Language Variation
Task B - our answer to question 4
How realistic do you think the interpretation of the dialect is?
There is a tendency for ordinary readers to assume that dialect representations
like this are accurate representations of dialect reality. But this is
actually rather unlikely. The grammatical and lexical features will often
be reasonably accurate. We have seen already that many of the spellings
can indicate other dialects, depending on the context, and that some features
(e.g. the removal of spaces between words) do not seem to relate to any
phonetic reality at all. Molloy is consistent in her use of dialect-suggesting
features, though. Other writers are often inconsistent in their application
of the conventions they introduce.
Finally, it is instructive to note how many of the 'dialect features'
here are graphological indicators of pronunciation. This will be easier
for people who do not have knowledge of the relevant dialect to understand
than intensive use of non-standard vocabulary and grammar.
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