Revision Exercises for Sociolinguistics
I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:
1. Sociolinguistics is the sub-discipline of linguistics that studies social contexts。
2. Language as a means of social communication is a homogeneous system with a homogeneous group of speakers。
3. Language use varies from one speech community to another, from one regional group to another, from one social group to another, and even from one individual to another.
4. The goal of sociolinguistics is to explore the nature of language variation and language use among a variety of speech communities and in different social situations.
5. The linguistic markers that characterize individual social groups may serve as social markers of group membership.
6. From the sociolinguistic perspective, the term “speech variety ” can not be used to refer to standard language, vernacular language, dialect or pidgin。
7.Functional speech varieties are known as regional dialects。
8. The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is its grammar and uses of vocabulary。
9.Geographical barriers are the only source of regional variation of language。
10. A person’s social backgrounds do not exert a shaping influence on his choice of linguistic features。
11.Two speakers of the same language or dialect use their language or dialect in the same way。
12. Every speaker of a language is, in a stricter sense, a speaker of a distinct idiolect.
13. The standard language is a better language than nonstandard languages。
14. A lingua franca can only be used within a particular country for communication among groups of people with different linguistic backgrounds。
15.Pidgins are linguistically inferior to standard languages。
16. A pidgin usually reflects the influence of the higher, or dominant, language in its lexicon and that of the lower language in their phonology and occasionally syntax.
17.The major difference between a pidgin and a Creole is that the former usually has its native speakers while the latter doesn’t。
18.Bilingualism and diglossia mean the same thing。
19. The kind of name or term speakers use to call or refer to someone may indicate something of their social relationship to or personal feelings about that individual.
20.The use of euphemisms has the effect of removing derogatory overtones and the
disassociative effect as such is usually long-lasting。
II. Fill in each of the blanks below with one word which begins with the letter given:
21. The social group isolated for any given study is called the speech c________.
22. Speech v_________ refers to any distinguishable form of speech used by a speaker or group of speakers.
23. From the sociolinguistic perspective, a speech variety is no more than a d__________ variety of a language.
24. Language standardization is also called language p_______.
25. Social variation gives rise to s_________ which are subdivisible into smaller speech categories that reflect their socioeconomic, educational, occupational background, etc.
26. S_______ variation in a person’s speech or writing usually ranges on a continuum from casual or colloquial to formal or polite according to the type of communicative situation.
27. A regional dialect may gain status and become standardized as the national or o________ language of a country.
28. The standard language is a s_________, socially prestigious dialect of language.
29. Language varieties other than the standard are called nonstandard, or v_______
languages.
30. A pidgin typically lacks in i_______ morphemes.
31. Linguistic taboo reflects s_________ taboo.
32. The avoidance of using taboo language mirrors social attitudes, emotions and value judgments and has no l_________ basis.
III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:
33. _______ is concerned with the social significance of language variation and language use in different speech communities.
A. Psycholinguistics B. Sociolinguistics。
C. Historical linguistics D. General linguistics
34. The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is its _____.
A. use of words B. use of structures
C. accent 。 D. morphemes
35. ____ is speech variation according to the particular area where a speaker comes from.
A. Regional variation。 B. Language variation
C. Social variation D. Register variation
36. _______ are the major source of regional variation of language.
A. Geographical barriers 。
B. Loyalty to and confidence in one’s native speech
C. Physical discomfort and psychological resistance to change
D. Social barriers
37. _________ means that certain authorities, such as the government choose, a particular speech variety, standardize it and spread the use of it across regional boundaries.
A. Language interference B. Language changes
C. Language planning 。 D. Language transfer
38. _________ in a person’s speech or writing usually ranges on a continuum from casual or colloquial to formal or polite according to the type of communicative situation.
A. Regional variation B. Changes in emotions
C. Variation in connotations D. Stylistic variation 。
39. A ____ is a variety of language that serves as a medium of communication among groups of people for diverse linguistic backgrounds .
A. lingua franca 。 B. register C. Creole D. national language
40. Although _______ are simplified languages with reduced grammatical features, they are rule-governed, like any human language.
A. vernacular languages B. creoles
C. pidgins 。 D. sociolects
41. In normal situations, ____ speakers tend to use more prestigious forms than their ____ counterparts with the same social background.
A. female; male 。 B. male; female C. old; young D. young; old
42. A linguistic ____ refers to a word or expression that is prohibited by the \"polite\" society from general use.
A. slang B. euphemism C. jargon D. taboo。
IV. Define the following terms:
43. sociolinguistics 44. speech community 45. speech variety
46. language planning 47. idiolect 48. standard language
49. nonstandard language 50. lingua franca 51. pidgin
52. Creole 53. diglossia 54. Bilingualism
55. ethnic dialect 56. Sociolect 57. register
58. slang 59. taboo 60. euphemism
V. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary:
61. Discuss with examples that the speech of women may differ from the speech of men.
62. Discuss with examples some of the linguistic differences between Standard English and Black English.
63. What is a linguistic taboo? What effect does it have on our use of language?
64. How would you describe the diglossic situation in China?
65. What is the basic idea of Sapir-Whorfian Hypothesis?
66. How do you understand “Dialects of the same language sometimes are not mutually intelligible.”?
67.Explain the differences between pidgin and Creole and then specify their linguistic features respectively.
68 Explain Dell Hymes’ ethnographical framework (SPEAKING).
Reference answers
Sociolinguistics
I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:
l.F 2.F 3.T 4.T 5.T 6.F 7.F 8.F 9.F 10.F
11. F 12. T 13. F 14. F 15.F 16. T 17. F 18. F 19. T 20. F
II. Fill in each of the blanks below with one word which begins with the letter given:
21. community 22. variety 23. dialectal 24.planning 25. sociolects
26. Stylistic 27. official 28. superposed 29. vernacular
30. inflectional 31. social 32. linguistic
III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:
33. B 34. C 35. A. 36. A. 37. C 38.D 39.A 40. C 41. A 42. D
IV. Define the following terms:
43. sociolinguistics: Sociolinguistics is the study of language in social contexts.
44. speech community: The social group isolated for any given study is called the speech community or a speech community is a group of people who form a community and share the same language or a particular variety of language. The important characteristic of a speech community is that the members of the group must, in some reasonable way, interact linguistically with other members of the community. They may share closely related language varieties, as well as attitudes toward linguistic norms.
45. speech variety: Speech variety, also known as language variety, refers to any distinguishable form of speech used by a speaker or group of speakers. The distinctive characteristics of a speech variety may be lexical, phonological, morphological, syntactic, or a combination of linguistic features.
46. language planning: language standardization is known as language planning. This means that certain authorities, such as the government or government agency of a country, choose a particular speech variety and spread the use of it, including its pronunciation and spelling systems, across regional boundaries.
47. Idiolect: An idiolect is a personal dialect of an individual speaker that combines aspects of all the elements regarding regional, social, and stylistic variation, in one form or another. In a narrower sense, what makes up one’s idiolect includes also such factors as voice quality, pitch and speech rhythm, which all contribute to the identifying features in an individual' s speech.
48. standard language : The standard language is a superposed, socially prestigious dialect of language. It is the language employed by the government and the judiciary system, used by the mass media, and taught in educational institutions, including school settings where the language is taught as a foreign or second language.
49. nonstandard language: Language varieties other than the standard are called nonstandard languages
50. lingua franca: A lingua franca is a variety of language that serves as a medium of communication among groups of people for diverse linguistic backgrounds.
51. pidgin: A pidgin is a variety of language that is generally used by native speakers of other languages as a medium of communication.
52. Creole: A Creole language is originally a pidgin that has become established as a native language in some speech community.
53. diglossia : Diglossia usually describes a situation in which two very different varieties of language co-exist in a speech community, each with a distinct range of purely social function and appropriate for certain situations.
54. Bilingualism: Bilingualism refers to a linguistic situation in which two standard lan-guages are used either by an individual or by a group of speakers, such as the inhabitants of a particular region or a nation.
55. ethnic dialect: Within a society, speech variation may come about because of different ethnic backgrounds . An ethnic language variety is a social dialect of a language,
often cutting across regional differences. An ethnic dialect is spoken mainly by a less privileged population that has experienced some form of social isolation, such as racial discrimination or segregation.
56. Sociolect: Social dialects, or sociolects, are varieties of language used by people belonging to particular social classes.
57. register: Registers are language varieties which are appropriate for use in particular speech situations, in contrast to language varieties that are associated with the social or regional grouping of their customary users. Format reason, registers are also known as situational dialects .
58. Slang: Slang is a casual use of language that consists of expressive but non-standard vocabulary, typically of arbitrary, flashy and often ephemeral coinages and figures of speech characterized by spontaneity and sometimes by raciness.
59. taboo : taboo, or rather linguistic taboo, denotes any prohibition by the polite society on the use of particular lexical items to refer to objects or acts.
60. euphemism: A euphemism, then, is a mild, indirect or less offensive word or expression substituted when the speaker or writer fears more direct wording might be harsh, unpleasantly direct, or offensive.
V. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary:
61. Discuss with examples that the speech of women may differ from the speech of men.
In normal situations, female speakers tend to use more prestigious forms than their male counterparts with the same general social background. For example, standard English forms such as \"I did it\" and \"he isn’ t\" can be found more often in the speech of females, while the more colloquial \"I done it\" and \"he ain' t\" occur more frequently in the speech of males.
Another feature often associated with so-called women' s language is politeness. Usually, tough and rough speeches have connotations of masculinity and are not considered to be desirable feminine qualities. In general, men's language is more straightforward, less polite, and more direct, and women's language is more indirect, less blunt, and more circumlocuto-ry.
This phenomenon of sex-preferential differentiation is also reflected in the relative frequency with which males and females use the same lexical items. For example, certain words that are closely associated with women may sound typically feminine as a result of that association. For example, some English adjectives like \"lovely\occur more often in female speeches and therefore cause feminine association. Females have also been shown to possess a greater variety of specific color terms than males, in spite of the fact that men do not necessarily possess less acute color perception than women. On the other hand, males have the reputation of possessing a larger vocabulary in traditionally male-dominated domains such as sports, hunting and the military.
A request in English such as \" Close the door when you leave\" can be phrased in a number of ways ranging from a harsh command to a very polite request:
a. Close the door when you leave.
b. Please close the door when you leave.
c. Would you please close the door when you leave?
d. Could you close the door when you leave?
Although the above options are all available to both men and women, it is usually the more polite forms that are selected by female speakers. In general, females are found to use more questions than declarative statements in comparison with males.
62. Discuss with examples some of the linguistic differences between Standard English and Black English.
One of the most prominent phonological characteristics of Black English is the frequent simplification of consonant clusters at the end of words when one of the two consonants is an alveolar /t/, /d/, /s/, or /z/. The application of this simplification rule may delete the past - tense morpheme, so \"past \"and \"passed \"are both pronounced like \"pass.\"
Another salient（显著的） characteristic of Black English phonological system concerns the deletion of some word-final stop consonants in words like \"side\" and \"borrowed.”Speakers of Black English frequently delete these word-final stops, pronouncing “side” like “sigh” and “borrowed” like “borrow.”
One prominent syntactic feature is the frequent absence of various forms of the copula \"be\" in Black English, which are required of Standard English. Compare the following expressions in Black English and Standard English:
(1) Black English Standard English
They mine. They' re mine.
You crazy. You re crazy.
Another distinctive syntactic feature of Black English is the systematic use of die expression \"it is\" where Standard English uses \"there is \" in the sense of “there exists” :
Is it a Mr. Johnson in this office?
Another aspect of Black English is the use of double negation constructions. Whenever the verb is negated, the indefinite pronouns \"somethinghe negative indefinites \"nothing\
He don't know nothing. (He doesn't know anything.)
63. What is a linguistic taboo? What effect does it have on our use of language?
A linguistic taboo refers to a word or expression that is prohibited by the \"polite\" society from general use. Obscene, profane, and swear words are all taboo words that are to be avoided entirely, or at least avoided in mixed company.
In sociolinguistics, a linguistic taboo, denotes any prohibition on the use of particular lexical items to refer to objects or acts. As language use is contextualized in particular social settings, linguistic taboo originates from social taboo. When an act is taboo, reference to this act may also become taboo. Taboo words and expressions reflect the particular social
customs and views of a particular culture.
As linguistic taboo reflects social taboo, certain words are more likely to be avoided, for examples, the words related to sex, sex organs and excrement in many cultures. The avoidance of using taboo language mirrors social attitudes, emotions and value judgments, and has no linguistic basis.
The avoidance of using taboo language has led to the creation of euphemisms. A euphemism is a mild, indirect or less offensive word or expression substituted when the speaker or writer fears more direct wording might be harsh, unpleasantly direct, or offensive. For example, we say \"portly\" instead of \"fat\".
In many cultures, people avoid using direct words that pertain to death or dying because it is the subject that everyone fears and is unpleasant to talk about. In the English-speaking world, for example, people do not “die” , but “pass away”.
Euphemisms involve a wide range of fields. Although the use of euphemisms has the effect of removing derogatory overtones（暗示）, the disassociative effect is never
long-lasting . Often when the negative connotation of a word is recognized in its euphemistic form, a new euphemism will have to be sought for. However, an excessive use of euphemism may have negative effects. As a matter of fact, many euphemisms have become clichés that are to be avoided in formal speech and writing. They also tend to be wordy and to give writing a timid quality. In addition, euphemism can be evasive or even deceitful. Because they are often improperly used to obscure the intended meaning, many people find them offensive and prefer plain language.
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