社会语言学练习.docx

1、社会语言学练习 Revision Exercises for SociolinguisticsI. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False: 1. Sociolinguistics is the sub-discipline of linguistics that studies social contexts。 2. Language as a means of social communication is a homogeneous system with a homogeneous group o

2、f speakers。3. Language use varies from one speech community to another, from one regional group to another, from one social group to another, and even from one individual to another. 4. The goal of sociolinguistics is to explore the nature of language variation and language use among a variety of sp

3、eech communities and in different social situations. 5. The linguistic 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 lan

4、guage, dialect or pidgin。 7.Functional speech varieties are known as regional 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 backg

5、rounds do not exert a shaping influence on his choice of linguistic features。 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 bette

6、r language than nonstandard languages。 14. A lingua franca can only be used within 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 hig

7、her, or dominant, language in its lexicon and that of the lower language in their phonology 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.

8、 The kind of name or term speakers use to call or refer to someone may indicate something 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

9、。 II. Fill in each of the blanks below with one word which begins with the letter given: 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 perspect

10、ive, a speech variety is no more than a d_ variety of a language. 24. Language standardization is also called language p_. 25. Social variation gives rise to s_ which are subdivisible into smaller speech categories that reflect their socioeconomic, educational, occupational background, etc. 26. S_ v

11、ariation 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. 27. A regional dialect may gain status and become standardized as the national or o_ language of a country. 28. The standard language

12、is a s_, socially prestigious dialect of language. 29. Language varieties other than the standard are called 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, emotion

13、s and value judgments and has no l_ basis. III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement: 33. _ is concerned with the social significance of language variation and language use in different speech communities. A. Psycholinguistics B. Socio

14、linguistics。 C. Historical linguistics D. General linguistics 34. The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is its _. A. use of words B. use of structures C. accent 。 D. morphemes 35. _ is speech variation according to the particular area where a speaker comes from. A. Region

15、al variation。 B. Language variation C. Social variation D. Register variation 36. _ are the major source of regional variation of language. A. Geographical barriers 。 B. Loyalty to and confidence in ones native speech C. Physical discomfort and psychological resistance to change D. Social barriers 3

16、7. _ 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 38. _ in a persons speech or writing usually r

17、anges 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 。 39. A _ is a variety of language that serves as a medium of communication among grou

18、ps of people for diverse linguistic backgrounds . A. lingua franca 。 B. register C. Creole D. national language 40. 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 41

19、. 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 42. A linguistic _ refers to a word or expression that is prohibited by the polite society from general use.

20、A. slang B. euphemism C. jargon D. taboo。 IV. Define the following terms: 43. sociolinguistics 44. speech community 45. speech variety 46. language planning 47. idiolect 48. standard language 49. nonstandard language 50. lingua franca 51. pidgin 52. Creole 53. diglossia 54. Bilingualism 55. ethnic d

21、ialect 56. Sociolect 57. register 58. slang 59. taboo 60. euphemism V. Answer 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. 62. Discuss with examples some of t

22、he linguistic differences between Standard English and Black English. 63. What is a linguistic taboo? What effect does it have on our use of language? 64. How would you describe the diglossic situation in China?65. What is the basic idea of Sapir-Whorfian Hypothesis? 66. How do you understand “Diale

23、cts of the same language sometimes are not mutually intelligible.”? 67.Explain the differences between pidgin and Creole and then specify their linguistic features respectively. 68 Explain Dell Hymes ethnographical framework (SPEAKING). Reference answers Sociolinguistics I. Decide whether each of th

24、e following statements is True or False: l.F 2.F 3.T 4.T 5.T 6.F 7.F 8.F 9.F 10.F 11. F 12. T 13. F 14. F 15.F 16. T 17. F 18. F 19. T 20. F II. Fill in each of the blanks below with one word which begins with the letter given: 21. community 22. variety 23. dialectal 24.planning 25. sociolects26. St

25、ylistic 27. official 28. superposed 29. vernacular30. inflectional 31. social 32. linguistic III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement: 33. B 34. C 35. A. 36. A. 37. C 38.D 39.A 40. C 41. A 42. D IV. Define the following terms: 43. soc

26、iolinguistics: Sociolinguistics is the study of language in 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 langu

27、age. The important characteristic of a speech community is that 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: Spe

28、ech variety, also known as language variety, refers to any distinguishable 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

29、: language standardization is known as language planning. This means 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. Idio

30、lect: An idiolect is a personal dialect of an individual speaker that 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 rhyth

31、m, which all contribute to the identifying features in an individual s 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 taught as a foreign or second language. 49. nonstandard language: Language varieties other than the standard are called nonstandard languages 50. lingua franca: A lingu