http://linguistica.tribe.net/thread/568337e4-d00b-4a1e-9270-a02e568f7a49?format=rss Tribe.net. Local Connections http://linguistica.tribe.net/thread/568337e4-d00b-4a1e-9270-a02e568f7a49#8cf9742f-e72d-4922-a137-167d3ee14541 I don't know if this counts as an idiolect thing, but sometimes a really small community can develop speech patterns that show identity with that community-a "microlect", if you will. I'm sure we could all find this in action within our immediate families and groups of friends, but where I first noticed it in "linguistics" terms was when I was living in a student co-op in Berkeley. The house members were all really close and spent a lot of time together, and we definitely had developed a distinct code--some word-usages that were different from "outsiders", some codes of vocal pitch/intonation that could convey a lot. I guess a lot of this stuff was just "in-jokes" and references that had become so ingrained that just single words or vocal cues could invoke the entire reference. I think situtations like this could actually have a lot to teach us about how language change happens on a large scale. Mon, 18 Apr 2005 02:10:34 GMT http://linguistica.tribe.net/thread/568337e4-d00b-4a1e-9270-a02e568f7a49#8cf9742f-e72d-4922-a137-167d3ee14541 Jenny Jo 2005-04-18T02:10:34Z http://linguistica.tribe.net/thread/568337e4-d00b-4a1e-9270-a02e568f7a49#ef735441-d894-4260-9dda-0a6d5d676626 Idiolects were never given much attention back in my day - and I believe the thinking was that, by definition, idiolects would be difficult to characterize because they didn't systematically match existing patterns of speech. Essentially, as soon as there was a pattern detected, their "idiolecticity" disappeared - and they became dialects or sociolects. The constant work towards language universals - whether grammars or sound inventories or what have you - probably would've made it very difficult to 'swim upstream' towards the opposite of these universals. Sun, 17 Apr 2005 13:05:16 GMT http://linguistica.tribe.net/thread/568337e4-d00b-4a1e-9270-a02e568f7a49#ef735441-d894-4260-9dda-0a6d5d676626 Richard 2005-04-17T13:05:16Z http://linguistica.tribe.net/thread/568337e4-d00b-4a1e-9270-a02e568f7a49#b4e993a0-a50b-421f-a75e-221596c0709f this prolly won't help you, but one thing i found when i was studying Japanese was that styles common to Japanese were creeping into my English... e.g.,in English i'd say things like, "I wanna eat pizza but..." in the spirit of "Pizza o tabetai kedo..." (if i'm remembering my Japanese verb form correctly...it's been some years) seems to me idiolect is very hard to study systematically, cuz there's so much variation due to individual experience/social groups/idiosyncracies...a lotta variability is averaged out (or assumed away) when looking at more macro-level stuff... Sun, 17 Apr 2005 09:48:48 GMT http://linguistica.tribe.net/thread/568337e4-d00b-4a1e-9270-a02e568f7a49#b4e993a0-a50b-421f-a75e-221596c0709f Shawn 2005-04-17T09:48:48Z http://linguistica.tribe.net/thread/568337e4-d00b-4a1e-9270-a02e568f7a49#8dd13e14-8e34-4dd7-bd72-18615aee1642 I never heard the term "idiolect" until just now, so I looked it up through Google. I didn't know there was a term for an individual's unique linguistic style. Thanks for turning me on to the "idiolect" concept. Sun, 20 Mar 2005 20:21:17 GMT http://linguistica.tribe.net/thread/568337e4-d00b-4a1e-9270-a02e568f7a49#8dd13e14-8e34-4dd7-bd72-18615aee1642 Matt 2005-03-20T20:21:17Z http://linguistica.tribe.net/thread/568337e4-d00b-4a1e-9270-a02e568f7a49#8d33f217-51bf-4271-bffe-b32ff9058be6 I am wondering if any of you have done research on idiolects. Have you read any insightful papers or theories on the subject? Mon, 14 Mar 2005 17:22:23 GMT http://linguistica.tribe.net/thread/568337e4-d00b-4a1e-9270-a02e568f7a49#8d33f217-51bf-4271-bffe-b32ff9058be6 chain 2005-03-14T17:22:23Z