KLAS, Bamberg, Germany Eva Duran Epplere.eppler@roehampton.ac.uk

Elective on

Variationist SociolinguisticsThursday 7th September 2017,

16:30-18:00

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What is Variationist Sociolinguistics?

'Correlating linguistic variation as the dependent variable with independent variables such as linguistic environment, style or social categories is the primary task of sociolinguistics.'

(Chambers 1995: 17)

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What are• Variables

– a collection of alternatives which have something in common;e.g. Van, Siamese, tabby,.....

• Dependent variables– what we want to study

• Independent variables- act on/influence dependent variable

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In Variationist Sociolinguistics (VS)• Dependent Variables are

linguistic variables: linguistic items (phonemes, morphemes, lexemes, syntactic features) which have identifiable variants and the presence of which is variable

can be related to other linguistic variables or to social variables• Independent Variables

– relate to linguistic environment, style or social categories such as a speaker’s age, sex, etc.

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Dependent Variables• phonetic variable: the same phonological

pattern has different phonetic realisations; e.g. English [ t ]

/ t / [ d ][ ʔ ]

e.g. Badini palatalization of velar stops/plosives: Badini Standard K. Gloss [kʲɨɾa:s] [kɨɾa:s] ‘robe’ [kʰʲe:ɾɨk] [kʰe:ɾ] ‘knife’ [gʲɨɾa:n] [gɨɾa:n] ‘heavy’

(Haig & Öpengin forthcoming)5

What are velar stops?

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DiacrticisPalatalizedaspirated

Phonetic variables & changee.g. Vowel fronting in Badini: as in Badini Standard K. Gloss •stür stūr ‘thick’•mü mū ‘hair’•tü tū ‘mulberry’•bičük bičūk ‘cild’

‘intermediate stage in a broader sound change [u: > y > i:]SW Badini varieties, e.g. in Duhok, have gone the whole way in many of the relevant words, e.g. [di:r] for Standard K. dûr ‘far’, and [bi:] for Standard K. bû ‘was’.

(Haig & Öpengin forthcoming)7

Dependent Variables• phonological variable: the same lexical item

has alternative phonological structures, • e.g. English happy, house with or without /h/;

• De-labialization of [xw] in Badini

Standard Kurmanji is generally associated with the dialect of Botan region, centred on the town of Cizre (Kr. Cizîr) (Haig & Öpengin forthcoming)

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Dependent Variables

• morphological variable: the same word has alternative morphological structures, e.g. she sing vs. she sing-s in Norwich (Trudgill 1990);

e.g. Sorani Kurmanji definiteness suffix -aka absence of definiteness marker

(Haig & Öpengin forthcoming)

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Dependent Variables

Morphological variation in Southern KurdishBijari Kolya’I Laki- Kalhori Malekshahi Badre’I Kordali

Kermanshahi

10(Belleli 2016 HO, based on Fattah 2000 )

Dependent Variables• lexical variables: two different lexical items

are synonymous (partially or totally), • e.g. English no-body vs. no-one;• e.g. Kurmanji

(Öpengin & Haig 2014: 160) 11

Dependent Variables

• syntactic variables: the same meaning is expressed by different syntactic structures. e.g. Active vs. passive voice in English

• e.g. the ergative pattern in Kurmanji (Muş)

(13) Min cil di-şûşt-in1S.OBL cloth-PL.DIR PROG-wash.PST-PL‘I was washing the clothes.’

(Gündoğdu 2017)12

Double oblique pattern(14) a. Min cil-an di-şûşt- Ø

1S.OBL cloth-PL.OBL PROG-wash.PST-3S‘I was washing the clothes.’

b. paşê camer-an şivan-ekî berda-nthen man-PL shepherd-INDF.OBL release.PST-PL‘Then the high-minded men released the shepherd.’

c. bûk-ê di-xwast-in, dianîn,bride-OBL PROG-want.PST-3PL PROG-bring.PST-3PL‘(They) asked for the bride’s hand, brought her,

d. genc-ek ... bûk-ê di-bir- Øyoung-INDF.DIR bride-OBL PROG-take.PST-3S‘A young (boy), ..., was taking the bride away.’ 13

Interpretations of variation

• sociolinguist: might try to relate the use of the passive to style level;

• psycholinguist: might relate it to processing load;

• discourse analyst: might relate it to the speaker's/writer’s choice of the linguist as the topic, i.e. what the sentence is about;

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Variable Rule ♫What are the 3 different contexts for /d/ in

1.1. The food is wonderful.1.2. The food smells wonderful.

2.1. We agreed on that.2.2. We cárried a box.

3.1. That's the wrong side.3.2. I wonder why he sigh-ed.

/d/ --> <o> / C1, C2, C315

Variable Rule - answersthe deletability of word final /d/ is subject to

three main conditions:• C1 followed by a vowel or not• C2whether it appears in an accented

syllable or in an unaccented syllable;• C3whether it has an independent

morphological status or not

[+cons] --> <0> / <[+cons]> <0> __ >##> < [-sy]>16

Example from Badini ♫

Badini Palatalization of velar stops: Badini Standard K. [kʲɨɾa:s] [kɨɾa:s] ‘robe’ [kʰʲe:ɾɨk] [kʰe:ɾ] ‘knife’ [gʲɨɾa:n] [gɨɾa:n] ‘heavy’

/g/ & /gh/; /k/ & /kh/ are palatalized preceding front or central unrounded vowels.

(Haig & Öpengin forthcoming)17

Summary so farSo far we’ve looked at linguistic variables (phonological, lexical and morpho-syntactic) but also regional variation, e.g. • btw. Standard Kurmanjî and Badini (Palatalization of velar

stops, Haig & Öpengin forthcoming)• btw. Central Kurdish or Sorani, and Northern Kurdish

Kurmanji (presence/absence of definiteness suffix –aka, Haig & Öpengin forthcoming)

• btw. different varieties of Kurmanji (lexical variation, Öpengin & Haig 2014)

• btw. different varieties of Southern Kurdish (morphological variation in SV agreement marking in the present tense, Belleli 2016)

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What do these data tell us?That there is regional variation in language use.Hopefully, the phonological, lexical, morpho-syntactix variables pattern; i.e. from isoglosses (Greek iso- ‘same’ and gloss ‘tongue’): lines drawn on a map defining areas characterised by the occurrence of certain linguistic features; è language / dialect maps

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Die kurdischen Sprachen ♫

20What are the main differences between the two maps?

Kurdish Varieties ♫

♫ 21What are the main differences between the two maps?

Varieties of Southern Kurdish

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Variety vs. Language vs. Dialect

criteria that might help to distinguish languages from dialects:•mutual intelligibility; ♫•subordination: if there is a dialect A of language X there must also be a dialect B of language X; whereas language Y can have 1 - x varieties;•existence of a written standard; •size: number of speakers & number of linguistic items (cf. reduction);•prestige;'criteria' are overlapping and not all of them mutually consistent

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Dialectology

deals with the geographical distribution of linguistic items;

Aim: to provide and empirical basis for conclusions about linguistic variety that occurs in a locale

(Chambers & Turdgill 1998: 21)

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DialectologyMethodologyQuestionnaire direct vs. indirect

formal vs. informaltypes of indirect questions (with subtypes)naming question - talking questions

- reverse questionscompleting questions - converting questions

elicitation technique & stylistic variation ==> formal/careful or casual style

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Sampling• Taking a small group of participants from

a larger population to represent that population, e.g., speakers of Sorani

• the larger the population, the greater the diversity

• Selection criteria• Representative or exploratory sample• Different types of sampling

Types of SamplesProbability / non-probability samples• Probability sampling techniques

• Systematic sampling, e.g., every 5th

• Cluster sampling, e.g., by location • Stratified sampling, e.g., gender

• Non-probability sampling techniques• Quota sampling, e.g., street survey• Purposive sampling• Snowball sampling• Convenience sampling

Sampling in Dialectology

dialectological projects tend to have a strong historical bias; i.e. they look for 'the oldest kind of vernacular' which is 'best found in rural areas amongst the farming community’

(Orton et al. 1978)

Dialectology has usually concentrated upon the speech of NORMsNon-mobile, Older, Rural, Males

Varieties of Kurmanji

29(Öpengin & Haig 2014: 148)

Sampling in studies of Kurdish –e.g. Kurmanji (Öpengin 2016)

Southeastern dialect region (abbreviated SEK). The first author of this article, as a native speaker of the dialect, male, 29 years-old, provided the data.

Southern dialect region (SK). The data for this dialect came from a 28 year-old educated male from the Mardin region.

Northern dialect region (NK). The informant is a 40 year-old educated male from Varto (Kr. Gimgim), who grew up in the district but has been living outside the language area for the past ten years.

Southwestern dialect region (SWK). The data was collected from a 25 year-old educated male from a village in Gaziantep.

Northwestern dialect region (NWK).

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Sampling (Gündoğdu 2015)

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Sampling...the need for a quick collection of linguistic information, the lack of ... freedom of movement and interaction with locals, ...., impeded a more accurate selection of informants on the basis of significant sociolinguistic traits (e.g. age, gender, instruction level, social group). The availability of texts with a greater degree of diversification regarding those parameters could have improved the description considerably. However, luckily enough, I could rely on few but good informants, which were representative of both genders, had a good command of their vernacular and were both willing and capable of providing spontaneous speech samples, as well as most of the supplementary linguistic information required.

(Belleli 2016: 25)32

Is it legitimate or worthwhile to apply the methods of traditional rural dialectology to large urban areas?'dialectology has to be made quantitative'

(Trudgill 1984: 49)Variationist Sociolinguistics'Correlating linguistic variation as the dependent variable with independent variables such as linguistic environment, style or social categories is the primary task of sociolinguistics.'

(Chambers 1995: 17)

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Sociolinguistic methodology -some principles

• random sampling• influence of the interviewer, the tape-recorder

etc. e.g. “observer’s paradox” (Labov 1972)• difficulty of obtaining casual, vernacular speech• 'the one-word response syndrome' &

"hyper-dialectisms"• 'field-worker isoglosses'• getting one word from one informant once• the assumption of geographical abruptness

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Social factors

social factors influencing language use:• factors related to users: who is talking to

whom?• factors related to use: setting or social

context; where are they talking?• aim, purpose function of the interaction:

why are participants speaking?• topic; what is being talked about?

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Social dimensionsrelated to social factors

The solidarity/social distance scale:concerned with participant relationships;

Intimate Distant

High solidarity Low solidarity

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Social dimensionsThe (relative) status scale:

Superior High status

Subordinate Low status

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Social dimensionsThe formality scale: relating to the purposes or topic of interaction.

Formal High formality

Informal Low formality

Degrees of formality are often heavily influenced by solidarity and status relationships.

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Social dimensionsThe referential & affective function scalesReferentialHigh Low Information informationcontent content

AffectiveLow HighAffective affectiveContent content

In general, the more reverentially orientated an interaction is, the less it tends to express the feelings of the speaker. 39

StyleStylistic Variation:variation conditioned by a person's perception of the situation in which he/she is speaking;

In quantitative/variationist sociolinguistic studies the influence of stylistic conditioning on linguistic behaviour tends to be statistical ==> leads to statements of probability

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social and stylistic axes of linguistic variation

• social dimension denotes differences between the speech of different speakers;

• i.e. inter-speaker variation

• stylistics dimension denotes differences within the speech of a single speakers;

• intra-speaker variation41

Style AxiomIntra-speaker variation derives from and mirrors inter-speaker variation.Variation on the style dimension within the speech of a single speaker derives from and echoes the variation which exists between speakers on the social dimension.

(Bell 1984: 151)

the degree of style variation never exceeds the degree of social variation;

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Styles of speechto be obtained in structured, formal sociolinguistic interviewsmost formal minimal pairs

word listsreading passagescareful (Labov) / formal (Trudgill)

least formal casual

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Sampling & styleThe recordings were initially carried out at X’s private house. At a later stage, being quite clear that informants were more disposed to speak spontaneously in a familiar environment, I decided to carry out daily visits to their private homes, where most of the texts were eventually collected. On those occasions, I recorded Texts 1, 3, 4 and 7, which were later selected to be included in the present study. https://corpus1.mpi.nl/ds/asv/?0

(Belleli 2016: 25)

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Language choice and patterns of usage among Kurdish speakers of Duhok

(Mustafa & Haig forthcoming)45

Is Kurdish important for Kurdishness?

46(Mustafa & Haig forthcoming)46

Workshop

47Matras, Yaron et al. 2016. http://kurdish.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/

Database

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On http://kurdish.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/database-of-kurdish-dialects/1. Select your search criterion from one of the menus. You can select from • Sample (sample code), • Location (the place where the dialect is spoken), • Tag (structural-grammatical feature), • Phrase (English questionnaire phrase, to obtain a Kurdish

translation), • or type in the Kurdish text or text portions that you want to find.

Workshop

• Chose a Tag (structural-grammatical feature),

• Search the database for this feature• Summarize the variation you found

– What kind of variation did you find? (linguistics, regionals, social etc.)

• Present your finding to the group

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ReferencesBell, A. (1984) Language Style as Audience Design. In Coupland, N.

and A. Jaworski (1997, eds.) Sociolinguistics: a Reader and Coursebook, pp. 240-50. New York: St Mattin's Press Inc.

Belleli, Sara. 2016. A Study on Language and Folklore in the City of Harsin (Kermānshāh Province, West Iran) Sketch Grammar with Texts and Lexicon. Unpublished PhD dissertation. University of Naples.

Belleli, Sara. 2016. Southern Kurdish Dialectology: Where to begin? Int. Conference on Kurdish Linguistics 3, Univeristy of Amsterdam 25-26 August 2016.

Chambers, J. 1995. Sociolinguistic theory: Linguistic variation and its social significance. Oxford: Blackwell.

Chambers, Jack (2008). Sociolinguistic Theory. Wiley-Blackwell. Chambers, Jack & Trudgill, Peter 1998. Dialectology. CUP.Fattah, I. K. (2000) Les dialectes kurdes méridionaux: étude

linguistique et dialectologique, Acta Iranica, 37, Leuven: Peeters.50

ReferencesGündoğdu, Songül . 2017. Variation in the Ergative Pattern of Kurmanji.

5th Vienna Yearbook on Kurdish Studies.Haig, Geoffry & Öpengin, Ergin. Fothcoming. Kurmanji Kurdish in

Turkey: structure, varieties, and status. To appear in: Bulut, Christiane (ed.) Linguistic Minorities in Turkey and Turkic speaking minorities of the peripheries. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Matras, Yaron et al. 2016. The Dialects of Kurdish. Web resource, University of Manchester. http://kurdish.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/

Musatafa, Baydaa and Haig, Goeff. Forthcoming. Language Choice and Patterns of Usage among Kurdish Speakers of Duhok: An Empirical Intergenerational Study.

Öpengin, Ergin and Geoffrey Haig. 2014. Regional variation in Kurmanji: a preliminary classification of dialects. Kurdish Studies 3, pp. 143–176.

Trudgill, Peter. 1984. Language in the British Isles. CUP.Trudgill, Peter. [1990] 2001. Sociolinguistic variation and change.

Edinburgh University Press. 51

Thank you!

Danke!

Spas!

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Any…

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