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Which subfield studies how language relates to culture and society?
Sociolinguistics
What is a dialect?
A systematic variety of a language.
What is positive transfer?
When L1 helps with L2 learning.
What is a Community of Practice (CoP)?
A group whose shared practices create distinctive speech patterns (e.g., gamers, K-pop fans).
The area of linguistics that is concerned with word meanings?
Semantics.
What is the critical period hypothesis?
The idea that language learning is easier before puberty.
What is a pidgin?
A simplified contact language with no native speakers.
Explain “overextension” with an example.
Using a word too broadly, e.g., calling all animals “dog.”
True or false? Parents are excellent teachers of language because children learn through instruction.
False - they learn through exposure and interaction.
True or False? Writing is the primary form of language.
False (speech/signing is primary).
What theory says language influences how we perceive and categorize the world?
Linguistic relativity (Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis).
What is a creole?
A fully developed language that began as a pidgin.
What aspect of language did Genie never fully acquire?
Syntax (especially complex grammar).
The area of linguistics that examines phrase and sentence structure?
Syntax.
What social factors influence language variation?
Region, class, ethnicity, gender, age, identity.
What does it mean to say “all dialects are rule-governed”?
Each variety has its own systematic grammar.
What is language death?
When the last speakers of a language stop using it.
What is “audience design”?
Speakers shift style depending on the audience to index identity or solidarity.
A field of linguistics that explores patterns of large bodies of natural text?
Corpus Linguistics.
True or False? Children need explicit correction to learn grammar.
False — they learn implicitly.
What is prescriptivism?
The belief that one form of a language is “correct.”
What is the difference between an alphabet and a syllabary?
Alphabet = one symbol per phoneme; syllabary = symbol per syllable.
What is the typical first stage of child language acquisition?
Babbling.
A field of linguistics that examines sounds and sound structure?
Phonology.
What is overgeneralization? (e.g., goed, mouses).
Applying rules too broadly.