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Understanding Dialect Continuum

This document discusses the concept of dialects and dialect continua. It defines dialects as varieties of a language that have no standardized grammar or literature and are not used in formal settings. Dialects vary regionally, between social groups, by gender, and individually. Examples given of dialect differences are between American and British English, and between varieties of Hindi and German spoken in different areas. The document then defines a dialect continuum as a range of dialects spoken across a geographical region, where neighboring dialects are mutually intelligible but those farther apart are not. Mutual intelligibility depends on the overlap between elements of varieties and the people involved, rather than being an absolute property of the varieties themselves.

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ANUJA GAIKWAD
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537 views9 pages

Understanding Dialect Continuum

This document discusses the concept of dialects and dialect continua. It defines dialects as varieties of a language that have no standardized grammar or literature and are not used in formal settings. Dialects vary regionally, between social groups, by gender, and individually. Examples given of dialect differences are between American and British English, and between varieties of Hindi and German spoken in different areas. The document then defines a dialect continuum as a range of dialects spoken across a geographical region, where neighboring dialects are mutually intelligible but those farther apart are not. Mutual intelligibility depends on the overlap between elements of varieties and the people involved, rather than being an absolute property of the varieties themselves.

Uploaded by

ANUJA GAIKWAD
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Dialect Continuum

By: Anuja Gaikwad


(EE) 1904110
Concept of Dialect
 Distinguishes between standard variety and low variety of
language
 Does not have standardized literature and prescribed grammar
 Is not used in formal proceedings
 Includes informal speech

2
Variations in Dialect
 Varies according to geographical conditions and locations
(regional dialects)
 Varies according to the society which we dwell in (sociolects)
 Varies according to Gender (genderlects)
 A variety of dialects spoken by an individual which is peculiar
to his/her speech habits (idiolects)

3
Examples:
 American English and British English
 Swiss German and Austrian German
 Haryanvi Hindi and Bundeli Hindi
And many more…..

4
Criterion to distinguish between dialect and
‘the language’
 Heteronomy: Some kind of dependence exists rather than
complete independence among languages
 Autonomy: Lacks such kind of dependence

5
Concept of Dialect Continuum
Based on geographical locations and regions
When varieties of a language are spoken together in a geographical
region so that they form a continuum, this continuum is known as a
dialect continuum.
Continuum in turn is defined as ‘Adjacent elements of a continuous
sequence are not quite different from each other but the extreme
elements are quite distinct or they differ a lot’.
Likewise, in a dialect continuum region, any two adjacent varieties are
mutually intelligible but varieties on the farthest end or even those that
are far off from each other are not mutually intelligible.

6
Examples:
Varieties can be arranged in a dialect continuum:
A stretch from Amsterdam to Vienna via Germany
A stretch from Calais to the southern part of Italy
Indo-Aryan Language

7
Mutual Intelligibility
Relative concept
Is a relation between people that understand each other rather than between two
varieties
It’s level depends both on the amount of overlap occurring between the elements
present in two varieties and the qualities of people taken into consideration.
Is based on a relationship among languages that are logically different from
homogeneity or sameness of language, which is supposed to be discarded or
cancelled
Sameness or homogeneity of language is a transitive concept while mutual
intelligibility is not

8
Thank you

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