语言学单元自测8

1、I.Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False.Sociolinguistics is the sub-discipline of linguistics that studies social contexts.Language as a means of social communication is a homogeneous system with a homogeneous group of speakers.Language use varies from one speech community

2、 to another， from one regional group to another， from one social group to another， and even from one individual to another.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 lingu

3、istic 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.7Functional speech varieties are known as r

4、egional 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 persons social backgrounds do not exert a shaping influence on his choice of linguistic featur

5、es.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 withi

6、n 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 ph

7、onology 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 doesnt.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 somethi

8、ng 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.

9、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 i

10、s also called language p_.25.Social variation gives rise to s_ which are sub-divisible into smaller speech categories that reflect their socioeconomic， educational， occupational background， etc.26.S_ variation in a persons speech or writing usually ranges on a continuum from casual or colloquial to

11、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 cal

12、led 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 choic

13、e that can best complete the statement.33. _ is concerned with the social significance of language variation and language use in different speech communities.A. PsycholinguisticsB. SociolinguisticsC. Historical linguisticsD. General linguistics 34. The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a re

14、gional dialect is its _.A. use of wordsB. use of structuresC. accentD. morphemes35. _ is speech variation according to the particular area where a speaker comes from.A. Regional variationB. Language variationC. Social variationD. Register variation36. _ are the major source of regional variation of

15、language.A. Geographical barriersB. Loyalty to and confidence in ones native speechC. Physical discomfort and psychological resistance to changeD. Social barriers37. _ means that certain authorities， such as the government choose， a particular speech variety， standardize it and spread the use of it

16、across regional boundaries.A. Language interferenceB. Language changesC. Language planningD. Language transfer38. _ in a persons 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 variationB. Chan

17、ges in emotionsC. Variation in connotationsD. Stylistic variation39. A _ is a variety of language that serves as a medium of communication among groups of people for diverse linguistic backgrounds.A. lingua francaB. registerC. CreoleD. national language40. Although _ are simplified languages with re

18、duced grammatical features， they are rule-governed， like any human language.A. vernacular languagesB. creolesC. pidginsD. sociolects41. In normal situations， _ speakers tend to use more prestigious forms than their _ counterparts with the same social background.A. female； maleB. male； femaleC. old；

19、youngD. young； old42. A linguistic _ refers to a word or expression that is prohibited by the polite society from general use.A. slangB. euphemismC. jargonD. tabooIV. Define the following terms.43. sociolinguistics44. speech community45. speech variety46. language planning47. idiolect48. standard la

20、nguage49. nonstandard language50. lingua franca51. pidgin52. Creole53. diglossia54. Bilingualism55. ethnic dialect56. Sociolect57. register58. slang59. taboo60. euphemism V. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary.61. Discuss with ex

21、amples 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？Suggested Answers I. Decide whether each of the fo

22、llowing statements is True or False.1. F2. F3. T4. T5. T6. F7. F8. F9. F10. F11. F12. T13. F14. F15. F16. T17. F18. F19. T20. F II. Fill in each of the blanks below with one word which begins with the letter given.21. community22. variety23. dialectal24. planning25. sociolects26. Stylistic27. offici

23、al28. superposed29. vernacular30. inflectional31. social32. linguistic III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement.33.-37. BCAAC38.-42. DACADIV. Define the following terms.43.Sociolinguistics： Sociolinguistics is the study of language in

24、 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 th

25、at 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 dist

26、inguishable 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 me

27、ans 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 th

28、at combines aspects of all the elements regarding regional， social， and stylistic variation， in one form or another. In a narrower sense， what makes up ones idiolect includes also such factors as voice quality， pitch and speech rhythm， which all contribute to the identifying features in an individua

29、ls 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 tau

30、ght 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.P

31、idgin： 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

32、 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 languages are used either by a

33、n 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

34、 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 clas

35、ses.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.Sla

36、ng： 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

37、 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. A

38、nswer 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 th

39、e same general social background. For example， standard English forms such as I did it and he isnt can be found more often in the speech of females， while the more colloquial I done it and he aint occur more frequently in the speech of males.Another feature often associated with so-called womens lan

40、guage is politeness. Usually， tough and rough speeches have connotations of masculinity and are not considered to be desirable feminine qualities. In general， mens language is more straightforward， less polite， and more direct， and womens language is more indirect， less blunt， and more circumlocutor

41、y.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

42、 English adjectives like lovely， nice， darling and cute 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 colo

43、r 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

44、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 for

45、ms 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 characteris

46、tics 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. Anothe

47、r salient 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 syntac

48、tic 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 EnglishStandard EnglishThey mine. They re mine.You crazy.You re crazy.Another distinctive

49、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 indef

50、inite pronouns something， somebody， and some become the negative indefinites nothing， nobody， and none， for example：He dont know nothing. （He doesnt 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 i

51、s 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， r