Standard and Non-Standard Dialects
To find out how people make use of both standard and non-standard dialects, I made a decision to observe the conversation between a teacher of English and a student. The teacher uses a standard dialect that is supported by institutions and characterized by proper grammar and vocabulary. The student cannot support this conversation on the necessary level, and his non-standard dialect distinguished him considerably. It was obvious that the student faced some challenges to comprehend the essence of the teacher’s message and needs some time to realize what was required. As the conversation was taking place in class, I could easily notice all the misconceptions appeared during it. Apart from dialect divergence, student was using an easier vocabulary whereas a teacher resorted to the usage of terms. For example, in a student’s vocabulary, I often came across of such common words as “to go” and “to have”. However, in general, the use of different dialect does not prevent the conversation, and both speakers have all chances to continue conversation and to achieve the desirable results.
Speech Communities and Communities of Practice
During the second observation, it was necessary to focus on speech communities and communities of practice. I chose to observe one of the online forums where the past concert of rock group was discussed and a group of students who had to prepare a presentation for the next class. Each member has it own vision of the problem and suggest certain ideas by means of the chosen vocabulary; however, the other members of these groups comprehend these ideas and develop them in their own ways to find out the best decision. While following the online conversation I encountered specific vocabulary, which is typical of the web sites only. For instance, there are a lot of verbs like “e-mail”, “google”. Besides, some common words acquired the new meaning when applying them for online communication. But still I find out that conversation between speech community within an Internet forum and the community in practice that deal with the required presentation can hardly possible because of varieties in vocabulary and style of speaking.
Perception of /r/
To evaluate the communication between people and their perception of /r/, I find it helpful to observe the conversation between a Native American and a French tourist. In fact, this kind of conversation was interesting and informative. The point is that American /r/ and French /r/ have many differences, because American /r/ acts like a vowel in most cases, and French /r/ is one of the most difficult sounds in French many people, specially strangers, pay attention to. This is why when a French tourist tried to pronounce some English words, he concentrated on /r/ pronunciation and confuses the American a lot. The conversation was observed in the street while I was crossing the road. It was apparent that a French student had difficulties in communicating and, therefore, there were a lot of misinterprets in his vocabulary. For instance, the tourist made an accent on the last syllable of the utterance that misled much a Native American. I also noticed that a French stranger used some traditional phrases, which sounded obsolescent like “How do I get to…” or “Is it within easy reach?” These standard constructions also confused much the native speaker.
Social Variation
Social variation is characterized by numerous factors, and age difference is one of them. To evaluate communication between the representatives with different social variables, communication between a college student and his uncle was chosen. As many other aspects of social life, slang and jargon are considered to be important from different perspectives. A student made use of such words like awesome, groovy, and hottie which were strange for his uncle who still prefer to use a standard dialect he used in his language. The conversation was in the shop, when my friend, a college student, was doing shopping with his uncle. Therefore, it was of informal character because my friend used a lot of simple constructions and slang vocabulary. This observation shows that elder people face certain challenges to comprehend younger people, and the youth cannot realize that such everyday words may be unknown to the others.
Regional Variation
Regional variation of English dialects is one of the most burning problems in modern world. To evaluate this variety, I get a chance to observe the communication between the citizen of Texas and New York. Their communication was strange a bit because even different pronunciation of sounds /t/, /l/, and /r/ differentiate these people. This conversation was heard in the airport when the Texas resident asked the New York citizen about the timetable. A woman from Texas used different accent in her sentences that confused a New Yorker a lot. In particular, she asked about the latest “night flight” from New York to Texas that sounded like nut flight, as Texas accent presupposed the usage of monophthong [a]. I found this case rather interesting and embarrassing, as New York citizen was at a loss when having heard that.