:-) mostly -- McWhorter on "standard English"

[Jonathan Lighter]

For the average NPR listener, still anxious about split infinitives, I think
even "register" is opaque. It always makes me think of cash registers,
relevance zilch.

How about "context," "purpose," "setting," or the like. These can be
elaborated quickly and easily.

JL
On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 10:41 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: :-) mostly -- McWhorter on "standard English"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 9:01 PM -0500 1/15/10, Robin Hamilton wrote:
> >>Register?  Not nearly as clear as "dialect" =20
> >>
> >>Tom Zurinskas=2C USA - CT20=2C TN3=2C NJ33=2C FL7+=20
> >>see truespel.com phonetic spelling
> >
> >Perhaps not so clear, but more appropriate in this context.
>
> Oops, sorry Robin.  I should have scrolled down in my mailer to see
> that you pre-empted my response.
>
> LH
>
> >"In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a
> particular
> >purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, an English speaker
> >may adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending
> >in -ing with a velar nasal instead of an alveolar nasal (e.g. "walking",
> not
> >"walkin'"), choose more formal words (e.g. train vs. choo-choo, sodium
> >chloride vs. salt, child vs. kid, etc.), and refrain from using the word
> >ain't when speaking in a formal setting, but the same person could violate
> >all of these prescriptions in an informal setting."
> >[WIKI]
> >
> >Whereas dialect:
> >
> >"The term dialect (from the Greek word _dialektos_) is used in two
> >distinct ways, even by scholars of language. One usage refers to a variety
> >of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the
> language's
> >speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but
> a
> >dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class. <...>
> >The other usage refers to a language socially subordinate to a regional or
> >national standard language, often historically cognate to the standard,
> but
> >not a variety of it or in any other sense derived from it."
> >[WIKI]
> >
> >They are quite distinct terms, at least in my idiolect.
> >
> >Robin Hamilton
> >
> >>>Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>>Poster: Robin Hamilton <robin.hamilton2 at BTINTERNET.COM>
> >>>Subject: Re: :-) mostly -- McWhorter on "standard English"
> >>
> >>>  > Well=2C maybe we need to start putting "dialect" in after "Standard
> >>>>  English". I think I might start putting "Standard American Written
> >>>>  English dialect" in my composition syllabus to emphasize its
> >>>>  linguistic parity with Appalachian dialects=2C Southern dialects=2C
> >>>>  etc=
> >>.
> >>>  >
> >>>>  ---Amy West
> >>>=20
> >>>I'd concur with this=2C Amy=2C but reword as "Standard American Written
> >>>E=
> >>nglish
> >>>Register."
> >>>=20
> >>>The wording of the syllabus description would=2C of course=2C be
> >>>self-referential=2C being written in SAWER.
> >>>=20
> >>>Robin Hamilton
> >>>=20
> >
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>
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