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35-755: North American English is the most generalized variety of the English language as spoken in the United States and Canada . Because of their related histories and cultures, plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), vocabulary, and grammar of American English and Canadian English , the two spoken varieties are often grouped together under a single category. Canadians are generally tolerant of both British and American spellings, with British spellings of certain words (e.g., colour ) preferred in more formal settings and in Canadian print media; for some other words

70-402: A standard variety , some lect that is selected and promoted prescriptively by either quasi-legal authorities or other social institutions, such as schools or media. Standard varieties are accorded more sociolinguistic prestige than other, nonstandard lects and are generally thought of as "correct" by speakers of the language. Since the selection is an arbitrary standard , standard forms are

105-414: A suffix to coin names for modern-day jargons such as "medicant", a term used to refer to the type of language employed by members of the medical profession that is largely unintelligible to lay people. The thieves' cant was a feature of popular pamphlets and plays, particularly between 1590 and 1615, but continued to feature in literature through the 18th century. There are questions about how genuinely

140-931: A certain subset of words, such as nouns, or semantic content words). Such systems are examples of argots à clef , or "coded argots". Specific words can go from argot into everyday speech or the other way. For example, modern French loufoque 'crazy', 'goofy', now common usage, originated in the louchébem transformation of Fr. fou 'crazy'. In the field of medicine, physicians have been said to have their own spoken argot, cant, or slang, which incorporates commonly understood abbreviations and acronyms, frequently used technical colloquialisms , and much everyday professional slang (that may or may not be institutionally or geographically localized). While many of these colloquialisms may prove impenetrable to most lay people, few seem to be specifically designed to conceal meaning from patients (perhaps because standard medical terminology would usually suffice anyway). The concept of

175-895: A means to prevent outsiders from understanding their communication and as a manner of establishing a subculture that meets the needs of their alternative social structure. Anti-languages differ from slang and jargon in that they are used solely among ostracized social groups, including prisoners, criminals, homosexuals, and teenagers. Anti-languages use the same basic vocabulary and grammar as their native language in an unorthodox fashion. For example, anti-languages borrow words from other languages, create unconventional compounds, or utilize new suffixes for existing words. Anti-languages may also change words using metathesis , reversal of sounds or letters (e.g., apple to elppa ), or substituting their consonants. Therefore, anti-languages are distinct and unique and are not simply dialects of existing languages. In his essay "Anti-Language", Halliday synthesized

210-401: A particular region is called a regional dialect (regiolect, geolect ); some regional varieties are called regionalects or topolects, especially to discuss varieties of Chinese . In addition, there are varieties associated with particular ethnic groups (sometimes called ethnolects ), socioeconomic classes (sometimes called sociolects ), or other social or cultural groups. Dialectology is

245-425: A specific community". More recently, sociolinguists have adopted the concept of the community of practice , a group of people who develop shared knowledge and shared norms of interaction, as the social group within which dialects develop and change. Sociolinguists Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet explain: "Some communities of practice may develop more distinctive ways of speaking than others. Thus, it

280-449: Is a language used by various groups to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, occupation, or hobby, in which sense it overlaps with jargon . In his 1862 novel Les Misérables , Victor Hugo refers to that argot as both "the language of the dark" and "the language of misery". The earliest known record of

315-428: Is defined as "the language use typical of an individual person". An individual's idiolect may be affected by contact with various regional or social dialects, professional registers and, in the case of multilinguals , various languages. For scholars who view language from the perspective of linguistic competence , essentially the knowledge of language and grammar that exists in the mind of an individual language user,

350-611: Is general social acceptance that gives us a workable arbitrary standard, not any inherent superiority of the characteristics it specifies." Sociolinguists generally recognize the standard variety of a language as one of the dialects of that language. In some cases, an authoritative regulatory body , such as the Académie Française , maintains and codifies the usage norms for a standard variety. More often, though, standards are understood in an implicit, practice-based way. Writing about Standard English, John Algeo suggests that

385-470: Is largely based. Such argots are lexically divergent forms of a particular language, with a part of its vocabulary replaced by words unknown to the larger public; argot used in this sense is synonymous with cant . For example, argot in this sense is used for systems such as verlan and louchébem , which retain French syntax and apply transformations only to individual words (and often only to

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420-560: Is often referred to as an argot, but it has been argued that it is an anti-language because of the social structure it maintains through the social class of the droogs. In parts of Connacht , in Ireland, cant mainly refers to an auction , typically on fair day ("Cantmen and Cantwomen, some from as far away as Dublin, would converge on Mohill on a Fair Day, ... set up their stalls ... and immediately start auctioning off their merchandise") and secondly means talk ("very entertaining conversation

455-477: Is within communities of practice that linguistic influence may spread within and among speech communities." The words dialect and accent are often used synonymously in everyday speech, but linguists define the two terms differently. Accent generally refers to differences in pronunciation , especially those that are associated with geographic or social differences, whereas dialect refers to differences in grammar and vocabulary as well. Many languages have

490-405: The grypsera of Polish prisons, thieves' cant , Polari , and Bangime . Anti-languages are sometimes created by authors and used by characters in novels. These anti-languages do not have complete lexicons, cannot be observed in use for linguistic description , and therefore cannot be studied in the same way a language spoken by an existing anti-society would. However, they are still used in

525-566: The United States and Canada . In North America, different English dialects of immigrants from England , Scotland , Ireland , and other regions of the British Isles mixed together in the 17th and 18th centuries. These were developed, built upon, and blended together as new waves of immigration, and migration across the North American continent, developed new dialects in new areas, and as these ways of speaking merged with and assimilated to

560-569: The anti-language was first defined and studied by the linguist Michael Halliday , who used the term to describe the lingua franca of an anti-society . An anti-society is a small, separate community intentionally created within a larger society as an alternative to or resistance of it. For example, Adam Podgórecki studied one anti-society composed of Polish prisoners; Bhaktiprasad Mallik of Sanskrit College studied another composed of criminals in Calcutta. These societies develop anti-languages as

595-403: The "correct" varieties only in the sense that they are tacitly valued by higher socio-economic strata and promoted by public influencers on matters of language use , such as writers, publishers, critics, language teachers, and self-appointed language guardians. As Ralph Harold Fasold puts it, "The standard language may not even be the best possible constellation of linguistic features available. It

630-956: The American spelling prevails over the British (e.g., tire rather than tyre ). Dialects of American English spoken by United Empire Loyalists who fled the American Revolution (1775–1783) have had a large influence on Canadian English from its early roots. Some terms in North American English are used almost exclusively in Canada and the United States (for example, the terms diaper and gasoline are widely used instead of nappy and petrol ). Although many English speakers from outside North America regard those terms as distinct Americanisms , they are just as common in Canada, mainly due to

665-686: The course of a communicative event as the relationship between speakers changes, or different social facts become relevant. Speakers may shift styles, as their perception of an event in progress changes. Consider the following telephone call to the Embassy of Cuba in Washington, DC . Caller: ¿Es la embajada de Cuba? ( Is this the Cuban embassy? ) Receptionist: Sí. Dígame. ( Yes, may I help you? ) Caller: Es Rosa. ( It's Rosa. ) Receptionist: ¡Ah Rosa! ¿Cóma anda eso? ( Oh, Rosa! How's it going? ) At first,

700-453: The effects of heavy cross-border trade and cultural penetration by the American mass media. The list of divergent words becomes longer if considering regional Canadian dialects, especially as spoken in the Atlantic provinces and parts of Vancouver Island where significant pockets of British culture still remain. There are a considerable number of different accents within the regions of both

735-466: The following sentence as an example of a nonstandard dialect that is used with the technical register of physical geography: There was two eskers what we saw in them U-shaped valleys. Most speakers command a range of registers, which they use in different situations. The choice of register is affected by the setting and topic of speech, as well as the relationship that exists between the speakers. The appropriate form of language may also change during

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770-521: The greater American dialect mixture that solidified by the mid-18th century. Below, several major North American English accents are defined by particular characteristics: A majority of North American English (for example, in contrast to British English) includes phonological features that concern consonants, such as rhoticity (full pronunciation of all /r/ sounds), conditioned T-glottalization (with satin pronounced [ˈsæʔn̩] , not [ˈsætn̩] ), T- and D-flapping (with metal and medal pronounced

805-564: The idiolect, is a way of referring to the specific knowledge. For scholars who regard language as a shared social practice, the idiolect is more like a dialect with a speech community of one individual. Argot A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group. It may also be called a cryptolect , argot , pseudo-language , anti-language or secret language . Each term differs slightly in meaning; their uses are inconsistent. Richard Rorty defines cant by saying that "'Cant', in

840-401: The level of the lexicon , such as slang and argot , is often considered in relation to particular styles or levels of formality (also called registers ), but such uses are sometimes discussed as varieties as well. O'Grady et al. define dialect : "A regional or social variety of a language characterized by its own phonological , syntactic , and lexical properties." A variety spoken in

875-418: The receptionist uses a relatively formal register, as befits her professional role. After the caller identifies herself, the receptionist recognizes that she is speaking to a friend, and she shifts to an informal register of colloquial Cuban Spanish . The shift is similar to metaphorical code-switching , but since it involves styles or registers, it is considered an example of style-shifting. An idiolect

910-491: The research of Thomas Harman, Adam Podgórecki , and Bhaktiprasad Mallik to explore anti-languages and the connection between verbal communication and the maintenance of a social structure. For this reason, the study of anti-languages is both a study of sociology and linguistics. Halliday's findings can be compiled as a list of nine criteria that a language must meet to be considered an anti-language: Examples of anti-languages include Cockney rhyming slang , CB slang , verlan ,

945-582: The same), at least one of the LOT vowel mergers (the LOT – PALM merger is completed among virtually all Americans and the LOT – THOUGHT merger among nearly half, while both are completed among virtually all Canadians), and yod-dropping (with tuesday pronounced /ˈtuzdeɪ/ , not /ˈtjuzdeɪ/ ). The last item is more advanced in American English than Canadian English. Variety (linguistics) Variation at

980-454: The same, as [ˈmɛɾɫ̩] ), L-velarization (with filling pronounced [ˈfɪɫɪŋ] , not [ˈfɪlɪŋ] ), as well as features that concern vowel sounds, such as various vowel mergers before /r/ (so that, Mary , marry , and merry are all commonly pronounced the same ), raising of pre-voiceless /aɪ/ (with price and bright using a higher vowel sound than prize and bride ), the weak vowel merger (with affected and effected often pronounced

1015-439: The sense in which Samuel Johnson exclaims, 'Clear your mind of cant,' means, in other words, something like that which 'people usually say without thinking, the standard thing to say, what one normally says'." In Heideggerian terms it is what "das Man" says. There are two main schools of thought on the origin of the word cant : An argot ( English: / ˈ ɑːr ɡ oʊ / ; from French argot [aʁɡo] ' slang ')

1050-566: The standard variety "is simply what English speakers agree to regard as good". A register (sometimes called a style ) is a variety of language used in a particular social setting. Settings may be defined in terms of greater or lesser formality, or in terms of socially recognized events, such as baby talk , which is used in many western cultures to talk to small children or as a joking register used in teasing or playing The Dozens . There are also registers associated with particular professions or interest groups; jargon refers specifically to

1085-459: The study of anti-languages. Roger Fowler's "Anti-Languages in Fiction" analyzes Anthony Burgess 's A Clockwork Orange and William S. Burroughs ' Naked Lunch to redefine the nature of the anti-language and to describe its ideological purpose. A Clockwork Orange is a popular example of a novel where the main character is a teenage boy who speaks an anti-language called Nadsat . This language

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1120-456: The study of dialects and their geographic or social distribution. Traditionally, dialectologists study the variety of language used within a particular speech community , a group of people who share a set of norms or conventions for language use. In order to sidestep the vexing problem of distinguishing dialect from language , some linguists have been using the term communalect – defined as "a neutral term for any speech tradition tied to

1155-401: The term argot in this context was in a 1628 document. The word was probably derived from the contemporary name les argotiers , given to a group of thieves at that time. Under the strictest definition, an argot is a proper language with its own grammatical system. Such complete secret languages are rare because the speakers usually have some public language in common, on which the argot

1190-489: The vocabulary associated with such registers. Unlike dialects, which are used by particular speech communities and associated with geographical settings or social groupings, registers are associated with particular communicative situations, purposes, or levels of formality, and can constitute divisions within a single regional lect or standardized variety. Dialect and register may thus be thought of as different dimensions of linguistic variation . For example, Trudgill suggests

1225-529: Was often described as 'great cant'" or "crosstalk"). In Scotland, two unrelated creole languages are termed cant . Scottish Cant (a mixed language, primarily Scots and Romani with Scottish Gaelic influences) is spoken by lowland Roma groups. Highland Traveller's Cant (or Beurla Reagaird ) is a Gaelic -based cant of the Indigenous Highland Traveller population. The cants are mutually unintelligible. The word has also been used as

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