Deck 3: Colonial American English; Language Attitudes

Question 1

Which of the following is not a part of the external history of the English language?

A) The development of Old English from a combination of the linguistic systems of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes.
B) The raising of the majority of the vowels in English through the Great Vowel Shift.
C) Borrowing words such as chalice and hymn due to the Christianization of England.
D) The incorporation of new linguistic forms, such as the pronouns they, they, their and the phonological pattern

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following is not true about American English and the Colonial Period?

A) American English borrowed words from several languages, including African and Native American ones, during its early development.
B) Space and time were among the key factors that aided in the divergence of American English from British English.
C) Because it was the first permanent European settlement in North America, the colony of Roanoke is said to be the beginning of American English.
D) Broadening the definitions of words that were already in use in British English was one way in which the lexicon of American English expanded.
E) The Massachusetts settlers came to North America from the eastern counties in England, including London, primarily to escape religious persecution.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Discuss two socio-historical events in the external history of English and explain how they affected the internal structure of the language. Give dates and specific examples.

Answer 3

No Answer

Question 4

Describe the connection between the settlement histories of Jamestown and the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Plymouth) and the development of American regional dialects.

Question 5

Which of the following refers to a person's or a group's internalized belief that their own language is incorrect and/or stigmatized?

A) Shibboleth
B) Social networks
C) Linguistic insecurity
D) Perceptual dialectology
E) The distinction between status and solidarity

Question 6

Which of the following statements is supported by perceptual dialectology studies?

A) People have perceptions only of those dialects to which they have had significant exposure.
B) Speakers of stigmatized dialects do not internalize negative associations with their dialect.
C) New England is the most identifiable dialect region in the United States.
D) Linguistic perceptions of dialects often actually reflect the perceptions of the speakers of those dialects.
E) Dialect regions are always perceived as being geographically connected.

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT true about Lambert's Matched Guise Test?

A) It asks listeners/judges to mimic the speech of the local area in order to elicit their views toward linguistic variation
B) The "guise" refers to the fact that the samples are really one speaker presenting more than one voice
C) It is a core methodological technique used to elicit language attitudes
D) Lambert found that the responses from his study could be characterized by distinct social categories such as competence (or status)
E) Lambert's early studies looked at perceptions of French versus English in Quebec

Question 8

Which of the following refers to a pre-judgment of someone based on their language, language use, or even presumed language use?

A) Linguistic standardization
B) Language shift
C) Linguistic identity
D) Language authority
E) Linguistic prejudice

Question 9

Which type of study investigates language attitudes through the presentation of different voices that are actually recorded by the same bilingual speakers?

A) The Matched-Guise test
B) The Pile Sort test
C) The Draw-a-map test
D) The Pleasant vs. Correct test
E) The Shibboleth test

Question 10

What do the debates surrounding language in the workplace and/or the Oakland Ebonics Controversy tell us about the connections between language attitudes, linguistic subordination, and linguistic discrimination?