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November 13, 2005
Dialects
Question #1
Personally, I do not think that I have that much of a dialect. I think that there are very few words in my vocabulary that would distinguish me from any other English speaker. My father was born in Rhode Island and lived there all of his life. My mother was born in New York, but moved to Rhode Island when she was about 10. Thus, her New York roots do not have that much effect on her speech. I was also born in Rhode Island and, until coming to Boston, lived in the same house my entire life. I think what distinguishes me as a Rhode Islander more than my dialect is my vocabulary. For example, I use the word “wicked” way too much. The other day I was on my roommate’s computer and I was talking to one of her friends under her screename. Obviously, her friend didn’t know it was me and when I said “My essay wicked, wicked stinks,” she laughed for hours and immediately put it as her away message. So, this is something I think distinguishes me as a Rhode Islander more than my dialect. I looked at the dialect map which said that my speech is closest to that of someone from Boston. Although Rhode Island and Boston are technically far apart, I think that it is alright to categorize a Rhode Islander as a Bostonian speaker because our speech is very similar. (Although, I must comment that it is difficult to tell what a true Bostonian accent sounds like since everyone in Boston is originally from somewhere else.)
Question #2
I definitely think that social group affects dialect. For example, I baby-sit a lot and when I am on the phone with a potential employer I reflexively use a softer, more professional voice and enunciate more. My family loves to make fun of me because I really don’t sound like myself. But, this is definitely a testament to the effect of social groups on our dialect.
As far as the relatively new dialect categories according to social groups, such as, “Surfer Dude” or “Urban Youth”, I definitely think that these groups do exist and are prevalent. In some sense, I think they may be even more important than geographical groupings. The reason for this is that people identify more with their social group than their geographical location. Thus, they take on the attributes of this social group. (Of course, it must also be said that these social groups are commonly associated with certain areas. For example, a “Surfer Dude” would probably be from California; an “Urban Youth” would probably be from New York City, Boston, or any other northeastern city.)
Posted by lciscotis at November 13, 2005 10:22 AM
Comments
Brenna, I also find it difficult to find what distinguishes me as a Northeasterner...the word "wicked" is one of the only things that comes to mind as well. I think it is so funny when people don't know what "wicked" means.
Posted by: Katie at November 13, 2005 11:40 AM