Preview

This assignment will discuss the variation in spoken language

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
606 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
This assignment will discuss the variation in spoken language
This assignment will discuss the variation in spoken language, such as, the difference between accents and dialect. In addition, it will explain how some people adapt their accent and dialect depending on different situations. Furthermore, this paper will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using accent and dialect and highlights how some people are stereotyped and discriminated by the way they use spoken language.
There are many ways to speak English, ‘Based on how much the English language is used around the world,’ (Barton, 1996:59). In addition, spoken language is dependent on which region in England a person is born and resides as this determines where their accent and dialect originates. Dialect can include new words or words that mean different things. For instance, Mark James uses dialect in the transcript entitled Byker when he states: ‘ Bairn’ instead of baby. Using the term ‘bairn is common dialect in Newcastle, however, people that do not understand the Newcastle dialect may not understand what Mark is saying in his spoken language. People also have different accents. Accents are words that have the same meaning, but have a variation in the pronunciation. One example is when Mark states: ‘Deaing’ for ‘doing’ in the Byker transcript. People tend to use their accent and dialect in their spoken language when talking to family and friends. This is often termed being in a sociolect. In addition, people also have their own idiolect. A person’s idiolect is a person’s own style of spoken language that can include their own use of grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. In addition, idiolect can include language features, such as false starts and repetition. For example, Mark James states: ‘I met our lass in, I mean I fell, I mean …..’ This quote highlights how Mark has repeated what is spoken and has changed what he was going to say. However, Mark is being interviewed about his personal life and this may affect how confident he is feeling in this

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    All languages change over time and vary according to place and social setting. The way we speak is influenced by many factors the roots of our elders, our social and educational background, our working environment, our friends and our own sense of identity. As we move across the country we experience the changing landscape and architecture. At the same time we notice a gradual change in the sounds we hear the accents and dialects that immediately conjure up a sense of the place to which they belong. The terms accent and dialect are often used interchangeably, although in strict linguistic terms they refer to different aspects of language variation.…

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Amy Tan’s essay, “Mother Tongue,” Tan expresses that she uses different versions of the English language depending on the type of relationship she shares with particular individuals. While Tan gave a speech to a group of people, she noticed a difference in her register of speech when she spoke to a group of people versus when she spoke to her mother. She noticed her use of “carefully wrought grammatical phrases” and “the forms of standard English that I had learned in school through books,” the forms of English she “did not use” with her mother. Tan continued by explaining that it was not until recently that she began to see that she speaks to members of her family very differently from the way she speaks to people outside…

    • 280 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Jamila Lyiscott in the poem, Three Ways to Speak English, suggests that there are different ways to express the English language in their own “correct” way. Lyiscott supports her suggestion by explaining to the audience that she speaks in three different versions of english according to what place or situation she is in. The author’s purpose of writing the poem is to inform people about how speaking a different kind of English doesn’t make one inarticulate, in order to persuade people to stop thinking it does. Lyiscott writes in a humorous but urgent tone in order to convince “perfect” english speakers to stop calling hood or broken english dialects “inarticulate”.…

    • 110 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    As one of the most dynamic countries that primarily use the English language, the United States is a wonderland in which each state has its own accent and that all Americans take pride in their own language culture. In the documentary film Do You Speak American?, celebrated journalist and novelist Robert MacNeil sets out on a journey all around the United States, exploring how the language of America defines, unites, and separates its people. The title of the film proposes an intriguing question: what does it mean by speaking American? Speaking American is not just a matter of speaking English, and the answer to that question is far more complex. According to this film, not all Americans speak English, and those who do tend to speak it in different ways. As MacNeil explains, the reasons American accents vary…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are as many different styles and variations of spoken language as there are people on Earth as language is an abundant…

    • 1008 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    One of the main factors that affects our understanding of the language is one’s regional accent. Although most words and phrases will be comprehensible some phonetics may have changed so much that all we can do is hope that the context of what has been said makes sense in order for us to ‘fill in the gaps’.…

    • 1424 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The differences between the way we speak changes based on our situation and surroundings. We are affected by whether the situation is formal, based on our knowledge of a subject, or who we are around. People can switch the way we speak at a moments notice. A person can go from speaking slang to speaking properly and grammatically correct when the occasion arises. A person can speak to a woman differently than a man or be overpowered by another person’s voice.…

    • 1276 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Bibliography: Friedman, N. (2004). How to handle foreign accent. Networking Today. Retrieved Nov 3, 2012, from: http://www.networkingtoday.ca/articles/foreignaccent.htm…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The inventions of modern day technology such as the TV have meant that English spoken language is as varied now as it has ever been; you only have to flick through the TV channels to discover the differences in the language a news reporter uses, compared to that of a chat show host. This also applies to different people talking about the same subject; this can be illustrated in the study of Jamie Oliver’s and Gordon Ramsay’s unique adaptations of spoken language to suit the audience and purpose of their different cooking shows.…

    • 331 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Linguistic Profiling

    • 932 Words
    • 3 Pages

    John Baugh in his article “Linguistic Profiling” (2003) discusses “linguistic discrimination based on speech or writing” (2003, p. 155). The article discusses the negative and positive effects that linguistic profiling has on people, specifically on the people with an “undesirable accent or dialect” (2003, p.155). Much like racial profiling and its negative effects on people of color, linguistic profiling is the practice of imposing certain social characteristics on people who speak with a particular accent or dialect. As with racial profiling, linguistic profiling places certain stigmas on accents or dialects.…

    • 932 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the film “American Tongues,” enormous majority of American from different cities have different regional accents of English. Some people have positive attitude towards the different regional accents of English. They believe that the way people speak is always changing based on what they hear from their linguistic environment. There are a few scenes in the film where people share what they think about using certain dialects in positive attitude. In one scene, there is an African-American woman who is interviewed and asked whether she uses a vernacular dialect or a standard form of English in her everyday life. Her reply was that she uses both types of dialects during different times of her life. She said that when she is out in public or at her work, she talks in a standard form of English. However, she also said that when she is with her family or with her friends, she talks in her vernacular dialect. This shows that the woman thinks that both forms of dialect are useful depending on the situation. By using Standard English towards her professional life, this shows that she knows that people will judge you by the way you speak. So she uses a standard form of English out in public or at her work, because people will think she is more "educated" or more "professional". However, some people believe that some differences in dialects can grow into stereotypes and the way individuals are observed. For example, those who have a southern accent may be considered slow and drawn out, and the opposite is said for northerners. Those with northern accents are judged on their typical high fast paced dialect. In some cities, people can accept and understand different accents, but others can’t accept it. They would feel funny, and laugh at the person who pronounces in a strange way. For the Black, they also feel that racism occurs to them when they speak “black English” to others who are not Black. Because there’s so much slang in “black…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    My Personal Idiolect

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Whilst completing this project on spoken language, I discovered aspects of my own personal speech (also known as idiolect) and the variation between people's language due to their culture and environment. Living in Luton for sixteen years I have had many experiences which shapes my idiolect to what it is today. Three main factors which have influenced me the most are my family, my friends and the media such as internet, music and TV.…

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    As time evolves the language used by people develops and changes. People all around the world will have their own manner and form of speaking with various dialects, accents and most importantly languages. I will be investigating the ways in which my own spoken language is adapted in different situations and how the responses of other people control and influence these adaptations. In everyday life I adapt my language to suit and meet the other person’s expectations. I familiarize my speech to suit the language my friends, family, teachers, parents and my siblings use. The manner in which I speak depends on what the status of the person is and also how much older or younger they are than me. For example if I am speaking to my teachers I will speak in a polite and in a respectful manner. My speech will also change depending on who I am talking to, for example if I am speaking to a group of friends I will talk in a more relaxed and casual way however I avoid using slang. My idiolect is also influenced by this because I often pick up words from people I talk to, and eventually it becomes part of my everyday vocabulary. Living in Yorkshire has a huge impact on how I should speak, for example people from Yorkshire do not say their ‘T’ Example in ‘Water’ however even though I have been brought up in Yorkshire I still say my ‘t’s.…

    • 269 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The reporter speaks quite fast. I replayed four times to understand what he is talking. Sometime, linking and elision are included in the spoken speech, such as “pick of” and “like a”. I was confused because I could not identify these words. So I used the skill of jotting notes which learnt from the lessons when I was listening. It is useful for understanding the video.…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Different Ways of Talking

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A few hours after Joy Fisher's birth, her parents took pictures of her. Joy's mother put a pink hairband around Joy's head, so that everyone who saw the pictures would know the new baby was a girl. Even before she was born, Joy's parents knew that she was going to be female. Joy's mother had a sonogram when she was six months pregnant. When the doctor said, I'm sure you have a little lady in there, Joy's parents told all their relatives and friends that their baby was a girl. Gifts soon arrived, including pink dresses and dolls. Joy's parents decorated her room in pink and white.…

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays