Exam 2: Study Questions
middle-class group
Among which social group is hypercorrection more likely when more attention is paid to speech?
a. b. c. d. e. f. g.
Are the underlined words in these sentences best described as examples of polysemy or metonymy? a. The pen is mightier than the sword. b. I had to park on the shoulder of the road. c. Yes, I love those. I ate a whole box on Sunday! d. The bookstore has some new titles in linguistics. e. Computer chips created an important new technology. f. I'm going to sue your ass! g. I think that kind of music was called new wave.
with a pause at the end of a sentence or phrase
How do speakers mark completion points at the end of a turn?
prototype is the most characteristic instance of a category ( the image that comes to mind for a given word) example: most people think of a "robin" when they hear "bird" so "robin" is the prototype
How is the term "prototype" used in semantics?
a. T.V. is [- animate] therefore it cannot drink b. A dog is [- human] therefore it cannot write
Using semantic features, how would you explain the oddness of these sentences? a. The television drank my water. b. His dog writes poetry.
expressions used to indicate uncertainty (I think, kind of)
What are hedges in discourse?
terms used to refer to people who are in the same family that indicate their relationship with other members
What are kinship terms?
grammatical gender classifies nouns as masculine, feminine or neuter; natural gender is the biological distinction between male and female
What is the difference between grammatical gender and natural gender?
Slang is informal language, mainly used by youth; jargon is specific vocabulary used in a specific area of work or interest
What is the difference between jargon and slang?
quality maxim
Which maxim involves not saying things you believe to be false?
8
How many regular inflectional morphemes are there in English?
Midland dialect
If you meet some American speakers who talk about the surface of something as slick and say they feel they are taking sick, are they likely to have a Northern, Midland, or Southern dialect?
krnap, trniap
In Khmu, the word kap means "to grasp with tongs," and tiap means "to fold a small package." What would be the words for "tongs" and "a small package"?
the British upper class
In Trudgill's study of Reading speech, which group produced the fewest instances of postvocalic /r/?
a break in the flow of speech, using sounds like em and er
What is a "filled pause"?
+ human
What semantic feature must a noun have in order to be used in this sentence? The _____________ were discussing what to do.
a. you have a clock b. he has money c. we have a car d. the kings has no hair
What is one obvious presupposition of a speaker who says: a. Your clock isn't working. b. Where did he find the money? c. We regret buying that car. d. The king of France is bald.
a. direct b. indirect c. direct d. direct
Someone stands between you and the TV set you're watching, so you decide to say one of the following. Identify which would be direct or indirect speech acts. a. Move! b. Could you please sit down? c. You're in the way. d. Please get out of the way.
Loan Transition/Calque
The English phrase road rage has become the expression vejvrede ("way anger") among Danish speakers. What is this process called?
Cohesion is the connection between words that exists within texts, and coherence is the connection the readers and listeners create in their minds
What is the basic difference between cohesion and coherence?
The resulting dialect description tends to be more accurate of a period well before the time of investigation. Also it fails to account for the differences found in gendered speech
What is one disadvantage of using NORMS in dialect surveys?
pride in status/group; a stronger desire to be accepted by peers rather than to be seen as prestigious
What kind of motivation has been identified for the existence of covert prestige in particular uses of language?
non-gradable antonyms
What kind of opposites can be identified via the "negative test"?
social variable
What kind of variable is class in the study of language and society?
He was trying to see which social group would include the postvocalic /r/ which is a social marker indicating class
Why did Labov try to elicit answers with the expression fourth floor?
because the article 'a' is not needed
Why is this sentence ungrammatical? *She gave me a good advice.
coinage, conversion
Which two processes were involved in the creation of the verb google, as in Have you ever googled yourself??
blending
Which word-formation process is the source of the English word modem?
They are both acronyms and initialisms
Why are the expressions my PIN number and the ATM machine slightly odd?
i. -less, -ly, -ier, mis-, -s, pre-, -er, -en, -ing, un-, re-, -ed ii. all are bound stems iii. none
(i) List the bound morphemes in these words: fearlessly, happier, misleads, previewer, shortening, unreconstructed (ii) Which of these words has a bound stem: consist, deceive, introduce, repeat? (iii) Which of these words contains an allomorph of the morpheme "past tense": are, have, must, sitting, waits
i. to ii. put, shelf
(i) Which word(s) in the following sentence would you put in a closed class? Bob brought hot donuts to class. (ii) Which word(s) in the following sentence would you put in an open class? I put it on the shelf near you and him.
a. acronym b. infix c. compounding d. clipping e. backformation f. clipping, hypocorism g. hypocorism h. blending
Can you identify the different word-formation processes involved in producing each of the underlined words in these sentences? a. Don't they ever worry that they might get AIDS? b. That's really fandamntastic! c. These new skateboards from Zee Designs are kickass. d. When I'm ill, I want to see a doc, not a vet. e. The house next door was burgled when I was babysitting the Smiths' children. f. I like this old sofa - it's nice and comfy. g. I think Robyn said she'd like a toastie for brekky. h. You don't need to button it because it's got velcro inside.
They are all deictic expressions. Here and now is close to the speaker while there and then are not close to the speaker
How do we describe the pragmatic difference between the pair "here and now" versus "there and then"?
they are adjacency pairs, an automatic sequence of a first part from one speaker and a second part from another speaker
How do we describe these regular conversational patterns? Hi ~ Hello and Bye ~ See you later
Spanish has 2 grammatical genders (masculine, feminine) and German has 3 (masculine, feminine, neuter)
How does Spanish differ from German in the number of grammatical genders?
language beyond the sentence
How is the word "discourse" usually defined?
3 (really, very, slowly)
How many adverbs are there in the following sentence? Really large objects move very slowly.
3 (terror - ist - s)
How many morphemes are there in the word terrorists?
2 (Robert, a small puppy)
How many noun phrases are there in the following sentence? Robert brought a small puppy to the party and we all wanted to keep it.
a group of people who share a set of norms and expectations regarding the used of language
How would you define a "speech community"?
the = article woman = noun kept = verb a = article large = adjective snake = adjective in = preposition a = article cage = noun but = conjunction it = pronoun escaped = verb recently = adverb
Identify all the parts of speech used in this sentence (e.g. woman = noun): The woman kept a large snake in a cage, but it escaped recently.
a. mis- b. -ism c. -less, -ness d. dis-, -ment e. in-, -ive f. un-, -ful g. pre-, -ed h. bio-, -able i. re-, -tion j. de-, -tion
Identify the prefixes and suffixes used in these words: a. misfortune b. terrorism c. carelessness d. disagreement e. ineffective f. unfaithful g. prepackaged h. biodegradable i. reincarnation j. decentralization
her new golf club = instrument Anne Marshall = agent/experiencer the ball = theme the woods = source the grassy area = goal the hole = goal
Identify the roles of the seven noun phrases in this sentence: With her new golf club, Anne Marshall whacked the ball from the woods to the grassy area near the hole and she suddenly felt invincible.
future time
In the following example from Irish English is the speaker referring to future time or past time? How long are youse here?
a conventional knowledge structure in memory for the series of actions involved in events such as "Going to the dentist"
In the study of discourse understanding, what are scripts?
a. negative face b. postive face
In these examples, is the speaker appealing to positive or negative face? a. If you're free, there's going to be a party at Yuri's place on Saturday. b. Let's go to the party at Yuri's place on Saturday. Everyone's invited.
Pidgin is a contact language used for practical purposes such as trading and there are no native speakers. Creole is a language evolved from pidgin that has native speakers and is part of the community
In what specific way is a creole different from a pidgin?
-ing is a social marker indicating middle and upper class. -in' is a social marker indicating lower or working class
In what way can the pronunciation of -ing be a social marker?
Standard English (high) and African American Vernacular English (low)
Name two types of discourse where a "high" variety is used in diglossia.
A woman. - question tag - invites agreement
Traditionally, do you think the following sentence was more likely to be spoken by a woman or a man, and why? I think that golf on television is kind of boring, don't you?
a. -a b. -s c. -en d. none e. -s f. -i
What are the allomorphs of the morpheme "plural" in the following set of English words? a. criteria b. dogs c. oxen d. deer e. judges f. stimuli
antedecent - anaphora Dr. Foster - she Andy - he, him medicine - the pills his headaches - the pain
What are the anaphoric expressions in the following sentence? Dr. Foster gave Andy some medicine after he told her about his headaches and she advised him to take the pills three times a day until the pain went away.
when, into, the, the, if, a, or, an
What are the functional morphemes in the following sentence? When she walked into the room, the doctor asked me if I had a sore throat or an annoying cough.
a. -en b. -ing c. -'s, -er, -es, -est d. -ed, -'s, -s e. -'s, -s
What are the inflectional morphemes in these expressions? a. Have you eaten yet? b.Do you know how long I've been waiting? c. She's younger than me and always dresses in the latest style. d. We looked through my grandmother's old photo albums. e. My parents' parents were all from Scotland.
analogy
What do we call the process whereby a new word is formed to be similar to an existing word?
a boundary between the areas with regard to one particular linguistic feature
What does an isogloss represent in a linguistic atlas?
the main source of words adopted within a pidgin language
What is a lexifier language?
an adjacency pair that comes between the first and second parts of another pair
What is an "insertion sequence"?
additional meaning conveyed by a speaker
What is an implicature?
when the speech style is emphasized to show the difference/distance between speakers
What is meant by "divergence" in analyzing speech style?
language determines thought; the idea that we can only think in categories provided by our language
What is meant by "linguistic determinism"?
a conventional way of using language that is appropriate in a specific context (situational, occupational or topical)
What is meant by a "register"?
socially acquired knowledge
What is one common definition of "culture" in the study of language?
a. reversives b. hyponymy c. synonym d. synonym e. hyponymy f. homophone g. gradable antonym h. non-gradable antonym i. homonym
What is the basic lexical relation between each pair of words listed here? a. assemble/disassemble b. dog/schnauzer c. move/run d. damp/moist e. furniture/table f. peace/piece g. deep/shallow h. married/single i. pen/pen
Accent is the variation pronunciation, and dialect is the variation in grammar and vocabulary
What is the difference between an accent and a dialect?
an isogloss is in regard to one particular linguistic item; a dialect boundary includes a number of isoglosses coming together
What is the difference between an isogloss and a dialect boundary?
It is the place where they class visited
What is the grammatical function of the proper noun in the following sentence? The professor and her students visited Berlin during the summer.
mentonymy
What is the hierarchical relationship in the meanings of this set of words: bronchitis, disease, influenza, pneumonia, tuberculosis
homonym
What is the lexical relation between the English words swallow (= a small bird) and swallow (= make food or drink go down the throat)
verb-final
What is the most common word order in the languages of the world: verb-initial, verb-medial or verb-final?
antecedent - old car anaphora - it
What is the technical term for the phrase "an old car" in its relationship with "it" in the following utterance? I have an old car, but it runs great.
cataphora (antecedent - anaphora)
What is the technical term used to describe the relationship between "She" and "Ginny Swisher" in the following example? She was born prematurely. She lost her parents at an early age. She grew up in poverty. She never completed high school. Yet Ginny Swisher overcame all these disadvantages to become one of the most successful women in America.
past tense (were married)
What is the tense and voice of the verb in the following sentence? My parents were married in Rome.
lexicalized social
What kind of categorization is involved in the English distinction between sleet and slush: lexicalized or non-lexicalized or non-referential or social?
a. Shakespeare = teacher's book b. ham sandwich = customer c. hernia in room = patient d. eleven-thirty = patient
What kind of inference is involved in interpreting each of these utterances? a. teacher: You can borrow my Shakespeare. b. waiter: The ham sandwich left without paying. c. nurse: The hernia in room 5 wants to talk to the doctor. d. dentist: My eleven-thirty canceled so I had an early lunch.
a bound, derivational morpheme
What kind of morpheme is the suffix in slowly?
hypocorism
Which process is clearly involved in creating the new term selfie?
a. we = person deixis there = spatial deixis last summer = temporal deixis b. now = temporal deixis you = person deixis here = spatial deixis later = temporal deixis
What kinds of deictic expressions are used here (e.g. We = person deixis)? a. We went there last summer. b. I'm busy now so you can't stay here. Come back later.
semantic role, patient
What phrase is used more often instead of "thematic roles" and what other term is used instead of "theme" in the semantic analysis of noun phrases?
a. The old theory consistently failed to explain the data fully. b. I can't remember the name of the person whom I gave the book
What prescriptive rules for the "proper" use of English are not obeyed in the following sentences and how would they be "corrected"? a. The old theory consistently failed to fully explain all the data. b. I can't remember the name of the person I gave the book to.
anaphora
What process is involved in the connection between "cooking" and "the special meal" in the following sentence? The old men and women lit the fire and started cooking early in the morning so that the special meal would be ready for their guests.
The structures in English are different from those found in Latin, so not all Latin rules can apply to the English language
What was wrong with the older Latin-influenced definition of English pronouns?
When an eponym (a word based on the name of a person or a place) is used as a new word in the language, it is a neologism
When is an eponym a neologism?
infix
When she heard some exciting news, one British English speaker exclaimed, "Fanflamingtastic!" What is the morphological process involved here?
manner maxim
Which maxim does this speaker seem to be particularly careful about? I won't bore you with all the details, but it wasn't a pleasant experience.
a. non-gradable b. reversive c. reversive d. reversive e. gradable f. gradable
Which of the following opposites are gradable, non-gradable, or reversive? a. absent/present b. fail/pass c. fill it/empty it d. appear/disappear e. fair/unfair f. high/low
a. borrowing b. borrowing c. calque d. calque
Which of the following pairs contains an example of calque? How would you describe the other(s)? a. footobooru (Japanese) - football (English) b. tréning (Hungarian) - training (English) c. luna de miel (Spanish "moon of honey") - honeymoon (English) d. jardin d'enfants (French "garden of children") - Kindergarten (German)
cabbage-turnip
Which of the following words are co-hyponyms? ant, cabbage, insect, plant, turnip, vegetable.
normal
Which of these descriptions is not used to identify NORMS: male, normal, older, rural?