Multilevel Perspectives on Language Variation Practice Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering foundations of linguistics, regional and social variation, multilingualism, politeness, and communication disorders.

Language Performance

The language that we actually observe in speech or writing.

Language Competence

The internal knowledge and rules a speaker has about their language.

Variety

Any form of language that is systematically distinct from others.

Dialect

Language properties that are specific to a particular geographical region, including vocabulary and grammar.

Sociolect

Language properties specific to a social group defined by factors like age, gender, or social class.

Ethnolect

Language properties specific to a particular ethnic group.

Idiolect

Language properties specific to one individual; no two speakers share the exact same version.

Inter-speaker Variation

Differences in language use between different people.

Intra-speaker Variation

Differences in language use within one person depending on the situation.

Free Variation

An arbitrary and unpredictable choice between two different linguistic forms.

Structured Variation

Linguistic choice that depends on social factors such as social class, gender, or age.

Standard Variety

A prestigious, codified form of language used in formal functions like education and law.

Vernacular

A variety acquired at home that is informal and often lacks official status, yet remains systematic.

Prescriptivism

The belief in strict, "correct" rules for how language should be used.

Descriptivism

The practice of describing actual language use without passing judgment.

Accent

Linguistic variation that pertains to differences in pronunciation only.

Isogloss

A line on a map marking the boundary of a specific linguistic feature, such as vocabulary or pronunciation.

Diaspora

Territories to which English spread, such as the initial spread within the British Isles or colonial spread to the USA and Australia.

Systemic Phonological Difference

A type of difference where a contrast exists in one language variety but not another, such as the "foot" vs "strut" distinction.

Realizational Phonological Difference

A difference where the same phoneme has a different pronunciation across varieties.

Distributional Phonological Difference

Differences in where a phoneme can occur, such as being rhotic or non-rhotic.

Multilingualism

A societal state where many languages are used within a single country or city.

Plurilingualism

The ability of an individual person to use several different languages.

Diglossia

A situation where a speech community uses a High ($H$) variety for formal contexts and a Low ($L$) variety for informal contexts.

Language Maintenance

The outcome where a native language continues to be used across generations.

Language Shift

The process where speakers abandon one language for a dominant one, often due to migration or urbanization.

Linguistic Repertoire

The complete set of languages and varieties available for a speaker to use.

Code-switching ($CS$)

The alternating use of two languages within a single discourse, sentence, or constituent.

Extrasentential Switching

Also known as tag-switching; inserting a tag from one language into an utterance of another.

Intersentential Switching

Code-switching that occurs at sentence or clause boundaries.

Intrasentential Switching

Code-switching that occurs within a single sentence or clause.

Lexical Borrowing

Single words or loanwords adapted into a speaker's first language that eventually become permanent.

Stratification

The layering of societies into groups with unequal wealth, prestige, and power.

Ascribed Status

Social status assigned at birth or through factors beyond an individual's control.

Achieved Status

Social status earned through an individual's personal effort.

Accent Triangle

A concept stating that regional variation decreases as a speaker moves up the social hierarchy.

Matched-guise Testing

A research method where the same speaker is rated on different varieties to reveal subconscious attitudes.

Direct Indexing

When a word semantically encodes gender, such as the term "niece" encoding a female referent.

Indirect Indexing

When linguistic features become associated with gender via the stance or persona they signal.

Age-grading

A linguistic pattern that repeats every generation, such as teenagers using heavy amounts of slang.

Overt Prestige

The status associated with standard language forms linked to power, education, and wealth.

Covert Prestige

The status of non-standard or vernacular forms within local groups, providing "street cred" or group belonging.

Convergence

Adjusting one's speech to be more similar to a partner's speech to fit in or ease interaction.

Divergence

Exaggerating linguistic differences to distance oneself from a listener or make a statement.

Referee Design

Diverging from the immediate audience to imitate a third party for effect.

Positive Face

The desire to be liked, accepted, and treated as a member of a group.

Negative Face

The need for independence and freedom from imposition.

Face-Threatening Act ($FTA$)

Any communicative act that threatens the public self-image of a speaker or hearer.

Neurodiversity

An umbrella term viewing conditions like Autism and $ADHD$ as natural variations of the human genome rather than deficits.

Developmental Language Disorder ($DLD$)

A severe language disorder specific to language with no known cause, often characterized by grammatical and tense-marking deficits.

Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia ($DVD$)

A neurological speech sound disorder resulting from impaired motor programming, leading to inconsistent errors.

Developmental Phonological Disorder ($DPD$)

A language-based disorder where a child can produce sounds in isolation but cannot use them contrastively to distinguish meaning.

Theory of Mind ($ToM$)

The ability to understand that others have different mental states; deficits in this contribute to pragmatic challenges in Autism.