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November 13, 2005
Dialect Determiner
Social groups definitely have a lot to do with how people talk, but I think that geography has a greater impact on dialect. Most people learn to talk when they are babies from their parents, and the dialect of their parents is about the same as the dialect that they grow to possess. This dialect is usually typical of the dialect in that geographical region, as most adults have out-grown any dialect changes they went through as teenagers. Therefore this original dialect is basically representative of the geographic region in which a person's parents grew up.
This dialect is shaped and changed through interaction with people other than one's parents. Friends shape young adults' dialects, but the foundation of that dialect is still based on how one's parents taught them to talk, not how their friends talk. This is why teenagers from Boston have a different dialect than teenagers from California. Even though they are both teenagers their original dialects are different, therefore it doesn't matter that they all belong to the social group of "teenager."
If social group governed dialects more than geography, then why wouldn't the "working class" of all areas talk the same regardless of location? Differences in their dialects are due to differences in the dialects of their parents, which usually reflect the dialect of the geographical area.
Changing the way one talks when in the presence of different people is not change one's dialect. Just because some people may talk more "laid-back" when they are with their friends, and more "proper" when they are with someone who they are trying to impress, doesn't mean that they have changed dialect, but rather they have changed the style in which they speak their dialect.
Posted by lcissullivan at November 13, 2005 11:31 PM