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1、Dialect Map of American EnglishNot all people who speak a language speak it the same way. A language can be subdivided into any number of dialects which each vary in some way from the parent language. The term, accent, is often incorrectly used in its place, but an accent refers only to the way word
2、s are pronounced, while a dialect has its own grammar, vocabulary, syntax, and common expressions as well as pronunciation rules that make it unique from other dialects of the same language. Another term, idiolect, refers to the manner of speaking of an individual person. No two peoples idiolects ar
3、e exactly the same, but people who are part of the same group will have enough verbal elements in common to be said to be speaking the same dialect. Click on the map for a larger version Three things are needed for a new dialect to develop: a group of people living in close proximity to each other;
4、this group living in isolation (either geographically or socially) from other groups; and the passage of time. Given enough time, a dialect may evolve to the point that it becomes a different language from the one it started as. English began existence as a Germanic dialect called Anglo Saxon that w
5、as brought to England by invaders from Germany. The Anglo Saxon peoples in England were now geographically isolated from their cousins in Germany which allowed the dialects to evolve in different directions. Other invaders would also influence the development of English with their languages until th
6、e modern English we speak today has become so different from the modern German spoken in Germany that a speaker of one cannot understand a speaker of the other. Thus English and German are considered to be two different, though related, languages. The other modern languages in this family are Dutch,
7、 Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic. This issue of mutual understandability is what in theory is used to determine what is a dialect and what is a language, but in reality there are social and political issues involved too. The government of a country might declare that all the languages spok
8、en in that country are actually dialects of one language in order to create the illusion of polital unity, while the government of another country might declare that the dialect spoken by its people is actually a unique language from other countries that speak dialects of the same language in order
9、to create a sense of national pride. History is full of governments that have tried to impose a single language on all of its people with varying results: sometimes the minority languages go entirely extinct, sometimes they are reduced to surviving only as dialects of the majority language, and some
10、times new languages are unintentionally created by a blending of the two languages. This brings us to three other language terms that are worth mentioning here. When two or more groups of people who speak different languages need to communicate with each other on a regular basis and do not want to a
11、ctually learn each others language (such as when the European merchants started trading with other peoples around the world), they may develop what is called a pidgin language. This is a simplified language that usually has as few words as possible in its vocabulary (taking some from both languages)
12、 and has been stripped of any fancier grammatical rules like the use of multiple verb conjugations and tenses - a kind of Me Tarzan, you Jane way of talking. A pidgin is nobodys native language and is used only in business settings. In fact, the word pidgin may be derived from the way Chinese mercha
13、nts mispronounced the English word business. However, in some cases, the children in one of these areas might grow up learning the pidgin as their first language. When this happens, the pidgin can grow in complexity into a creole language with a larger set of grammatical rules and a much larger voca
14、bulary that share elements of all the languages that went into creating it. Finally, jargon is a specialized vocabulary used by people within a particular discipline such as medical jargon for doctors, legal jargon for lawyers, or academic jargon for college professors. While jargon words occasional
15、ly filter up into a mainstream dialect, they are usually used only by experts and only when they are discussing their particular field. Critics argue, with some justification, that jargon needlessly complicates a statement that could be expressed in a more clear manner. Users of it argue, also with
16、justification, that it is a more precise manner of speaking, although many examples can be found (especially in politics and business) where it has been used intentionally to obscure the fact that the speaker is trying to avoid being precise. The modern development of communications technology may p
17、ossibly slow down the evolution of dialects and languages. For the first time in history, a single dialect (sometimes called Network Standard) can be broadcast over an entire country, so very few people are actually living in geographic isolation anymore. However, the existence of racism, poverty, a
18、nd class distinctions cause some groups to remain socially isolated from the mainstream of a culture, giving rise to social dialects like Black English (Ebonics) spoken by some African Americans in urban areas. There was recently a great deal of political controversy (ignoring the linguistic facts)
19、over whether Ebonics should be considered a unique language, a legitimate dialect of English, or illegimate gutterspeak. Also, teenagers enjoy creating their own dialects that they can use to quickly determine who is or is not part of the in crowd and as a secret language in front of their parents.
20、These dialects tend to go in and out of fashion very quickly; by the time an expression has filtered up to the mainstream dialect adults understand, the teenagers have moved on to something else. Even the Internet has given birth to what might be called a new social dialect (derived from hacker jarg
21、on) containing words like IMHO, IIRC, and ROTFLMAO. Contrary to what your teachers probably tried to tell you, there is no such thing as correct English. Any manner of speaking that is following the rules of a dialect is equally correct. Words like aint are real words in some dialects and perfectly
22、acceptable to use. However, people are judged by the way they speak, and dialects carry different levels of social prestige with them based on the prejudices within a society. Generally, the southern dialects of American English carry a lower prestige, at least among northerners who will assume that
23、 a person speaking a southern dialect is less intelligent and less educated than they are. Some educated southerners even feel this way and will correct their speech to meet northern standards. The New York City dialect carries the lowest prestige of all (Received Standard, a dialect of British Engl
24、ish used by the BBC and the royal family, carries the highest prestige - even among Americans). For this reason, schools try to rid children of the local dialects they learned from their family and friends in favor of a more prestigious one. (Of course, some sentences like, Me are a educated person,
25、 would be incorrect in every dialect.) American dialects come in many flavors. The map and list below show the major (and a few minor) geographic dialects and subdialects of English spoken in the United States. Many of these may be further subdivided into local subdialects that are not shown here. O
26、bviously, the borders between dialect regions are not well defined lines, as a map like this would imply, but a gradual transition extending on both sides of the line. Also, as we enter the 21st century, many of the features described below have become much less prevalent than they were during the f
27、irst half of the 20th century. Click on the map for a larger version General Northern (green, yellow, and blue) This is sometimes also refered to as General American and is used in almost two-thirds of the country. It breaks down into the dialect regions below. Northern New England Many of the North
28、ern dialects can trace their roots to this dialect which was spread westward by the New England settlers as they migrated west. It carries a high prestige due to Bostons early economic and cultural importance and the presence of Harvard University. A famous speaker is Katherine Hepburn. They sometim
29、es call doughnuts cymbals, simballs, and boil cakes. New England, Eastern (1) This is one of the most distinctive of all the American dialects. Rs are often dropped, but an extra R is added to words that end with a vowel. A is pronounced AH so that we get Pahk the cah in Hahvahd yahd and Pepperidge
30、Fahm remembuhs. Boston Urban (2) Like many big cities, Boston has its own dialects that are governed more by social factors like class and ethnicity than by geographic location. Greater Boston Area is the most widely spoken and is very similar to Eastern New England. Brahmin is spoken by the upper a
31、ristocratic class like Mr. Howell on Gilligans Island. Central City Area is what most of us think of as being the Boston Accent. In the last few years, Saturday Night Live has featured this dialect among a group of rowdy teenagers who like to videotape themselves. Also think of Cliff on Cheers, the
32、only character on this Boston-based show to actually speak a Boston dialect. New England, Western (3) Less distinctive than Eastern, but more influential on the other Northern dialects. Hudson Valley (4) New York was originally a Dutch colony, and that language influenced this dialects development.
33、Some original Hudson Valley words are stoop (small porch) and teeter-totter. They call doughnuts (which were invented by the Dutch) crullers and olycooks. New York City (5) Unlike Boston and other urban dialects, New York City stands by itself and bears little resemblence to the other dialects in th
34、is region. It is also the most disliked and parodied of any American dialect (even among New Yorkers), possibly because many Americans tend dislike large cities. When an R comes after a vowel, it is often dropped. IR becomes OI, but OI becomes IR, and TH becomes D as in Dey sell tirlets on doity-doi
35、d street and fugedaboudit (forget about it). This pronounciation is particularly associated with Brooklyn but exists to some extent throughout the city. The thickness of a speakers dialect is directly related to their social class, but these features have been fading within all classes over recent d
36、ecades. Famous speakers are Rosie Perez, Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinnie, Archie Bunker, Bugs Bunny, and (if youre old enough to remember) the Bowery Boys. Bonac (6) Named for Accabonac Creek in eastern Long Island, this dialect is rapidly dying out due to the influx of people from ot
37、her areas. Back when New York City belonged to the Dutch, this area was part of New England, and Bonac shows elements of both dialects. Inland Northern (7) Combines elements of Western New England and Upper Midwestern. Marry, merry, and Mary are pronounced the same. They call doughnuts friedcakes. S
38、an Francisco Urban (8) Unlike the rest of California, which in the early twentieth century saw an influx of people from the South and other parts of the West, San Francisco continued to be settled by people from the Northeast and Northern Midwest, and elements of their dialects (North Midland, Upper
39、 Midwestern, Inland Northern) can be found. Mission dialect, spoken by Irish Catholics in a specific part of the city is very much like the New York City dialect. Upper Midwestern (9) Originally settled by people from New England and New York State who brought those dialects, this area was also infl
40、uenced by Southerners coming up the Mississippi River as well as the speech patterns of the German and Scandinavian immigrants and the Canadian English dialects from over the border. Its sometimes referred to as a Midwestern twang. They call jelly doughnuts bismarks. Minnewegian (Minnesota / Norwegi
41、an), a subdialect spoken in the northernmost part of this region was spoofed in the movies Fargo and Drop Dead Gorgeous. Chicago Urban (10) Influenced by the Midland and Southern dialects. Often spoken by the late John Belushi (Chicagos Second City comedy theater supplied many Saturday Night Live ac
42、tors). SNL used to spoof it in the Da Bears, Da Bulls sketches. They call any sweet roll doughnuts. North Midland (11) Created as the people in Pennsylvania migrated westward and influenced by Scotch-Irish, German, and English Quaker settlers. This and the South Midland dialect can actually be consi
43、dered a separate Midland Dialect region that serves as a transition zone between the north and south. They call doughnuts belly sinkers, doorknobs, dunkers, and fatcakes. Pennsylvania German-English (12) This was strongly influenced by Pennsylvania Dutch, a dialect of German spoken by people in this
44、 area (in this context, Dutch is actually a mispronunciation of the German word, Deutsch, which means German). Its grammar allows sentences like Smear your sister with jam on a slice of bread and Throw your father out the window his hat. They call doughnuts fasnacht, and they also invented dunking -
45、 from the German dunken (to dip). Western Compared with the Eastern United States, the Western regions were settled too recently for very distinctive dialects to have time to develop or to be studied in detail. Many words originally came from Spanish, cowboy jargon, and even some from the languages
46、of the Native Americans: adobe, beer bust, belly up, boneyard, bronco, buckaroo, bunkhouse, cahoots, corral, greenhorn, hightail, hoosegow, lasso, mustang, maverick, roundup, wingding. Rocky Mountain (13) Originally developed from the North Midland and Northern dialects, but was then influenced by t
47、he Mormon settlers in Utah and English coal miners who settled in Wyoming. Some words that came from this dialect are kick off (to die), cache (hiding place), and bushed (tired). They also call jelly doughnuts bismarks. Pacific Northwest (14) Influenced by settlers from the Midwest and New England a
48、s well as immigrants from England, Germany, Scandinavia, and Canada. Much earlier, a pidgin called Chinook Jargon was developed between the languages of the Native American tribes of this area. It would later also be used and influenced by the European settlers who wished to communicate with them. A
49、 few words from Chinook Jargon like high muckamuck (important person) are still used in this dialect today. (Note that, in this case, the word jargon has a different meaning from the one discussed above) Alaska (not shown) Developed out of the Northern, Midland, and Western dialects. Also influenced by the native languages of the Alutes, Innuit, and Chinook Jargon. Some words that originated here are: bush (remote area), cabin fever,