Sociolinguistics

Question 1

Principles of accountability

Answer 1

The idea that a sociolinguistic study should investigate all possible variants of a variable.

Question 2

Observer’s paradox

Answer 2

A situation in which the phenomenon being observed is influenced by the presence of the observer.

Question 3

Social network theory

Answer 3

The structure of a particular speech community. According to Milroy, the social network is composed of a “web of ties” between individuals.

Question 4

Variationist sociolinguistics

Answer 4

Studies social variation in dialects and examines how this variation is highly structured.

Question 5

Sociolinguistics

Answer 5

The study of the relationship between language and society.

Question 6

Vernacular

Answer 6

Informal, colloquial, every day speech.

Question 7

Chi-squared test

Answer 7

Measures the statistical significance of the observed frequency to that of the expected one.

Question 8

Language competence

Answer 8

Mental knowledge of the speaker: Ideal speaker-listener, knows language perfectly, unaffected by distractions and errors.

Question 9

Idiotikon

Answer 9

A dictionary of a dialect or minority language, especially pertaining to a small area.

Question 10

Dialectometry

Answer 10

Quantitative method for the measurement and cartographic representation of dialect similarity and difference.

Question 11

Georg Wenker

Answer 11

A German linguist who began documenting German dialect geography in the late nineteenth century.

Question 12

William Labov

Answer 12

An American linguist, regarded as the founder of the discipline of variationist sociolinguistics.

Question 13

Isogloss

Answer 13

A line representing the geographical extent of a particular linguistic feature.

Question 14

Data collection: indirect method

Answer 14

Surveys sent to informants. Less accurate but more data.

Question 15

Social stratification

Answer 15

A system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy.

Question 16

Grammatical gender

Answer 16

System of classifying word types, such as nouns, into feminine and masculine categories.

Question 17

Apparent time hypothesis

Answer 17

That most features of language are acquired during childhood and remain relatively unchanged throughout an individual’s lifetime once past a certain age.

Question 18

Folk linguistics

Answer 18

Knowledge/attitudes towards language and linguistic use, which often consist of popularly held ideas.

Question 19

Language performance

Answer 19

The actual use of language in concrete situations. Focuses more on production and comprehension.

Question 20

Data collection: direct method

Answer 20

Survey/questionnaire administered by fieldworker. More accurate but danger of bias.

Question 21

Message

Answer 21

A proposition that can be communicated

Question 22

Code

Answer 22

A system for relating signs and meanings

Question 23

Language

Answer 23

A type of code in which messages can be transmitted.

Question 24

Information

Answer 24

A very simple code that can be used to encode all possible codes

Question 25

Linguistic sociology

Answer 25

The study of aspects of society as they are manifest through language use.

Question 26

Quotative

Answer 26

An expression that introduces indirect speech. "Be like"

Question 27

Philology

Answer 27

Branch of knowledge that deals with the structure, historical development, and relationships of a language or languages.

Question 28

Langue

Answer 28

The system of abstract rules governing the ways in which units of meaning can be organized.

Question 29

Parole

Answer 29

The speech of the individual.

Question 30

Linguistic relativity

Answer 30

Belief that the structure of a language affects its speakers' world view or cognition.

Question 31

Standardization

Answer 31

Process by which conventional forms of a language are established and maintained.

Question 32

Codification

Answer 32

Process of standardizing and developing a norm for a language.

Question 33

Historicity

Answer 33

The variety of language that is known or believed to be the result of normal development over time. Ethnic or national tradition.

Question 34

Vitality

Answer 34

Use of the variety by a sufficiently large speech community.

Question 35

Autonomy

Answer 35

A variety must be perceived as sufficiently different from other languages.

Question 36

Reduction

Answer 36

A variety may be considered a sub-variety of some | other variety.

Question 37

Variety

Answer 37

Set of linguistic items with a similar distribution, geographically or socially.

Question 38

Dialect

Answer 38

Form of a language which is particular to a specific region or social group.

Question 39

Register

Answer 39

A variety of a language used for a particular social setting or context.

Question 40

Dialectology

Answer 40

Branch of linguistics concerned with the study of dialects.

Question 41

Rhotacism

Answer 41

Inability to pronounce or difficulty in pronouncing the sound r.

Question 42

Sample

Answer 42

A part of a whole that can show what the rest is like.

Question 43

Representativeness

Answer 43

How accurately does a sample group represent a larger population.

Question 44

Diglossia

Answer 44

A situation in which two distinct varieties of a language are spoken within the same speech community. Mutual intelligibility.

Question 45

Bilingualism

Answer 45

Use of two or more distinct codes in a speech community. Limited or no mutual intelligibility.

Question 46

Code-switching

Answer 46

Alternating between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation.

Question 47

Perceptual dialectology

Answer 47

The study of how non linguists perceive variation in language.