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Chapter 8: Language Variation
Chapter Overview and Objectives
This chapter introduces students to concepts related to regional, social, gender, and stylistic
variation. After completing this chapter, students should be able to
٪ Explain the difference between a dialect and a language.
٪ Explain how isoglosses are used to establish regional dialect areas.
٪ Identify the major regional dialect areas of the United States.
٪ Identify several examples of lexical and phonological forms found in regional dialects
Key Terms and Concepts
language universals
language
dialect
idiolect
isogloss
Canadian raising
sociolinguistics
standard dialect
nonstandard dialect
pidgin
consonant cluster
reduction
metathesis
post-vocalic liquid deletion
final devoicing
Commentary on Chapter 8
As mentioned in the Preface to this Instructor’s Manual, the American Tongues video provides
an good overview of language variation, especially regional variation, in the United States. It is
worth devoting a class period to showing the video. Students will enjoy discussing some of the
examples in the video and adding their own examples of language variation that they have
observed.
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Suggested Answers to Exercises
Exercise A, p. 150
Exercise B, p. 153
1. Southwest: Spanish influence, reflected in words like adobe, hacienda, rodeo.
Exercise C, pp. 156–157
1. bluenose: (a) ‘a native of Eastern Canada’ (derogatory); (b) New England
Exercise D, pp. 150–160
1. In the Northern forms, [s] (a voiceless consonant) appears between vowels; in the
Southern forms, however, [z] (a voiced consonant) appears. The occurrence of [z] for [s] in
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Exercise E, p. 163
1. A creole is the native language of some group of speakers, whereas a pidgin is not.
Exercise F, p. 164
1. [t], the voiceless stop closest in place to [6] (a voiceless fricative)
Exercise G, pp. 166–167
1. a. †
Exercise H, p. 169
1. The nonstandard system is more regular in that it uses one contracted negative verb form
(ain’t) for all persons and numbers, whereas the standard system uses two (aren’t and
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Exercise I, pp. 174–175
1. After other verbs in English (e.g., hit, call, and like), the objective case of a pronoun is
used; the nominative case results in an ungrammatical sentence. Speakers who use the
Exercise J, pp. 177–178
1. The use of specialized terms for different shades of the same color is, at least
stereotypically, more comprehensible to women than to men. (This particular catalog
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Exercise K, p. 182
1. a. Sentence (C).
Supplementary Exercises, pp. 183–186
1. a. F (Northern)
b. T
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Exploratory Exercises, pp. 186–187
1. See British-American online dictionary at www.bbcamerica.com/britain/dictionary.jsp.
2. Answers will vary. Actors’ attempts to mimic a dialect foreign to them can be entertaining
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