Identifying linguistic variables
The sentences in Example 1.14 were extracted from the archive of speech data on UK
dialects (Tagliamonte 1996-1998, 1999–2001, 2000–2001, 2001–2003):
Example 1.14
(a) I’ve got to cycle all the way back and then this afternoon I’ll be cycling back up again! You
have to keep those thoughts to yourself.
(b) She’s got a coarse tongue in her.
(c) I’ve a feeling that they don’t know.
(d) There’s a certain amount of people what just stay but there’s people who’s out for the
bank holiday.
(e) Youngsters gets far too much.
(f) Them was built for to feed everything.
(g) I don’t know her; I haven’t seen her.
(h) Eventually she come back and it all got sorted out.
(i) I went down to the market last Monday.
(j) I think it’s gonna get worse before it’ll get better.
Question 1
List three sentences that show alternation of different forms for the same function. Indicate
the sentence letter and each of the forms (i.e. variants). [3]
Question 2
List three obvious nonstandard features. [3]
Question 3
List three sentences that have only standard features. [3]
Question 4
List a sentence which has three nonstandard features in the same sentence.
Question 1:
(a) I've got to cycle all the way back and then this afternoon I'll be cycling back up again! You have to keep those thoughts to yourself.
Variants: I've got/I have got, cycling/cycle
(b) There's a certain amount of people what just stay but there's people who's out for the bank holiday.
Variants: there's/there is, what/that, who's/who is
(c) Youngsters gets far too much.
Variants: Youngsters gets/Youngsters get
Question 2:
(b) She's got a coarse tongue in her.
Nonstandard features: "she's" instead of "she has", "in her" instead of "inside her"
(d) There's a certain amount of people what just stay but there's people who's out for the bank holiday.
Nonstandard features: "there's" instead of "there is", "what" instead of "that", "who's" instead of "who is"
(f) Them was built for to feed everything.
Nonstandard features: "them" instead of "they", "was" instead of "were", "for to" instead of "to"
Question 3:
(g) I don't know her; I haven't seen her.
(i) I went down to the market last Monday.
(j) I think it's gonna get worse before it'll get better.
Question 4:
(f) Them was built for to feed everything.
Nonstandard features: "them" instead of "they", "was" instead of "were", "for to" instead of "to"
Question 1
Three sentences that show alternation of different forms for the same function are:
1. Sentence (a): "I've got to cycle all the way back and then this afternoon I'll be cycling back up again!"
Forms: "I've got" and "I'll be"
2. Sentence (d): "There's a certain amount of people what just stay but there's people who's out for the bank holiday."
Forms: "what" and "who's"
3. Sentence (j): "I think it's gonna get worse before it'll get better."
Forms: "it's gonna" and "it'll"
Question 2
Three obvious nonstandard features are:
1. Sentence (b): "She's got a coarse tongue in her."
Nonstandard feature: "a coarse tongue in her" (instead of "a coarse tongue")
2. Sentence (e): "Youngsters gets far too much."
Nonstandard feature: "Youngsters gets" (instead of "Youngsters get")
3. Sentence (f): "Them was built for to feed everything."
Nonstandard feature: "Them was" (instead of "They were")
Question 3
Three sentences that have only standard features are:
1. Sentence (c): "I've a feeling that they don't know."
2. Sentence (g): "I don't know her; I haven't seen her."
3. Sentence (i): "I went down to the market last Monday."
Question 4
A sentence that has three nonstandard features in the same sentence is:
Sentence (d): "There's a certain amount of people what just stay but there's people who's out for the bank holiday."
Nonstandard features:
1. "a certain amount of people" (instead of "a certain number of people")
2. "what" (instead of "who")
3. "who's out" (instead of "who are out")