Chapter 14: Sociolinguistics

Question 1

Sociolinguistics

Answer 1

The study of the relationship between society and language

Question 2

Speech Community

Answer 2

A group of people who share sociolinguistic norms

Question 3

Sociolinguistic Norms

Answer 3

Social conventions about language use

Question 4

Salient Features/Social Markers

Answer 4

Noticeable features of language recognized in a community as having a specific social meaning

Question 5

Sociolinguistic Indicators

Answer 5

Discrete characteristics of a language that can be shown by large-scale studies

Question 6

Standard Variety

Answer 6

The language taught in school, used in formal writing/situations (‘pure’ form of the language)

Question 7

Non-Standard Variety

Answer 7

All informal dialects (seen as broken and impermanent)

Question 8

Slang

Answer 8

New words in a language, or old words given new meanings

Question 9

Variationist Sociolinguistics

Answer 9

Branch of linguistics that studies the connections between language varieties

Question 10

Structured Variation

Answer 10

Language variation that is related (by age, sex, education, etc.)

Question 11

Variable

Answer 11

A word with several pronunciations

E.g. ‘brother’

Question 12

Dialectology

Answer 12

The study of regional differences in language

Question 13

NORMs

Answer 13

Non-mobile Older Rural Males

Believed to have the most traditional speech

Question 14

Isogloss

Answer 14

A line on a map dividing dialect regions

Question 15

Dialect Levelling

Answer 15

Dialect differences decrease with frequent interaction

Question 16

Apparent Time Hypothesis

Answer 16

Historical language change is associated with variation beginning in childhood that remains until adulthood
E.g. pronouncing the h in whale

Question 17

Physical Isolation

Answer 17

Isolation from everyone due to geography

Question 18

Linguistic Isolation

Answer 18

Isolation from speakers of the same language

Question 19

Social Isolation

Answer 19

Isolation due to differences in conventions/attitudes

Question 20

Code-Switching

Answer 20

Phenomenon when people who share more than one language get together and use 2+ languages to communicate

Question 21

Situational Code-Switching

Answer 21

Using different languages for different situations

Question 22

Lexical Gap Theory

Answer 22

Theory that people use code-switching because they cannot think of the correct word in one language

Question 23

Matrix Language

Answer 23

A sentence’s predominant language

Question 24

Nonce Borrowing

Answer 24

Words from another language that are inserted into the matrix language

Question 25

Lingua Franca

Answer 25

A language used for the primary purpose of communicating across speech communities

Question 26

Pidgin

Answer 26

A language in its most simplified form

Has a small vocabulary and simple grammar

Question 27

Creole

Answer 27

A pidgin that becomes a community’s main language

Question 28

Relexification Hypothesis

Answer 28

The theory that creoles have developed from the same template, just with different words

Question 29

Distinctions Within a Community are Caused by

Answer 29

Gender, class, ethnicity, situation

Question 30

Community of Practice

Answer 30

A group of people who engage in a shared activity can develop shared language practices
E.g. Jocks, burnouts, nerbs

Question 31

High Involvement in a conversation leads to

Answer 31

Overlapping turns