Language and Characterisation by Culpeper Jonathan

Author:Culpeper, Jonathan. [Jonathan Culpeper]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781317879572
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

4.2.2 Idiolect, dialect and different media

‘Idiolect’ is usually taken to be a person’s total, individual linguistic thumbprint. For example, when my father telephones me, he never identifies himself. However, within a few words of speech, I can invariably identify him on the basis of his vocal characteristics. ‘Dialect’ is usually taken to be the linguistic thumbprint of a particular group of people (or speech community). Traditionally, the dialects that have received most attention are regional (the dialect spoken by the people of a particular geographical area) and social (the dialect spoken by the people of a particular social group). The term dialect refers to a variety of language characterised in terms of pronunciation, grammar and lexis; the term ‘accent’ can be understood to refer to a sub-set of dialect in that it refers to a variety of language characterised in terms of pronunciation only. The dialects one speaks are also part of one’s idiolect. For example, part of my father’s idiolect are the dialects of a middle-class man living in the south of England. I pointed out in section 2.4.4 that people frequently perceive others as members of social groups rather than as individuals. Dialects, then, are going to be of some importance in this chapter.1

In this chapter, I will discuss the dialectal and idiolectal features of characters in play texts, in other words, in writing posing as speech. This means that any dialectal or idiolectal features are restricted to the visual features of writing. This raises a number of issues. Consider the limitations of writing. I recognise my father on the basis of vocal characteristics such as pitch and voice quality, but these characteristics could not be rendered — certainly not precisely — in writing. (If I read ‘Hello, is it a good moment to speak?’ out of the blue, I would be clueless about the identity of the speaker.) Clearly, writers must rely on other linguistic means for characterisation in texts. Another issue is that of accent. English spelling is not up to the job of presenting different accents accurately. Consider this advertising slogan: ‘Yuvgoat taethinko’ yerinsides as well.’ When I have shown this to Malaysian students, they have neither known how to pronounce it, or what accent it is supposed to represent. The clue, in fact, is in the accompanying picture of highland spring water: the spelling reflects the accent of a Scottish speaker. This is all part of the natural, rustic image sought by the brand. Students from the United Kingdom, however, are usually able to guess the accent of the speaker before they see the picture. Clearly, they have knowledge about spelling conventions for regional accents. It is possible that some speakers may recognise tae as the written Scottish dialectal form of the preposition ‘to’. In addition, the perceived degree of deviation from spelling norms suggests that this is a highly marked regional accent. Knowledge of accents in the British Isles could produce an inference that the accent concerned was that of a Scottish speaker, since, broadly speaking, the further one is from London, the more marked the accent.

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