Review questions for chapter 1 language in society for Teacher of English

Dialectal variation includes the following dialects: + Geographical/ regional regional differences + Temporal differences in different periods of time.. social classes Question 5: Social

Review Questions for Chapter 1 Question 1: What is meant by the term “Language Variation”?

, within the scope of language description for language teaching in general and for TEFL in particular, language variation can refer to the differences in phonology, grammar, or the lexical choices within one language.

Question 2: What are the two main categories of language variation?

Language variation can fall under two major groups:

- variation according to users (dialectal variation – dialect) and

- variation according to use (diatypical variation – diatype)

Question 3: What are the variables in the category of dialectal variation?

Dialectal variation includes the following dialects:

+ Geographical/ regional (regional differences)

+ Temporal (differences in different periods of time).

+ Social (differences between people from different social classes).

+ Standard/ non-standard (standard/ non-standard differences)

+ Idiolect (differences between individuals)

Question 4: Geographical dialect indicates the linguistic differences between or among?

A people B regions C time periods D social classes

Question 5: Social dialect indicates the linguistic differences between or among?

A people B regions C time periods D social classes

Question 6: Temporal dialect indicates the linguistic differences between or among?

A people B regions C time periods D social classes

Question 7: Idiolect indicates the linguistic differences between or among?

A people B regions C time periods D social classes

Question 8: The interaction of which variables of situation results in diatypical variation?

Diatypical variation results from the interaction between the following 3 variables

of situation:

+ Field of discourse (topics about which language is used to talk)

+ Mode of discourse (relationships between the language user and the mode of delivery)

+ Tenor of discourse (the relationships between the speaker/ writer and the listener/ reader)

Question 12: What are some causes of differences in the way people speak?

State of health, size age, gender, personality, emotional state, personal idiosyncraoisies, Question 13: How can the dialects of a single language be defined?

Defined as mutually intelligible forms of a language that differ in systematic way from each other

Question 14: True or false?

It is very difficult to decide whether the systematic differences between two speech communities

reflect two dialects or two different languages TRUE

Question 15: What happens when dialects become mutually unintelligible?

Become a different language

Question 16: How does dialectal diversity develop?

When people are seperated from each other geographically and socially.

Question 17: Complete the sentences:

Dialect differences tend to increase proportionately to the degree of communicative

_isolation _ between the groups.

Question 18: True or false?

Changes in the grammar do take place all at once within the speech community They take place very fast, often originating in one region and quickly spreading to others, and often taking place throughout the lives of several generations of speakers

Question 19: What is “accent”?

Question 20: Accent refers to the characteristics of speech that convey information about the

speaker's _, which may reveal in what country or what part of the country the speaker grew up or to which sociolinguistic group the speaker belongs

A dialect B personality C state of health D idiosyncrasy

Question 21: True or false?

The term accent is also used to refer to the speech of someone who speaks a language

nonnatively; for example a French person speaking English is described as having a French

accent

Question 22: Complete the sentence:

The origins of many regional dialects of American English can be traced to people who first

settled North America in the 17 th and 18 th centuries. .

Question 23: How many major dialect areas in the British colonies by the time of the American

Revolution? 3( Southern, Midland, Norhern)

Question 24: The changes in the pronunciation of which letter illustrated the development of

regional dialects in American English? The letter r

Question 25: What does the underlined word/ phrase mean?

Pioneers from all three dialect areas in the British colonies spread westward The intermingling

of their dialects “leveled" or “submerged" many of their dialectal differences.

A separation B interaction C contrary D coordination

Question 26: True or false?

The language of the regions where the new immigrants settle may thus be similarly affected by the native languages of the settlers, further adding to the varieties of American English

Question 27: Complete the sentence:

A comparison between the "r-less" dialect and other dialects illustrates _phonological

differences between dialects

Question 28: What is meant by lexical differences?

Regional dialects may in the words ppl use for the same object as well as in phonology Question 29: The concentrations defined by different word usage and varying pronunciation

among other linguistic differences, form dialect areas A line drawn on the map separating the areas is called an _

A isolability B isogon C isogloss D isograft

Question 30: True or false?

When you "cross” an isogloss, you are passing from one dialect area to another.

Question 31: The sentence “ John will eat and Mary” is considered _ungrammatical _ in most dialects of English.

Question 32: True or false?

Although regional dialects differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, and syntactic rules, they are

major( minor) differences when compared with the totality of the grammar.

Question 33: According to George Philip Karapp, what is Standard English?

Question 34: What do prescriptive grammarians, or language "purists," usually consider the

dialect used by political leaders and the upper socioeconomic classes, the dialect used for literature or printed documents, the dialect taught in the schools, as?

The correct form of a language

Question 35: True or false?

Standard American English (SAE) is an idealization Nobody speaks this dialect; and if somebody did, we would not know it, because SAE is not defined precisely

Question 36: Complete the sentence:

One dialect is _neither _ better _nor _ worse than another,

nor purer _nor _more corrupt; it is simply different.

Question 37: Why do language purists wish to stem change in language or dialect

differentiation?

Because of their false belief that some L are better than others or that change leads to corruption

Question 38: Languages and dialects have also been banned as a means of _ control.

A financial B political C social D legal

Question 39: True or false?

The majority of regional dialects of the United States are, to a great extent, free from

stigma

Question 40: There is one dialect of North American English, however, that has been a victim of

prejudicial ignorance What is it? AAE

Question 41: Some people, white and black, think they can identify someone's race by hearing

an unseen person talk, believing that different races inherently speak differently This assumption

is _.A correct B false C neither correct nor false D immoral

Question 42: What are some of the differences between AAE and SAE phonology?

R-deletion, L-deletion, Consonant Cluster Simplification, Neutralization of I and 3, Loss of interdental fricatives

Question 43: in AAE, people will pronounce “toll” and “toe” similarly or differently?

Question 44: What is the simplification rule of AAE?

Question 45: When speakers of AAE say I pass the test yesterday, they are showing an

ignorance of past and present Is it true or false?

Question 46: What are the syntactic differences between AAE and SAE?

Double negatives( he don’t know nothing) ,

Deletion of the verb ‘ be’ (SAE: he is nice, AAE: he nice)

Habitual ‘be’ ( in SAE: John is happy > John is generally happy or John is always happy; in

AAE: John be happy> John is always happy, John happy> John is happy now)

Question 47: Why do some “educators” conclude that speakers of AAE are deficient and they

use language “illogically”?

Following the lead of early "prescriptive" grammarians, some "scholars" and teachers conclude that it is illogical to say he don't know nothing because two negatives make a positive.

Since such negative constructions occur in AAE, it has been concluded by some

"educators" that speakers of AAE are deficient because they use language "illogically." Question 48: True or false?

Multiple negation is the irregular rule in many other languages of the world

Question 49: In most cases, what will happen to a verb in AAE if that verb is contracted in

SAE?

In most cases, if in Standard English the verb can be contracted, in African American English sentences it is deleted; where it can't be contracted in SAE,

it can't be deleted in AAE,

Question 50: A feature related with the verb “be” exists in AAE but never in SAE What is it?

Give examples to illustrate it

Habitual action

John be happy "John is always happy."

John happy "John is happy now."

He be late "He is habitually late." '

He late "He is late this time."

Do you be tired? "Are you generally tired?"

You tired? "Are you tired now? "

Question 51 What is a Lingua Franca?

Many areas of the world are populated by people speaking divergent languages In such areas, where groups desire social or commercial communication, one language is often used by common agreement Such a language is called a lingua franca.

Question 52 What lingua franca did French use to be?

Question 53: Hindi is the lingua franca of Pakistan True or false? (India)

Question 54: What is a pidgin?

A lingua franca is typically a language with a broad base of native speakers, likely to be used and learned by persons whose native language is in the same language family Often in history, however, ¬traders and missionaries from one part of the world have visited and attempted to communicate with people residing in another area In such cases the contact is too specialized and the cultures too widely separated for the usual kind of lingua franca to arise Instead, the two (or possibly more) groups use their native

languages as a basis for a rudimentary language of few lexical items and less complex grammatical rules Such a "marginal language" is called a pidgin.

Question 55: Where is the pidgin Tok Pisin popularly used?

Originally was called Melanesian Pidgin English It is widely used in Papua New Guinea.

Question 56: Pidgins are in some sense rudimentary, and they lack grammar True or false?

Question 57: What is the drawback of the small vocabularies of pidgins?

pidgins are not good at expressing fine distinctions of meaning Many lexical items bear a heavy semantic burden, with context being relied on to remove ambiguity Much

circumlocution and metaphorical extension is necessary.

Question 58: What are generally absent from pidgins?

Case, tense, mood, and voice are generally absent from pidgins

Question 59: One distinguishing characteristic of pidgin languages is that:

A no one learns them as native speakers.

B everyone learns them as native speakers

C someone learns them as native speakers

D almost everyone learns them as native speakers

Question 60: What is a Creole?

When a pidgin comes to be adopted by a community as its native tongue, and children learn it as a first language, that language is called a creole; the pidgin has become creolized

Question 61: The term Creole has a/an _ origin?

A English B Spanish C Portuguese D Canadian

Question 62: Creoles become fully developed languages, having more lexical items and a

broader array of grammatical distinctions than pidgins In time, they become languages as complete in every way as other languages True or False?

Question 63: What is Style or Register?

Most speakers of a language know many dialects They use one dialect when out with friends, another when on a job interview or presenting a report in class, and another when talking to their parents These "situation dialects" are called styles or registers.

Question 64: What is Slang?

One of those things that everyone can recognize but noone can define it

Question 65: The use of slang, or colloquial language, introduces many new words into the

language by recombining _old words into _new meanings.

Question 66: One generation's slang may become another generation's standard vocabulary

True or False?

Question 67: What is Jargon or Argot?

Practically every conceivable science, profession, trade, and occupation has its own set of words, some of which are considered to be "slang" and others "technical," depending on the status of the people using these "in" words Such words are sometimes caned jargon or argot.

Question 68: What is meant by the term Taboo?

Certain words in all societies are considered taboo – they are not to be used, or at least, not

in "polite company

Question 69: Fill in the blank:

Words relating to sex, sex organs, and natural bodily functions _make up a large part of the set

of taboo words of many cultures

Question 70: What is a euphemism?

A euphemism is a word or phrase that replaces a taboo word or serves to avoid

frightening or unpleasant subjects

Question 71: In English, what word can be a euphemism of “die”?

Pass away, pass on, have gone to a better place,

Question 72: What do the words like kike (for Jew), wop (for Italian), nigger or coon (for

African American), slant (for Asian), towel-head (for Middle Eastern Arab), and so forth

express? > express racist and chauvinist views of society.

Question 73: One striking fact about the asymmetry between male and female terms in many

languages is that when there are male/female pairs, the male form for the most part is

unmarked and the female term is created by adding a bound morpheme or by compounding.

Question 74: Changes in English are taking place to reflect the feminist movement and the

growing awareness on the part of both men and women that language may reflect attitudes of society and reinforce stereotypes and bias True or False?

Question 75: It is said that language is _neither good _nor evil but its use may be one

or the other 76: TRUE