胡壮麟语言学第12章笔记(中文版)

Chapter 7 Language, Culture and Society

I. Choose the best answer. (20%)

1. _______ is concerned with the social significance of language variation and language use in different speech communities.

A. Psycholinguistics

B. Sociolinguistics

C. Applied linguistics

D. General linguistics

2. The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is its __________.

A. use of words

B. use of structures

C. accent

D. morphemes

3. __________ 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

4. _______ 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

5. _________ 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

6. _________ in a person’s speech or writing usually ran ges 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. (10%)

11. Language as a means of social communication is a homogeneous system with a

homogeneous group of speakers.

12. 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.

13. From the sociolinguistic perspective, the term “speech variety” can not be used to refer to standard language, vernacular language, dialect or pidgin.

14. The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is its grammar and uses of vocabulary.

15. A person’s social backgrounds do not exert a shaping influence on his choice of linguistic features.

16. Every speaker of a language is, in a stricter sense, a speaker of a distinct idiolect.

17. A lingua franca can only be used within a particular country for communication among groups of people with different linguistic backgrounds.

18. 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.

19. Bilingualism and diglossia mean the same thing.

20. The use of euphemisms has the effect of removing derogatory overtones and the disassociative effect as such is usually long-lasting.

III. Fill in the blanks. (20%)

21. The social group isolated for any given study is called the speech __________.

22. Speech __________ 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 __________ variety of

a language.

24. Language standardization is also called language __________.

25. Social variation gives rise to __________ which are subdivisible into smaller speech categories that reflect their socioeconomic, educational, occupational background, etc.

26. __________ 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 __________ language of a country.

28. The standard language is a __________, socially prestigious dialect of language.

29. Language varieties other than the standard are called nonstandard, or __________ languages.

30. A pidgin typically lacks in __________ morphemes.

IV. Explain the following terms, using examples. (20%)

31. Lingua franca

32. Regional dialect

33. Register

34. Sociolinguistics

the following questions. (20%)

35. Is American English superior to African English? Why or why not? （中国人民大学，2003）