Variation within the community

Within a speech-community variation occurs along three dimensions: social, temporal and geographical.

Any social differentiation which sets up 'barriers' in society between its members can create linguistic variation. Social distance resulting from class-ordering of its members, or education, may mean greater recognition and prestige being given to certain varieties of speech. In many societies the speech of men and women differs whilst in others race and religion can form barriers as well. This kind of variation is often studied by sociolinguists.

Language itself is never static and linguistic variation may be correlated with the ages of speakers. Several studies have shown incipient differences. In a well-known study of a community in Switzerland which looked at the language of three age-groups 'drift by generations' was observed. The changes 'are more or less latent in the first generation, appear irregularly in the second, and expand in triumph in the third'.⁵

Linguistic changes, however gradual, over a long period of time result in different sound patterns, in different grammatical forms and in differences of vocabulary. But these changes are not uniform over all areas where the language is spoken, hence geographical variations arise. In some areas older forms are retained, in others innovations have been accepted and the changes permeate through the whole language structure of a speaker. In many areas, for example, speech sounds exist which are not found in the speech of other areas. Such sounds, participating in the patterning of the sound system of that area, establish it as a particular kind and thus set it apart from areas where these sounds do not occur at all. Other speech sounds, although in common use over a wide territorial area, may be found in particular combinations in some examples of speech and in different combinations in other examples. These patternings again can be set apart and identified as separate 'varieties,.⁶ Grammatical and syntactical forms, and items of vocabulary, may be isolated also in this way and can be related to known geographical areas. It is these areal varieties and their structural patterning and relationship to each other that are studied by dialectologists.

Areal differences arise because the speakers of a language through the long stages of its history, in their various communities, cannot possibly maintain close and frequent contact with each other. Certain areas -out of the way valleys for example -find themselves isolated from the mainstream of communications. A range of mountains can create a distinct barrier between communities. Political domination and religious boundaries have kept people in close contact whilst at the same time separating them from other areas. At a more local level, centres of influence for marketing produce, shopping, etc. -have drawn people from a particular hinterland and have spread their influence in certain directions whilst having little or no effect on other communities. Factors such as these have influenced the language patterns and a number of linguists have 'pointed out from different points of view that the closer the identifications of speakers the greater the range of shared interests and the more probable that tile speech will take a specific form. The range of syntactic alternation is likely to be reduced and the lexis to be drawn from a narrow range ... In these relationships the intent of the other person can be taken for granted as the speech is played out against a back-drop of common assumptions, common history, common interests. ⁷

5. Entwistle, W.J. Aspects of Language; London: Faber and Faber; 1953; p.35
6. Weinreich, U. 'Is a structural dialectology possible?' in Word: Journal of the Linguistic Circle of New York, Vol.10; 1954; p.389
7. Bernstein, B. 'Social class, language and socialization' in Giglioli, P.P. (Ed.) Language and Social Context; Harmondsworth: Penguin Books; 1972; p.165