File 10.0-10.4: Language variation (F)

Question 1

Internal variation

Answer 1

within a single language, there are different ways of expressing the same meaning

Question 2

Language variation

Answer 2

The term language variety is used by linguists as a cover term to refer to any form of language characterized by systematic features

Question 3

Idiolect

Answer 3

Every native speaker speaks his own idiolect, which differs systematically from the idiolects of other native speakers.
The language variety of an individual speaker

Question 4

Sociolinguistics

Answer 4

The study of the relationship between these language varieties and social structure as well as the interrelationships among different language varieties

Question 5

Dialect

Answer 5

a particular form of a language that is peculiar to a specific region or social group.

Question 6

Accent

Answer 6

the manner in which people speak and the way words are pronounced in different parts of the world

Question 7

Speech community

Answer 7

A group of people speaking the same dialect

Question 8

Extralinguistic factors

Answer 8

factors not based in linguistic structure, such as region, socioeconomic status, age, gender, and ethnicity

Question 9

Communicative isolation

Answer 9

coherent speech community relatively isolated from speakers outside of that community

Question 10

Mutual intelligibility

Answer 10

If speakers of one language variety can understand speakers of another language variety, and vice versa, we say that these varieties are mutually intelligible and therefore they are dialects of the same language

Question 11

Dialect continuum

Answer 11

This is a situation where, in a large number of geographically contiguous dialects, each dialect is closely related to the next, but the dialects at either end of the continuum (scale) are mutually unintelligible.

Question 12

Jargon

Answer 12

also called technical language, is a language variety that differs only in lexical items

Question 13

Slang

Answer 13

has to do more with stylistic choices in vocabulary than with systematic lexical differences between varietie

2 types:

• common slang
• in-group slang

Question 14

Common slang

Answer 14

The nearly neutral everyday language that most people consider just a little too informal for letters of application and the like is known as common slang. This includes words like fridge for refrigerator or TV for television

Question 15

In-group slang

Answer 15

a type of slang that is associated with a particular group at a particular time

Question 16

Standard dialect

Answer 16

used by political leaders, the media, and speakers from higher socioeconomic classes. It is also generally the variety taught in schools and to non-native speakers in language classes. Every language has at least one standard dialect, which serves as the primary means of communication across dialects.

Question 17

Nonstandard dialect

Answer 17

All other dialects

Question 18

Prestige

Answer 18

Socially speaking, the standard dialect is the dialect of prestige and power.

Question 19

Prescriptive standard

Answer 19

the standard by which people often make judgments of “right” and “wrong”

Question 20

Hypercorrection

Answer 20

an attempt to be overly “correct” resulting in the production of language different from the standard (“between Harlan and I” instead of “between Harlan and me”)

Question 21

Bidialectal

Answer 21

being capable of speaking two dialects

Question 22

Overt prestige

Answer 22

Positive value assigned to language forms based on the value of the form in larger society

Question 23

Covert prestige

Answer 23

In this case, the desire to “belong” to or associate oneself with a particular group often becomes the overriding factor.

Question 24

Non-rhotic

Answer 24

A language variety in which sequences of vowel-/r/-consonant or vowel-/r/-word boundary are not permitted to occur.

Question 25

Rhotic

Answer 25

A language variety in which sequences of vowel-/r/-consonant or vowel-/r/-word boundary are permitted to occur.

Question 26

Regional dialect

Answer 26

Variety of language defined by region or geography.

Question 27

Social dialect

Answer 27

Variety of a language defined by social factors such as age, religion, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status

Question 28

Regional variation

Answer 28

Same as regional dialect: Variety of language defined by region or geography.

Question 29

dialectologists

Answer 29

A person who studies Regional Dialects and Regional Variation

Question 30

Isogloss

Answer 30

A line drawn on a dialect map marking the boundary of an area where a particular linguistic feature is found.

Question 31

Bundle of isoglosses

Answer 31

A set of isoglosses surrounding the same geographic region or distinguishing the same group of speakers, marking a particular language variety.

Question 32

Northern Cities Shift

Answer 32

The systematic rotation of the vowel space found in speakers in the northern region of the United States.

Question 33

double modal

Answer 33

The use of two modals in a single verb phrase, as in might could or might should

Question 34

A-prefixing

Answer 34

The process of attaching the prefix a- to the beginning of certain verbs in English, as in a-running.

Question 35

Multiple negation

Answer 35

The process of using more than one marker of negation

Question 36

/l/-vocalization

Answer 36

The process of pronouncing syllable-final /l/ as a vowel or a glide.

Question 37

Near merger

Answer 37

When two sounds have become so phonetically close to one other that observers claim they are merged and even their speakers have trouble perceiving the distinction.

Question 38

Near-homophones

Answer 38

Words that are sometimes pronounced the same, but sometimes are pronounced differently; often the result of a near merger.

Question 39

Communities of practice

Answer 39

an aggregate of people who come together around mutual engagement in an endeavor

Question 40

Copula absence

Answer 40

The absence of inflected present-tense forms of the verb to be in sentences for which Standard American English would use an inflected form.

Question 41

Habitual

Answer 41

The use of an uninflected form of the verb to be to indicate that a state or activity is habitual.

Question 42

Emblematic language

Answer 42

A particular language variety used to refer symbolically to a particular cultural heritage or identity.

Question 43

Topicalization

Answer 43

A syntactic process by which (in English) a syntactic constituent occurs at the beginning of a sentence in order to highlight the topic under discussion.