英语论文dialectmapofamericanenglish.docx

英语论文dialectmapofamericanenglish.docx

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英语论文dialectmapofamericanenglish

英语论文dialectmapofamericanenglish

英语论文dialectmapofamericanenglishDialectMapofAmericanEnglishNotallpeoplewhospeakalanguagespeakitthesameway.Alanguagecanbesubdividedintoanynumberofdialectswhicheachvaryinsomewayfromtheparentlanguage.Theterm,accent,isoftenincorrectlyusedinitsplace,butanaccentrefersonlytothewaywordsarepronounced,whileadialecthasitsowngrammar,vocabulary,syntax,andcommonexpressionsaswellaspronunciationrulesthatmakeituniquefromotherdialectsofthesamelanguage.Anotherterm,idiolect,referstothemannerofspeakingofanindividualperson.Notwopeoplesidiolectsareexactlythesame,butpeoplewhoarepartofthesamegroupwillhaveenoughverbalelementsincommontobesaidtobespeakingthesamedialect.ClickonthemapforalargerversionThreethingsareneededforanewdialecttodevelop:

agroupofpeoplelivingincloseproximitytoeachother;thisgrouplivinginisolation（eithergeographicallyorsocially）fromothergroups;andthepassageoftime.Givenenoughtime,adialectmayevolvetothepointthatitbecomesadifferentlanguagefromtheoneitstartedas.EnglishbeganexistenceasaGermanicdialectcalledAngloSaxonthatwasbroughttoEnglandbyinvadersfromGermany.TheAngloSaxonpeoplesinEnglandwerenowgeographicallyisolatedfromtheircousinsinGermanywhichallowedthedialectstoevolveindifferentdirections.OtherinvaderswouldalsoinfluencethedevelopmentofEnglishwiththeirlanguagesuntilthemodernEnglishwespeaktodayhasbecomesodifferentfromthemodernGermanspokeninGermanythataspeakerofonecannotunderstandaspeakeroftheother.ThusEnglishandGermanareconsideredtobetwodifferent,thoughrelated,languages.TheothermodernlanguagesinthisfamilyareDutch,Swedish,Danish,Norwegian,andIcelandic.Thisissueofmutualunderstandabilityiswhatintheoryisusedtodeterminewhatisadialectandwhatisalanguage,butinrealitytherearesocialandpoliticalissuesinvolvedtoo.Thegovernmentofacountrymightdeclarethatallthelanguagesspokeninthatcountryareactuallydialectsofonelanguageinordertocreatetheillusionofpolitalunity,whilethegovernmentofanothercountrymightdeclarethatthedialectspokenbyitspeopleisactuallyauniquelanguagefromothercountriesthatspeakdialectsofthesamelanguageinordertocreateasenseofnationalpride.Historyisfullofgovernmentsthathavetriedtoimposeasinglelanguageonallofitspeoplewithvaryingresults:

sometimestheminoritylanguagesgoentirelyextinct,sometimestheyarereducedtosurvivingonlyasdialectsofthemajoritylanguage,andsometimesnewlanguagesareunintentionallycreatedbyablendingofthetwolanguages.Thisbringsustothreeotherlanguagetermsthatareworthmentioninghere.Whentwoormoregroupsofpeoplewhospeakdifferentlanguagesneedtocommunicatewitheachotheronaregularbasisanddonotwanttoactuallylearneachotherslanguage（suchaswhentheEuropeanmerchantsstartedtradingwithotherpeoplesaroundtheworld）,theymaydevelopwhatiscalledapidginlanguage.Thisisasimplifiedlanguagethatusuallyhasasfewwordsaspossibleinitsvocabulary（takingsomefrombothlanguages）andhasbeenstrippedofanyfanciergrammaticalrulesliketheuseofmultipleverbconjugationsandtenses-akindof“MeTarzan,youJane“wayoftalking.Apidginisnobodysnativelanguageandisusedonlyinbusinesssettings.Infact,theword“pidgin“maybederivedfromthewayChinesemerchantsmispronouncedtheEnglishword“business.“However,insomecases,thechildreninoneoftheseareasmightgrowuplearningthepidginastheirfirstlanguage.Whenthishappens,thepidgincangrowincomplexityintoacreolelanguagewithalargersetofgrammaticalrulesandamuchlargervocabularythatshareelementsofallthelanguagesthatwentintocreatingit.Finally,jargonisaspecializedvocabularyusedbypeoplewithinaparticulardisciplinesuchasmedicaljargonfordoctors,legaljargonforlawyers,oracademicjargonforcollegeprofessors.Whilejargonwordsoccasionallyfilterupintoamainstreamdialect,theyareusuallyusedonlybyexpertsandonlywhentheyarediscussingtheirparticularfield.Criticsargue,withsomejustification,thatjargonneedlesslycomplicatesastatementthatcouldbeexpressedinamoreclearmanner.Usersofitargue,alsowithjustification,thatitisamoreprecisemannerofspeaking,althoughmanyexamplescanbefound（especiallyinpoliticsandbusiness）whereithasbeenusedintentionallytoobscurethefactthatthespeakeristryingtoavoidbeingprecise.Themoderndevelopmentofcommunicationstechnologymaypossiblyslowdowntheevolutionofdialectsandlanguages.Forthefirsttimeinhistory,a