Myth or fact: languages change because younger generations of speakers degrade the language of their ancestors and don't learn the rules properly.
MYTH: Language change is natural!
100
A high school women's sports team called the Lady Panthers is an example of this kind of language.
What is Marked.
100
The name for the language someone's ancestors spoke (whether or not that person speaks it themselves.)
What is Heritage Language.
100
What is the 5th largest Spanish-speaking country in the world?
What is the United States.
100
The way words sound -- EVERYONE has one of these!
What is Accent.
200
When "going to" becomes "gonna," it is an example of this pattern of language change.
What is Economy.
200
This pronunciation, viewed as unprofessional in African American English, can be traced back to the 8th century (from the Old English acsian).
What is Ax.
200
Fact or myth: people who code switch or speak mixed languages like Spanglish do so because they speak neither language fluently.
MYTH. It takes an enormous amount of fluency to code switch.
200
What does the term "Chicana/o" mean?
What is a Mexican-American (often with political connotations - think Cesar Chavez)
200
Bubbler vs. water fountain vs. drinking fountain is an example of difference in this level of linguistic structure.
What is Lexicon.
300
When "estacionar" becomes "parquear," it is an example of this pattern of language change.
What is contact (in this case between English and Spanish).
300
What do you call it when listeners identify a speaker's social characteristics by the sound of their voice alone, and treat them a certain way because of it?
What is linguistic profiling.
300
The multiple ways in which children, normally of immigrants, use their knowledge of two languages to speak, read, write, listen and do things for others.
What is Language Brokering.
300
How did the United States use language as a tool of oppression for Native Americans?
What is boarding schools. ("kill the Indian and save the man")
300
When a language operates according to an unspoken set of laws.
What is rule governed.
400
The name for a word borrowed and incorporated into another language without translation (e.g. burrito).
What is loanword.
400
What is the reason that people tend to view "Standard English" as more correct or better than other kinds of English?
What is POWER (and racism, classism, etc.)
400
Being able to understand but not speak your heritage language.
What is Receptive Bilingualism.
400
What are the two most commonly spoken heritage languages in the US? (bonus points if you know the third)
What are Spanish and Mandarin. (3rd = Tagalog)
400
The "music" of a language - how we know that a sentence is a question or a statement, for example.
What is intonation/prosody.
500
When, in a situation of contact, a speech community gradually stops using one of its languages and replaces it with another (often due to immigration).
What is language shift.
500
Despite racist colonial ideologies about indigenous people of the Americas, the Spanish still borrowed a lot of words from their languages. (1) What is an example, and what language did it come from? (2) Why did they borrow this word?
Example: aguacate (from Nahuatl). Because avocados did not exist in Spain, so there was no word for them.
500
The whole set of linguistic tools people have that allow them to adapt their language as they talk in different situations, relationships and activities
What is language repertoire.
500
What is the official language of the US?
What is none! (The United States, despite lobbies from organizations like English First, has no official language.)
500
Myth or fact: Speakers code-switch in a sloppy way, switching between languages anywhere they feel like it.
MYTH! Code-switching follows a strict set of grammatical rules.