Language in Society

1 Dialects, Standards, and Vernaculars 
1
1.1 
Defining Dialect 
2
1.2 
Dialect: The Popular Viewpoint 
2
1.3 
Dialect Myths and Linguistic Reality 
8
1.4 
Standards and Vernaculars 
9
1.5 
Language Descriptivism and Prescriptivism 
14
1.6 
Vernacular Dialects 
16
1.7 
Labeling Vernacular Dialects 
17
1.8 
Why Study Dialects? 
18
1.9 
A Tradition of Study 
21
1.10 Further Reading 
24
References 25
2 Why Dialects? 
27
2.1 
Sociohistorical Explanation 
28
2.1.1 Settlement 
28
2.1.2 Migration 
29
2.1.3 Geographical factors 
30
2.1.4 Language contact 
31
2.1.5 Economic ecology 
33
2.1.6 Social stratification 
34
2.1.7 Social interaction, social practices, and speech communities 
35
2.1.8 Group and individual identity 
38
2.2 
Linguistic Explanation 
40
2.2.1 Rule extension 
42
2.2.2 Analogy 
44
2.2.3 Transparency and grammaticalization 
47
2.2.4 Pronunciation principles 
50
2.2.5 Words and word meanings 
55

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vi
Contents
2.3 The Final Product 
57
2.4 Further Reading 
57
References 58
3 Levels of Dialect 
59
3.1 Lexical Differences 
59
3.2 Slang 
64
3.3 Phonological Differences 
68
3.4 Grammatical Differences 
79
3.5 Language Use and Pragmatics 
86
3.6 Further Reading 
93
References 94
4 Dialects in the United States: Past, Present, and Future 
97
4.1 The First English(es) in America 
98
4.1.1 Jamestown 
98
4.1.2 Boston 
100
4.1.3 Philadelphia 
103
4.1.4 Charleston 
105
4.1.5 New Orleans 
106
4.2 Earlier American English: The Colonial Period 
106
4.3 American English Extended 
110
4.4 The Westward Expansion of English 
115
4.5 The Present and Future State of American English 
117
4.6 Further Reading 
122
References 123