/the plural of axis

·            bass - a deep voice or tone/a kind of fish

·            bat - a piece of sporting equipment used in baseball/a winged animal associated with vampires

·            bow - to bend at the waist/the front of a boat/a pair of tied loops

·            buffet - to hit, punch or slap/a self-serve food bar

·            bustier - an undergarment/more busty

D.      HOMONYMY

The word homonym comes from the Greek ὁμώνυμος (homonumos), meaning “having the same name”, which is the conjunction of ὁμός (homos), meaning “common” and ὄνομα (onoma) meaning “name”. In other words, homonymy refers to two or more distinct concepts sharing the “same name”.

Examples include the following nouns, verbs and adjectives :

1.    Fleet: all the ships of a nation’s navy, e.g., The Greek fleet disappeared behind the huge mountains.

2.    Fleet: a number of road vehicles, boats, or aircraft owned, working, or managed as a unit, usually by a commercial enterprise e.g., The new company has a large fleet of service vehicles.

3.    Plane, e.g., I like to travel by airplane.

4.    Plain, pronounced the same but spelt differently, means clearly visible, e.g., The wallet was in plain view.

5.    Sow, the verb, means to plant seeds, e.g., He sowed the seeds of revolution.

6.    Sow, the noun, refers to an adult female pig, e.g., Have you fed the sow?

7.    Bank, the noun, means a business offering financial services, e. g., He went to the bank to deposit some money.

8.    Bank, the noun, refers to the steep side of a river, stream, lake, or canal, e.g., We climbed the river bank safely.

9.    Bank, the noun, also refers row of similar things, e.g., There was a bank of switches on the wall.

Article Review of Semantics

FARIZA AZKIYA ALI 4B