Chapter 7: Language in Society

isogloss

a line drawn on the map to separate the areas

dialect maps/atlases

a map where dialect differences are geographically plotted

euphemisms

a word or phrase that replaces a taboo word or serves to avoid frightening or unpleasant subjects

bilingualism

ability to speak two or more languages

hypercorrections

deviations rom the norm thought to be "proper English", such as pronouncing "often" with a [t], or saying "between you and I", while U speakers, who are generally more secure about their dialect, say "of-en" and "between you and me".

social dialects

dialect differences that come about because of social factors

Chicano English

dialects spoken by Mexican Americans in the Southwest and California

regional dialect

each version of a language

Dual Language Immersion

enrolls English-speaking children and students who are native in another language in roughly equal numbers, so that all students become bilingual

creole

further developed pidgin; most linguistics believe it has all the grammatical complexity of ordinary language

dialect continuum

lack of a distinct break between dialects; they simply merge into each other

lingua franca

language used by common agreement by groups in a certain are who desire social or commercial communication

sociolinguistic variables

linguistic differences that depend on the social context of the speaker. ex: the use of nonstandard forms like double negation is often associated with pride of ethnicity

Creolization

linguistic expansion in the lexicon and grammar of existing pidgins, and an increase in the contexts of use

bidialectal

many Chicano speakers are bidialectal, they can use either ChE (or AAE) or SAE depending on the social situation

grammar translation

method favored until the 60s, students learned lists of vocabulary, verb paradigms, and grammatical rules.

dialect leveling

movement toward greater uniformity and less variation among dialects

dialect

mutually intelligible forms of a language that differ in systematic ways

prestige dialect/Standard American English

often called standard dialect; SAE is a dialect of English that may Americans nearly speak; divergences from the norm are labeled into different dialects.

dyslexia

reading disability

accents

regional phonological or phonetic distinctions

Pidginization

simplification of languages and a reduction in the number of domains of use

pidgin

speakers of mutually unintelligible languages have been brought into contact under specific socioeconomic and political conditions and have developed a language to communicate with one another that is not native to anyone.

jargon/argot

specific slang terms in almost every science, profession, trade, and occupation

African American English

spoken by a large population of Americans of African descent

Transitional Bilingual Education

students received instruction in both English and their native language

Bilingual Maintenance

students remain in a bilingual class for their entire educational experience

dialect areas

the concentrations defined by different word usages and varying pronunciations

superstrate/ lexifier language

the dominant group where most of the lexical items of the pidgin come from

idiolect

the language of an individual speaker with its unique characteristics

substrate language

the other language or languages also contribute to the lexicon and grammar but in a less obvious way

borrowing

when a word or short expression from one language occurs embedded among the words of a second language and adapts to the regular phonology, morphology, and syntax of a second language.