In the reading for Thursday, we learned about the dialect that is emerging in California, and how that dialect is spreading across the country--and beyond. For example, the use of "like" has become ubiquitous in most English speaking communities. This language use developed out of "Valspeak" (Valley Girl dialect) in the 1980s and spread via multiple media outlets (radio, film) and has continued to move across most speech communities.
The reading also introduced the dialect marker of "uptalk," or rising inflection at the end of statements. Instead of saying, "I went to the store today." with a declining inflection, it sounds like "I went to the store? today?" with a rising inflection. I personally notice that I have incorporated this inflection in my own dialect. I attribute it to a colleague in the English department whom I work closely with, but it is likely from a combination of factors, including the general progression of the California dialect. What markers of the California dialect do you notice in yourself and in those you know?
The chapter indicates that California is often "ahead" of the rest of the nation in many matters, political, social, economic...and also linguistic. Does this seem accurate to you? Why would a new dialect emerge more quickly in California than in other areas of the country? And, why would this dialect spread eastward from California, when the historic migration of dialect has been westward since the U.S. was settled by English colonists?
Please respond to this, and also please contribute any other interesting findings you had while reading "Language from a State of Change."
Thanks,
Tiffany
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1 comment:
Regarding The Californian Dialect:
Or, rather, more appropriately looking closely at California. It is accurate that very often California is closer to the kind of politics of liberalism than most other states.
The constantly fluxing dialects could be a result of the kind of immigration that California accepts, not just from those of Latino heritage, but also the millions of Americans who went to the state. It's the synergy between a multiplicity of differing groups that arrived.
I can imagine that the only reason for which the Californian dialect has spread beyond it's borders in a Eastward fashion is because of its position economically - it was the center of American media for many years and it still holds a good portion of American capital.
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