Linguistics Exam 3 questions with
correct answers
What is sociolinguistics concerned with? - correct answer ✔✔ (a) What people do
(b) What people think they do
(c) What people say they do
What is the term for "what people do"? - correct answer ✔✔ linguistic practice
What is the term for what people think and say they do - correct answer ✔✔ linguistic ideology
Speech community - correct answer ✔✔ everyone belongs to overlapping speech
communities based on such factors as geography, age, occupation, ethnicity, family
networks, and others.
John Gumperz's idea of speech community - correct answer ✔✔ - a social group which may be
either monolingual or multilingual
-held together by frequency of social interaction patterns
- set off from the surrounding areas by weaknesses in the lines of communication
-consist of small groups bound together by face-to-face contact or may cover larger regions,
depending on the level of abstraction we wish to achieve.
Social Network - correct answer ✔✔ A series of social relationships that links a person directly
to others, and through them indirectly to still more people.
,Community of Practice - correct answer ✔✔ an aggregate of people who come together around
mutual engagement in an endeavor
ex: a softball team, students in a classroom, or a family around the dinner table
standard language
(e.g., Standard English). - correct answer ✔✔ Standard language is a matter of linguistic
ideology, and not of linguistic practice. Nobody really speaks "Standard English," they just use
their idea of Standard English as a yardstick to measure and judge their own and other people's
speech. Typically, people will say that someone conforming closely to their idea of Standard
English "has no accent" (even though everybody has SOME kind of an accent.)
Members of multilingual speech communities - correct answer ✔✔ have a linguistic repertoire
consisting of more than one language. Typically, different languages are appropriate to different
situations
Choice of language may depend on... - correct answer ✔✔ - who you are speaking to
- the setting (home? school?)
- the topic
- levels of formality, etc.
What is ecology of language - correct answer ✔✔ each language fills a different
niche/purpose/function
in multilingual speech communities
is there an ecology of language in monolingual societies? - correct answer ✔✔ yes, but more
subtle. Only slight differences
, variety - correct answer ✔✔ slight differences in vocal, pronunciation, morphology, and syntax
that go along with each niche.
Lexical Markers - correct answer ✔✔ Non-casual ritual language may be associated just with
certain subgroups as ritual becomes specialized
oOne language tends to emerge as a trade language among traders
in an altered form, distinct from the form used within the originating group (uncodified and
lacking in prestige, emerging as pidgins, creoles, mixed languages
in cases of contact with an economically developed society)
slang - correct answer ✔✔ words or expressions used in informal settings, often to indicate
membership in a particular social group
code-switching - correct answer ✔✔ different languages can be used in the same conversation
or even the same sentence, where language choice symbolizes differences in topic, attitude or
feeling
pidgins - correct answer ✔✔ arose when colonizing and colonized groups came in contact for
the fist time
creole - correct answer ✔✔ development of a pidgin into a primary local language that is
learned natively by children
what is the colonial language? - correct answer ✔✔ lexifer language
focus - correct answer ✔✔ property of a language or of a speech community
- refers to established common ground that people have for communication
- directly related to the formation and maintenance of personal, ethnic, and national identity
correct answers
What is sociolinguistics concerned with? - correct answer ✔✔ (a) What people do
(b) What people think they do
(c) What people say they do
What is the term for "what people do"? - correct answer ✔✔ linguistic practice
What is the term for what people think and say they do - correct answer ✔✔ linguistic ideology
Speech community - correct answer ✔✔ everyone belongs to overlapping speech
communities based on such factors as geography, age, occupation, ethnicity, family
networks, and others.
John Gumperz's idea of speech community - correct answer ✔✔ - a social group which may be
either monolingual or multilingual
-held together by frequency of social interaction patterns
- set off from the surrounding areas by weaknesses in the lines of communication
-consist of small groups bound together by face-to-face contact or may cover larger regions,
depending on the level of abstraction we wish to achieve.
Social Network - correct answer ✔✔ A series of social relationships that links a person directly
to others, and through them indirectly to still more people.
,Community of Practice - correct answer ✔✔ an aggregate of people who come together around
mutual engagement in an endeavor
ex: a softball team, students in a classroom, or a family around the dinner table
standard language
(e.g., Standard English). - correct answer ✔✔ Standard language is a matter of linguistic
ideology, and not of linguistic practice. Nobody really speaks "Standard English," they just use
their idea of Standard English as a yardstick to measure and judge their own and other people's
speech. Typically, people will say that someone conforming closely to their idea of Standard
English "has no accent" (even though everybody has SOME kind of an accent.)
Members of multilingual speech communities - correct answer ✔✔ have a linguistic repertoire
consisting of more than one language. Typically, different languages are appropriate to different
situations
Choice of language may depend on... - correct answer ✔✔ - who you are speaking to
- the setting (home? school?)
- the topic
- levels of formality, etc.
What is ecology of language - correct answer ✔✔ each language fills a different
niche/purpose/function
in multilingual speech communities
is there an ecology of language in monolingual societies? - correct answer ✔✔ yes, but more
subtle. Only slight differences
, variety - correct answer ✔✔ slight differences in vocal, pronunciation, morphology, and syntax
that go along with each niche.
Lexical Markers - correct answer ✔✔ Non-casual ritual language may be associated just with
certain subgroups as ritual becomes specialized
oOne language tends to emerge as a trade language among traders
in an altered form, distinct from the form used within the originating group (uncodified and
lacking in prestige, emerging as pidgins, creoles, mixed languages
in cases of contact with an economically developed society)
slang - correct answer ✔✔ words or expressions used in informal settings, often to indicate
membership in a particular social group
code-switching - correct answer ✔✔ different languages can be used in the same conversation
or even the same sentence, where language choice symbolizes differences in topic, attitude or
feeling
pidgins - correct answer ✔✔ arose when colonizing and colonized groups came in contact for
the fist time
creole - correct answer ✔✔ development of a pidgin into a primary local language that is
learned natively by children
what is the colonial language? - correct answer ✔✔ lexifer language
focus - correct answer ✔✔ property of a language or of a speech community
- refers to established common ground that people have for communication
- directly related to the formation and maintenance of personal, ethnic, and national identity
