Name: __________________________ 

*This study guide is due on 8/20*

Linguistics for Teachers and WritersTESC • E&W Studies 

Study guide for week 9:

The goals for this week are to: 1) acquire a vocabulary for describing how language varies from speaker

to speaker, and from community to community; 2) explore the ways in which gender affects language

behavior; 3) investigate the ways in which age, socioeconomic status, and culture affect language

behavior; 4) describe the regional variation present in the U.S. today.

Readings:

Language Files: Chapters 10 and 13

Pinker: chapter 12

Exercises from the text:

Language Files: File 10.5 and 13.5.

Additional exercises:

1.  Each of the following words is formed using the rules of some play language. Examine the

words and state the rule that underlies the formation of each set.

a.  egelegephagant, higippogopogotagamugus

b.  nutsbuts, raibaisinsbins, icebicecreambeam

c.  bed and brutter, trimb a clee, chamb lop, sli skope

2.  Consider the following forms (remember, “*” means “unacceptable” and “√” means

“acceptable”):

a.  √fan-fuckin-tastik

b.  *fantas-fuckin-tik

c.  *ab-frigin-solutely!

d.  √abso-frigin-lutely!

e.  *absolute-frigin-ly

f.  *u-bloody-niversity

g.  √uni-bloody-versity

h.  *univer-bloody-sity

i.  *universi-bloody-ty

What principle is guiding the insertion of the expletive into the word? Hint: think about the

syllables and the stress in the word. Now consider the following word. Where would one be

able to insert an expletive into this word? (It is a place name in the US, and is pronounced

“ApalachaCOla”).

 j.  a-fuckin-palachacola * √ 

k.  apa-fuckin-lachacola * √ 

l.  apala-fuckin-chacola * √ 

 

m.  apalacha-fuckin-cola * √ 

n.  apalachaco-fuckin-la * √ 

3.  Each pair of words below is pronounced as shown in at least one American dialect. State

whether you pronounce each word in the way it is given here. If not, state how your

pronunciation differs.

a.  horse [] hoarse []

b.  morning [] mourning []

c.  for [] four []

d.  ice [] eyes []

e.  knife [] knives []

f.  mute [] nude []

g.  pin [] pen []

h.  hog [] hot []

i.  marry [] merry []

 j.  merry [] Mary []

k.  cot [] caught []

l.  father [] farther [:]

m.  (to) lease [] (to) grease []

n.  what [] watt []

o.  ant [] aunt []

p.  creek [] sick []

4.  Choose a particular field of endeavor, (farming, computers, music) and describe the unique

features of its sublanguage.

5.  Often, word choice reflects unexamined attitudes about appropriate gender roles, so that terms

frequently or normatively associated with one gender are modified when used with the other

gender. Examples include “male nurse” instead of “nurse,” “lady doctor” instead of “doctor,”

“family man” but not “family woman,” “career man” but not “career woman.” In other cases,

the feminine suff ix may trivialize the woman’s work/career as in “authoress” or “poetess.”

Collect five examples of such sex-role typing. If you were writing guidelines for nonsexist use of 

language, what sorts of substitutions or suggestions would you offer to deal with such words?

Can you think of any changes to the pronoun system of English that would make it more gender

neutral?

Essential concepts:

dialect

idiolect

accent

mutually intelligible

 

communicative isolation

prestige dialect

overt/covert prestige

dialect continuum

standard dialect

hypercorrection

bidialectal

issolgoss

prescriptive standard

pidgin/Creole

decreolization

style shift

slang