SLHS 227 Final Exam

Dialect

Forms of language that differ in systematic ways.

Dialect map

Plots dialect differences geographically.

Isoglosses

Lines drawn that indicate concentrations of linguistic differences.

Accent

Regionally phonological/phonetic differences primarily in pronunciation.

Dialect leveling

Movement towards lesser distinctions among dialects.

Lexical differences

Variations in vocabulary such as lift vs elevator.

Phonological differences

Differences in stress placement in words, e.g., American stressing first syllable vs British stressing second.

Morphological/Syntax differences

Variations in grammatical structures, e.g., plural form of 'you' (y’all, yinz).

Social dialects

Dialect variations that stem from social divisions, such as race or socioeconomic status.

Standard American English

The dominant dialect of English often associated with affluent speakers.

African American Vernacular English

A social dialect with unique grammatical features.

R deletion

The dropping of the 'r' sound in certain words, e.g., poor → poe.

Consonant cluster reduction

Simplifying adjacent consonants, e.g., past & passed → pass.

Neutralization of vowels

Vowels sound the same before nasals, e.g., bin and Ben sound alike.

Loss of interdental fricatives

Changing 'th' sounds to 'd' or 't', e.g., brother → brover.

Allows multiple negatives

Use of more than one negative in a sentence, e.g., he don’t know nothing.

Deletion of be/is

Omitting forms of 'to be', e.g., he’s nice → he nice.

Habitual be

Using 'be' to indicate a regular action, e.g., He be working late.

Genderlects

Speech styles that vary between genders, often with women using more politeness strategies.

Slang

New words that lack precise definitions.

Jargon

Specialized terms used in specific occupations.

Taboo

Words related to sensitive topics like sex.

Euphemisms

Words/phrases used to replace taboo terms.

Banned Languages

Languages that were prohibited, e.g., Native American languages in the US.

Neurolinguistics

The study of the biological and neural foundations of language.

Grey matter

Neurons located in the brain's outer regions.

White matter

Axons found in the inner regions of the brain.

Frontal lobe

Brain region most associated with language functions.

Wernicke’s area

Region in the temporal lobe responsible for language comprehension.

Broca’s area

Region in the frontal lobe involved in language production.

Contralateral Processing

The concept that the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body.

Aphasia

Language impairment resulting from damage to the left hemisphere of the brain.

Broca’s aphasia

A form of aphasia characterized by nonfluent speech and awareness of deficits.

Wernicke’s aphasia

A type of aphasia marked by fluent but nonsensical speech and lack of awareness of deficits.

Anomia

Difficulty in naming objects.

Dyslexia

Struggling to read often accompanied by telegraphic speech style.

Dysgraphia

Difficulty in writing leading to misspellings and mispronunciations.

Split brains

Condition where the corpus callosum is severed to treat epilepsy.

Left hemisphere

Responsible for language and analytical tasks.

Right hemisphere

Involved in recognizing patterns and spatial organization.

Equipotentiality hypothesis

Both brain hemispheres are capable of acquiring language.

Modularity hypothesis

The brain consists of specialized areas for specific functions.