Introduction to A LINGUISTICS ATLAS OF THE PHILIPPINES (1980. Curtis D.

McFarland)

Language / WIKA Dialect / Diyalekto Idiolect / Idyolek

Bloomfield concept of mutual intelligibility Every language changes at a rate which leaves contemporary persons free to communicate without disturbances. Among persons, linguistic change is uniform in ratio with the amount of communication between them.

If linguistic change results in groups between which communication is disturbed, these groups speak dialects of the language.

If linguistic change results in groups of persons between which communication is impossible, these groups speak related languages.

LANGUAGE CHANGE / Pagbabago ng wika How does language change? Why does language change? Paano nagbabago ang isang wika? Bakit nagbabago ang wika? Result of deterioration ( due to lack of education or carelessness) Corruption (contact with other languages) Language is so vast that no one ever learns his language completely linguistic innovation aspects of language (sounds, words, grammatical rules) idiolects - - tend o be similar to each other in proportion to the amount of communication between the various speakers. American English southerners vs. northerner (yankee) If communication is very easy such as in coastal plains, along rivers, on the shores of easily navigated seas, the communities of a very large area may maintain a high level of similarity in their speech varieties e.g. large Philippine languages are spoken over extensive areas. If communication is difficult, such as in mountainous areas, e.g. northern Luzon, even neighboring communities may have low levels of contact and thus diversify very rapidly.

Speech habits dialects Level of communication in two communities - -- - high - --- drop Differences between the 2 speech varieties become large enough to be noticeable, we now have dialectal differences or different dialects.

Dialectal differences between 2 communities (1) Dialectal variation within a geographical area (2) Discrete dialects (3) Social dialects

Dialects becoming languages *If speakers of 2 speech varieties can communicate easily with each other and observe no noticeable differences between their respective speech, then the 2 speech varieties are considered TO BE PART OF THE SAME DIALECT, and of course, the SAME LANGUAGE.

*If speakers of 2 speech varieties can observe noticeable differences between their respective speech, but can nonetheless communicate with each other, perhaps with difficulty dialectal differences between the 2 speech varieties, and considered DISCRETE DIALECTS; nonetheless part of same language.

*If speakers of 2 speech varieties cannot communicate with each other at all, then the 2 speech varieties are considered to BELONG TO DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.