Linguistic Circle

Speaker: Jack Grieve (Centre for Forensic Linguistics, Aston University)

Title: Functional Variation Drives Regional Variation

Abstract: Patterns of regional linguistic variation are often assumed to be accidents of history. A form is used in one part of a country and not another because the country was settled by different groups of people. A group of people is divided by a border and their language drifts apart over time. Regional linguistic variation is seen as the product of specific cultural forces that limit communication across space, but the linguistic patterns themselves are seen as arbitrary. In this presentation I argue that patterns of regional linguistic variation are not arbitrary, but reflect cultural differences in the communicative functions for which language is used. In support of this functional theory of regional linguistic variation I look at grammatical variation in American letters to the editor and lexical variation in American social media. In both cases I identify common patterns of regional variation, show that they involve linguistic features that share functional characteristics, and link these functional patterns to regional differences in American culture.

Contact details

Dr Rhona Alcorn