Linguistics Exam 2

What is face ?

the image that oneself that a speaker presents to others

What are they two types of faces ?

positive and negative

What is positive face ?

building one's ego ; desire to be liked

What is negative face ?

desire to be left alone

What is the universal theory of politeness?

a tool to save face for both the speaker and the hearer; building into your request ways out for the hearer

What are the forms of address ?

age

occupation

gender

class

What is honorifics ?

grammatical affixes, different verb endings, or pronouns, that are used to encode social status, respect, or politeness between speakers

What is language and contact ?

more than one languages is used by some or all of the members of a given community

What is disglossia ?

when two distinct languages, high and low, fully coexist in a community and each is used for different specific purposes

( varieties are specialized with one being used for high (H) functions - e.g. sermons -- and the other for low (L) - e.g. social conversation )

What is bilingualism ?

1. simultaneous (both lang. same time) v.s sequential (one lang. after the other)

2. coordinate (slightly different mental representations for the two worlds v.s compound (have 2 words but one unified meaning)

3. balanced (equally fluent in both languages - controversial)

4. additive (added) v.s subtractive (replaces first language)

What is language planning ?

any intervention attempting to regulate or affect the languages(s) of a speech community

What are the three types of language planning ?

Language shift

Language death

Language maintenance

What is a language shift ?

the process whereby a group of people will move from one language to another

What is language death ?

if the entire community which speaks a given language shifts to another, the original language may face death

What is language maintenance ?

in a bilingual situation, it is the efforts of speakers to keep their language alive

What is a official language ?

a language that has status conferred on it by the government or a political entity

What is code-switching ?

mixing two languages

What are the two types of language variation ?

Aspects of dialects and Accents

What are the three aspects of dialects ?

accent

vocabulary ( couch v.s sofa)

grammar (y'all)

What is an accent ?

when we hear someone talking using a different pronunciation but the same words

What are Kachru's three circles

Inner circle

Outer circle

Expanding circle

What are 3 reasons that accents/dialects persist ?

solidarity - the security and assurance of belonging to a certain group

covert prestige - respect gained by using language considered to be below standard : use of nonstandard language to identify with or set oneself apart from a group

accommodation theory : people adapt their speech to their conversation partner

What are language attitudes ?

perceptions of dialects may ultimately be more important than measurable features.

person may hear a particular dialect and form opinions about the speaker based on the dialect alone .

what is the match-guised technique (language attitudes)

a way to measure attitudes towards other dialects or languages

What did Labov's study demonstrate?

1. language use is socially stratified - pronunciation varies systematically with social class

2. middle - class speakers are especially prone to hypercorrection, showing their sensitivity to prestige norms

One of the first clear demonstrations that linguistic variation is not random, but patterned by social factors

What are the two findings of Labov's study ?

Social stratification

Hypercorrection

What is social stratification ?

clean differences emerged across the samples

Saks : (higher social class) must used /r/ most

Macy's : showed intermediate use

S. Klein : (lower class) used it least

Study showed systematic social stratification of language use

What is hypercorrection ?

middle-class staff (Macy's) used /r/ more carefully in repeated speech then even the upper-class employees - a classic case of hypercorrection, where speakers "over-apply" a prestigious form to sound more correct or socially desirable

What was Milroy's study ?

examined how social networks (the strength and density of people's social ties) affect language use in three working-class communities

showed that social networks - not just social class - shaped linguistic variation. Dense networks maintain local dialects, while weak networks encourage change toward standardization

What were the findings in Milroy's study ?

1. people with dense, multiplex networks (close-knit ties where friends, neighbors, and relatives overlap) were more likely to use local, nonstandard speech forms

2. people with looser, weaker networks (fewer overlapping ties) were more likely to adopt standard forms

3. gender differences emerged: men often had denser local networks (linked to workplace solidarity) and thus used more vernacular, while women's looser networks exposed them more to standard forms

What is the difference between restricted and elavorated codes ?

restricted code :

- more implicit, context-dependent, tied to shared assumptions

- used to close-knit groups (familites, working-class communities)

- relies on shorthand gestures, or shared background knowledge

elaborated code :

- more explicit, context-independent, and detailed

- common in formal , educational, and middle-class settings

- provides full explanations so meaning is clear even to outsiders

What determines register ?

subject matter -what the text is about; what speakers talk about influences their choices in various linguistic levels (chemistry or physics have their own registers

social roles/situations - who the speaker is and what they do

discursive function - what is the speaker is using the text for, such as discussion, insulting, etc.

What are the five styles based on speaker and hearer roles ?

1. consultative - speaker provides background into, hearer participates in public mode; no familiarity is presupposed

2. casual - speaker may be elliptical and use slang, also a public mode; familiarity is presupposed

3. intimate - speaker may take ellipsis to its ultimate degree : single-word utterances ; jargon may be used (in-group only)

4. formal - speaker provides background, hearer(s) do not participate ; text must be cohesive, to make up for the distance between speaker and hearer ; feedback regulated

5. frozen - written mode ; speaker and hearer are not in contact so there is no feedback; associated with literature

What are the two main functions of Jagon : occupational varieties ?

1. provides speakers of specialized domains with clear, unambiguous terms to refer to their activities

2. provides speakers of a subgroup with a means of marking

in-group members and excluding outsiders

What is slang ?

a language variety used by a restricted part of the population, often younger, and based on an informal and innovative lexicon that often replaces other words available in the general lexicon

(ages quickly - uncool =groovy)

Primary function : to make its speakers as different or unconventional

Not to be confused with dialectal varieties

What are taboo words ?

words that violate the standard set by society for proper behavior

What are the primary sources for taboo words ?

1. sexual and/or reproductive organs

2. excretory organs and/ or fluids

3. taboo-breaking behavior (incest, ect.)

4. racial/ethnic slurs

5. blasphemy

What do people do to avoid taboo words ?

1. euphemisms ("passed away" for died)

2. child language ("pee pee", "caca")

3. medical/technical language (urination, defecation)

4. zero/avoidance ("blandedly-blank" , "beep")

What is a pidgin ?

a language that appears because of contact between two groups who speak different languages and don't understand each other

What are the typical features of pidgins ?

1. simpler phonology : tend toward only 5 to 7 vowels

2. smaller vocab : primarily from superstrate language

3. large number of polysemous words

4. words can function as different parts of speech

5. few prepositions

6. few inflectional morphemes

What is a superstrate ?

language (aka lexifier) : dominant language spoken in and used inside the syntax of the substrate or less dominant language

What are the two types of pidgins ?

1. restricted - die quick death (ex. army bases in Korea and Vietnam)

2. extended (creole) ( aka elaborated) - used in a wide variety of circumstances in a multilingual area and grow through their use into creoles

What is a creole ?

mother tongues. children grow up using them as their first language. this happens when the mother tongue is not available, as when people from many language groups were put together on plantations

What are three things to know about the african american vernacular ?

origins

grammar

education

What is the difference between AAVE and SAE ?

1. AAVE is a dialect o English with its own set of phonological and syntactic rules that are similar to the role of other dialects

2. it shares features with the Southern dialect, and AAVE in tern has affected the dialects of the South where there has been contact

3. it has a distinctive aspect system, which makes it different from other dialects of English

What is a national language ?

the official or unofficial superordinate language (the language whose speakers have the most power, the language that someone who wanted to be upwardly mobile would have to know

What is minority language?

the subordinate language (in terms of power)

What are the three possible outcomes of contact between languages

1. maintenance

2. bilingualism

3. language shift

What linguistic rights do people have ?

minority right have come to be seen as a form of human rights.

most countries, weigh various factors when granting language rights, including the number of speakers of the language, it territorial concentration, the level of services require and the material resources available

What are two types of planning ?

1. Corpus planning : standardization and codification of the language (grammar, spelling, new words, etc)

2. status planning : the choice of languages and attitudes toward dialects (e.g. what language is taught in schools)

What are three typical outcomes or language planning ?

1. maintenance (ex. Spanish is Southwest USA)

2. shift (minority language shift to dominant over generations)

3. bilingualism

What are the stages of language planning ?

1. selection (of variety as the new norm)

2. standardization (of the new norm - script, phonology, etc)

3. diffusion or implementation (usually through schools)

4. modernization (spread and updated as necessary)

What is heritage languages ?

stress the positive attitiude of scholars and agencies toward speakers who are no longer considered a liability to get rid of by acculturation and schooling but rather are considered an asset to the country they live in