REGIONAL AND

SOCIAL DIALECTS
BY: SITI HAJAR BT MOHAMAD NASER (P84380)
NURUL FARAH NADIA BT BAHARUM (P84388)
• A variety of a language that is
distinguished from other varieties of
the same language by features of
phonology, grammar and
vocabulary, and by its use by a
group of speakers who are set off
from others geographically or
socially.

DIALECTS
Accents have to be distinguished
from dialects. An accent is a
person’s distinctive
pronunciation.
Dialect refers to the distinctive
vocabulary and grammar of
someone’s use of language.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DIALECT
AND ACCENT
If you say eether and I say iyther,
that is accent. We use the same
word but pronounce it
differently.
If you say ‘I’ve got a new
dustbin’ and I say ‘I’ve gotten a
new garbage can’, that is dialect.
We use different word and
sentence patterns to talk about
the same thing.
 • Why is it that people in all parts of the country do not speak in
the same way?
1. English, as is true of all languages, is constantly changing.
2. Not all changes take place in all parts of the country.
3. Not all changes take place at the same time.

• Often, the spread of changes is stopped short by barriers to

communication between groups of speakers.
1. Geographical isolation
2. Temporal dislocation (separation over time)
3. Social isolation

Why there are many different dialects?

• A regional dialect is a distinct form of a language spoken in a
particular geographical area.
• In the USA, regional dialects include Appalachian, New
Jersey and Southern English.
• In Britain, there are Cockney, Liverpool English and
‘Geordie’ (Newcastle English)
New Zealander: Gidday, what can I do for you?
British: I’ve called to see me old mate Don Stone.
New Zealander: Oh, He’s dead now, mate.
British: Oh! What a loss.
Don Stone: Oh my friend…

Regional dialect create funny and critical situations.

REGIONAL DIALECTS
American Accents
• There is different regional accent in language such as in England,
America, Australia, and New Zealand. There are differences in
varieties spoken in different region: differences in pronunciation,
vocabulary and grammar.
Example:
 Australians : sole parents
 British : single parents
 New Zealanders : solo parents
British English American English
Aubergine Eggplant
Pavement Sidewalk
Boot Trunk
I can’t find my keys. Have you seen I can’t find my keys. Did you see
them anywhere? them anywhere?

INTERNATIONAL VARIETIES
 • The high level of intra-national communication together with
the relatively small populations, may have inhibited the
development of marked regional differences in these countries
such as England and America.
Variation in vocabulary Variation in Variation in grammar
pronunciation
 disjaskit (Geordies)  God (American) is  I might could go
worn out (rest of pronounced like (Geordies), I might go (rest
England) guard (British). of England)
> intra-national > intra-national
 Sweet (British) Candy  She’s eaten too much
(American) (British), she ate too much
> intra-continental (American)
> intra-continental

INTRA-NATIONAL VARIETIES
• Dialect chains are very common across the whole of Europe
where two countries with different language share almost the
same dialect.
• Varieties of Dialect chains: Italian – French
Austria and Germany Paris -> Italian border
More and more ‘Italian
Dutch and Flemish (Switzerland)
like’
Netherlands and Belgium
Rome -> French border
Portuguese and Spanish/ Catalan More and more ‘French
French and Italian like’

CROSS-CONTINENTAL VARIATION:
DIALECT CHAINS
 WORDS WITH DIFFERENT MEANING IN
MALAYSIAN ENGLISH
WORD / MALAYSIAN MEANING
PHRASE
Parking lot Parking space
Flat Low-cost apartment or flat
Apartment Medium-cost apartment or flat
To follow To accompany
E.g. “Can I follow you?”
Blur Condition of a person who is
dazed, confused, appears
mentally slow. E.g. “You look
very blur right now.”
AMERICAN / BRITISH
MEANING
Parking garage
Apartment (US)
Flat (UK)
To go after or behind
E.g. “The police car was
following me.”
Vague, visually indistinct
E.g. “Everything is just a blur
when I take my spectacles off.”
 WORDS USED ONLY IN MALAYSIAN ENGLISH
MALAYSIAN BRITISH / AMERICAN
Handphone (often abbreviated to HP) Mobile phone (UK),
Cell phone (US)

Public telephone or public phone Payphone

Outstation Out of office
Keep in view (often abbreviated to KIV) Kept on file, held for further
consideration

MC (medical certificate) Sick note, aegrotat

Bungalow Detached house
Bank in (cheque) Deposit a cheque (UK)
Deposit a check (US)
• ‘Social dialect' or ‘Sociolect' differences in speech associated with various
social groups or classes.
• Groups / Classes:
1. Social Class
2. Gender
3. Age
• The members of a particular social group show more similarity with other
members of the same social group, even if they are living in a different area
• The members of a particular social group show less similarity with the
members of a different social group, even if they are living in the same
area.
• Some dialects have very distinct ways of pronunciation and have difference
in ways of grammar, vocabulary and/or pronunciation.

Social Dialect
• Every social class has a different variety of the English
language. This means that someone from the Underclass can or
will use different words than someone from the Upper class,
articulates the words in another way or uses different rules
regarding to grammar.
• Eg: Upper class Underclass
Sitting room Lounge
Lavatory Toilet
Bag Handbag
Sofa Sette
Relations Relatives
Writing Paper Notepaper

Social Class
• Labov conducted a study at a department store in New York consisting 3
venues which represents 3 social classes.
1. Saks 5th Avenue (Upperclass)
2. Macy’s (Middle class)
3. S. Klein (Lower class)
• The interviewer asked the following question:
Interviewer: Excuse me, where are the women’s shoes?
Salesperson: Fourth floor.
Interviewer: Excuse me?
Salesperson: Fourth floor.
• Findings showed that the prestigious stores will have the most pronounced
/r/
• Thus, in New York City, pronouncing /r/ is considered prestigious
• However standard dialect speakers do not pronounce /r/ after a vowel
Eg: Car (ka) and card (kad)
• Grammatical Patterns
• Peter Trudgill's 1970s research into language and social class
showed some interesting differences between men and women
• His study found that men were less likely and women more
likely to use the prestige pronunciation of certain speech sounds
• Vernacular forms are used more frequently by men
• Eg:
Men Women
Singin’ Singing
Fing Thing
Taul Told

Gender
• Robin Lakoff (1973), suggested that women spoke
more “proper” English than men because of the
insecurity caused by sexism in society.
Eg: Whom do you like?
Age
• Words or phrases that are usually used by younger
people are better known as slang
Eg: Buck (dollar)
• Vernacular use in English-speaking countries are fewer
for middle-age speakers, but again, it increases for old-
age speakers due to the decrease of social pressure
• The accent of the best educated and most prestigious members of
English society.
• It conceals a speaker’s regional origin but does reveal the speakers
social or educational background
• However not many people in Britain actually speak Received
Pronunciation. The most famous speakers of RP are: The Royal
British Family and David Cameroon The Prime Minster of the
United Kingdom.
• Eg:
Word Normal RP
Lovely luv-ly laahh-v-ly
February feb-you-ry/feb-you-air-ree feb-rue-air-ree

Received Pronunciation
• It is the dialect used by well-educated English speakers
throughout the world.
• It is the variety used for national news broadcasts and in print, and
it is the variety generally taught in English-speaking schools.
• Eg:

Standard English
• The speech of a particular country/region or informal speech
style or the common, everyday language or ordinary people in
a particular locality.
• African American Vernacular English (AAVE) has different
grammar than many other dialects of English.
• Eg:
Sounds
- Reduce final consonant cluster
o Left hand – ‘lef han’
- Dental consonants are pronounced as alveolar stops
o Think, that’ – ‘tink, dat’

Vernacular
Grammar
- Double negative
o Can't nobody say he don't work.
o He ain't never without a job!

- Absence of verb to be
o You crazy
o She workin’ now
THE END