Sociolinguistics Pretest (Syarifa)

Sociolinguistics is most appropriately defined as which of these?

• The scientific study of language usage

• The study of animal vocalizations

• The study of human behavior

• The scientific study of vocal sounds

The linguistic term "code-switching" refers to which of the following?

• Using a secret or exclusive language in certain circumstances

• The Use of jargon within a language

• A speaker's use of more than one language, dialect or register in an utterance or interaction

• A type of cryptology

Answer explanation

Code-switching is an area of study within sociolinguistics that has become more prominent with the advent of mass globalization. Code-switching is common among populations that speak two or more languages. However, code-switching does not necessarily mean using multiple languages within an utterance or conversation, it can also entail using two or more dialects and/or registers.

A person who speaks three languages fluently is most properly referred to by which of these terms?

• Magnalingual

• Bilingual

• Extralingual

• Multilingual

Answer explanation

In sociolinguistics two terms are acceptable for a person who speaks more than one language fluently: bilingual and multilingual. However, since bilingual is somewhat misleading if someone speaks more than two languages fluently, multilingual is the most proper label.

Which of the following would NOT be considered a part of sociolinguistics?

• The study of the attitudes of people toward certain speech characteristics

• The study of socioeconomic and/or political power factors and their influence on language change.

• The general perception of a dialect within a society

• The study of the sounds in spoken language

Answer explanation

The study of the interaction between sounds in spoken language is referred to as phonology, which is itself a proper subset of linguistics. Phonetics refers to the sounds present in spoken language. While both are important to sociolinguistic scholarship, neither is central to the subject. Sociolinguistics is mostly concerned with the study of why language is used in a particular manner, or why it has changed from a previous accepted norm to the current norm.

Which of the following is NOT a dialect of English?

• Pennsylvania Dutch

• Gullah

• RP, or "BBC" English

• Boston Brahmin

Answer explanation

Despite the misleading name, Pennsylvania Dutch is a dialect of German, or more properly Low German (Plattdeutsch). The "Dutch" part comes from the mis-application of the English prounciation of "Deutsch" (German) into American English orthography as "Dutch". However, Dutch is a separate, but closely related language, spoken in The Netherlands (or Holland) and parts of Belgium.

RP or "BBC" English is the standardized version of English spoken in the UK. Gullah (sometimes referred to as Geechie or Gullah/Geechie) is a dialect of English spoken on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia. (Some might consider Gullah/Geechie to be a creole language rather than a dialect, with significant arguments to support such a claim.) Boston Brahmin is a dialect spoken by a small group of upper-class Bostonians.

Teacher: “have you done your homework Zafran?

Zafran: Yes sir, saya sudah kerja my homework”.

Maaf sir, kemarin I was sick.

the utterance above, most closely refers to?

• Code Switching

• Code Mixing

• tag switching

• Polyygosia

Answer explanation

From example above, the student use the peace of English word to answer the teacher’s question, it’s because the student does not know how to say in English. However, grammatically the sentence of students is also suitable for grammar in English.

Blom and Gumpers as quoted by Gibbons they say that code mixing is behavior element

from one code become to some extent integrated into another. One code, the base code, is normally dominant, and speakers use the second code in an additive fashion. Elements from the latter code tend to be some extent assimilated and consequently are used less consciously.

Code-mixing is one of the major kinds of language choice which is subtler than code-switching. In code-mixed sentences, pieces of one language are used while a speaker is basically using another language. These 'pieces' of the other language are often words, but they can also be phrases or larger units. From describing before, we can see that the definition of code-mixing is limited to the shift of code found within one and the same clause or sentence.

The linguistic term "code-switching" refers to which of the following?

• Using a secret or exclusive language in certain circumstances

• The use of jargon within a language

• A speaker's use of more than one language, dialect or register in an utterance or interaction

• A type of cryptology

Which of the following languages was not widely spread as a result of colonialism?

• French

• Swedish

• English

• Spanish

Answer explanation

While all political powers have at one time or another spread their language through exploration, the best answer is Swedish. The French, English and Spanish spread their languages to far corners of the world during the period of European colonization (circa 1500-1900).

What is language death?

• the two men do not speak to each other.

• a process in which a language loses its speakers and becomes extinct

• the speaker loses her language.

• there is no one language at the country

Answer explanation

It can happen when a speech community's linguistic competence in their language variety decreases over time, or when they switch to another language due to various factors, such as colonialism or intermingling. Language death can affect any language form, including dialects.

"Pidgin" most closely refers to:

• A rudimentary language used primarily for business/trade interactions

• A language group in central Africa

• People who speak multiple dialects

• An extinct Native American language

Answer explanation

A pidgin language is a language used almost exclusively for economic purposes between two or more groups of people who do not share a common language (such as a lingua franca). Pidgins lack the syntactic complexity of a natural language or a creole language, and instead are heavily focused on nouns and the most basic verbs. Adjectives, adverbs and other more nuanced elements of natural languages are generally sparse or non-existent.