Re: prestige dialects Re: Why is Hindi perceived as being more refined than Punjabi?


Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> Seán O'Leathlóbhair wrote:
> >
> > Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> > > Brablo wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Brilliant answer! Thanks for your time and dedication to enlightening
> > > > us all!
> > > >
> > > > An analogy would be why Southern Dialect English (spoken in Alabama,
> > > > for example) is perceived as being less refined than Washington DC
> > > > English.
> > >
> > > What do you mean by "Washington DC English"?
> > > --
> > > Peter T. Daniels grammatim@xxxxxxx
> >
> > I would guess that it was an attempt to indicate a prestige AmE
> > dialect. In many countries, the dialect of educated speakers from the
> > capital is, or is close to, the most prestigious dialect. The writer
> > may have supposed that this applies to the US. Can you suggest a
> > convenient short label for the most prestigious AmE dialect(s)?
>
> "General American." I.e., "accentless" American. Americans recognize
> varieties as regional, not social.

I didn't realise that "General American" was regarded as a prestige
dialect. Over here, "General English / British" would be an unlikely
name for a prestige dialect. "General" and "prestige" are more likely
to be antonyms than synonyms. Consider cars, are "general" cars and
"prestige" cars the same?

Is there really no dialect snobbery in the US?

> The variety heard in the speech of such as Katharine Hepburn, William F.
> Buckley, Jr., Nelson Rockefeller, George Plimpton, Jacqueline Kennedy
> Onassis, and (until recently; she may have been working at suppressing
> it since she has started making public appearances) Caroline Kennedy
> Schlossberg is the dialect of arguably the "most prestigious" Americans,
> i.e. the wealthiest old-money families, but it's definitely not a
> prestigious dialect; it's apt to be either unrecognized or mocked.
>
> > We have had a similar discussion on BrE before. Many use RP but some,
> > such as you, reserve this for a very small and rather artificial
> > dialect. "The Queen's English" used to be a popular term but seems to
> > have fallen out of favour. "BBC English" is a moderately good term but
> > not as clear as it used to be since there is much more dialect
> > variation among BBC presenters than there used to be.
> >
> > Note, there is no intended suggestion that "prestige dialect" is a
> > linguistic concept.
>
> It certainly is one!

Do you mean that linguists specify what are and aren't prestige
dialects? That would surprise me.

Or do you just mean that since, for non-linguistic reasons, some
dialects are considered more prestigious than others, linguists study
the phenomenon? That I would expect.

> --
> Peter T. Daniels grammatim@xxxxxxx

--
Seán O'Leathlóbhair

.

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