LING Class Projects

Blog Posts, Videos, Podcasts & Infographics about Linguistics and Languages

Sociolinguistics

Word on the Street: Genetic? Phonetic? I just don’t get it!

What makes a dialect stick around?

This podcast episode ventures to learn a bit about how we learn (or unlearn) dialect, and how that sometimes carries through parents and children.

Author
Anna Botkin

Anna Botkin is a first-year undergraduate student majoring in Linguistics at the University of Manitoba. She is especially interested in early language acquisition and dialect differences in families. She additionally enjoys reading and singing.

References

Brown, Vivian R. Evolution of the Merger of /I/ and /ε/ before Nasals in Tennessee. American Speech, Vol. 66, No. 3 (Autumn, 1991), pp. 303-315

Chambers, J. K. (1992). Dialect acquisition. Language, 68(4), 673-705.

Chambers, J. K. (2002). Dynamics of dialect convergence. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 6(1), 121-123.

Accents in ASL

Learn about accents in American Sign Language (ASL) and the many factors that contribute to these variations. There will be video clip examples. Maybe you’ll even learn something new!

Author
Chloe Walker

Chloe Walker is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of Manitoba hoping to pursue a double honours degree in psychology and linguistics. She is particularly interested in American Sign Language and psycholinguistics. Chloe enjoys watching tv, listening to music, and shopping.

References

ASL Connect. (2021, January 15) Birthday Variants. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExwLJIWP-xE

ASLized!. (2013, June 17) Deaf Schools (with audio and captions). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkwYHheJQVw

Cheng, K. (2021, July 6). Deaf culture: Sign language “accents” or “styles”: Start ASL. Start ASL. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from https://www.startasl.com/sign-language-accents-or-styles/

Contreras, R. (2002). Regional, Cultural, and Sociolinguistic Variation of ASL in the United States. ASL Linguistics: Sociolinguistic Variation of ASL. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from https://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/sociolinguisticvariationofasl.htm

Fessenden, M. (2015, December 4). There’s A philly sign language accent. Smithsonian.com. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/theres-philly-sign-language-accent-180957459/