Linguistics:AnIntroduction

ByWilliamB.McGregor

Test:7Sociolinguistics:LanguageinSocialContext

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1)Thetermaccentisusedofdialectalvarietiesthatdifferjustingrammar.

True
False

2)Adialectcontinuumisachainofmutuallyintelligibledialectsofalanguage.

True
False

3) Dialectal variation refers to variation in linguistic forms associated primarily with which of the
followingphenomena?

socialgroups
illiteratespeakers
geographicalregions
ruralregions
differentindividuals

4)Whichofthefollowingbestdescribesthetermisogloss?

boundaryofaregioninwhichasingledialectisspoken
boundaryofaregionwhereaparticularfeatureofalanguageisfound
boundaryofregionwhereasinglelanguageisspoken
noneoftheprevious

5)Dialectalvariationcanbeinanyaspectofalanguageinphonetics,phonology,morphology,
syntax,semantics,orlexicon.

True
False

6)DidLabov'sstudyofthespeechofNewYorkersrevealthatdifferentsocialgroupsusedifferent
allophonesofthevoicelessdentalfricativephoneme?

Yes
No
7) Which of the following characteristics is not likely to correlate with systematic variation in a
language?

age
religion
sex
ethnicity
handedness

8)Whichofthefollowingvarietiesisnotaregister?

BritishEnglish
medicalEnglish
anantilanguage
legalese
scientificDanish

9)Thechoiceoflanguagebyspeakersinabilingualcommunityisnotnormallycompletelyrandom.

True
False

10)Onefactorthatcaninfluencethechoiceoflanguageinabilingualsituationisthedomainofthe
speechinteraction.

True
False

11)Languagechioceinbilingualspeechcommunitiescanusuallybeexplainedcompletelybythe
domainofthespeechinteraction.

True
False

12)Codeswitchingreferstowhichofthefollowingphenomena:

Switchingfromwrittentospokencodes
Changinglanguagesindifferentdomains
Changinglanguageswithinasinglediscourse

13)Inabilingualcommunitychoiceofwhichofthefollowinglanguagevarietiesismostlikelytobe
usedtoindicatesolidarityamongmembersofthecommunity?

AgloballanguagelikeEnglish
Anationallanguage
Aregionallanguageordialect
Alocallanguageorlanguagevariety

14)Codeswitchingisabadhabit,andshouldberemediedviaeducationandtraining.

True
False
15)Languageshiftisaslowprocess,extendingovercenturies.

True
False

16)Aslanguagesbecomeobsolescenttheyoftenbecomestructurallylesscomplex.

True
False

17)Whichofthefollowingisnotacauseoflanguageshift?

Inadequaciesinthegrammarorlexiconofoneofthelanguages
Physicalseparationofthespeakers
Attitudestothelanguagesinuseinthecommunity
Symbolicvalueassociatedwiththelanguages
Separationofchildrenfromadultsinthecommunity

18)Whichofthefollowingisnottrue?

Throughouthumanhistorylanguageshavealwaysbecomeendangeredanddied.
Many languages of Australia and the Americas have become endangered in post
colonialtimes.
Therearenoattestedcasesofsuccessfullanguagerevival.
If the present rate of language death and endangerment continues a considerable
numberoftheworld'slanguageswilldieinthenextcentury.
Speakers of many though not all endangered languages are concerned about
thefateoftheirlanguage.

19)MandarinChineseandCantonesearedialectsofChinese.

True
False

20)Thesituationinwhichinterlocutorsadoptfeaturesofoneanother'sspeechiscalled:

affiliation
idiolectalvariation
accommodation
convergence
disaffiliation

21)ReductionofwordfinalconsonantclustersisadefiningfeatureofAfricanAmericanVernacular
English.

True
False

22)Whatsortofspeechvarietywouldavarietyofalanguageusedwhenspeakingtoanimalsbe?

adialect
aregister
asecretvariety
 arespectvariety
adistinctlanguage

23)Useofasecondpersonpluralpronounforasingleaddresseeisinmanylanguagesassociated
withwhichofthefollowing:

intimacy
respectfulness
disrespect
secretvarietiesorantilanguages
deceptionorlying

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Updated:Feb.11,2009

2009Continuum