Language variation (Edexcel A-Level English Language) quiz

Sociolect

Dialect

Idiolect

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Divergence

Code-switching

Pejoration

Convergence

Accent is pronunciation only; dialect also covers lexis and grammar

Dialect refers to pronunciation alone, while accent is what also covers lexis and grammar

They are exactly the same thing and the two terms can be used interchangeably at all times

Accent is always regional, whereas dialect always refers specifically to Standard English

That Standard English is inherently more logical and clearer than any regional dialect

Covert prestige in non-standard forms, especially among working-class men

That children acquire the grammar of their language innately through an inborn faculty

The Great Vowel Shift that reshaped English pronunciation in the late medieval period

An innate, inborn Universal Grammar shared by all speakers

The spread of the printing press and standardised spelling

Dense, multiplex social networks

Synthetic personalisation in mass-market advertising

Dominates conversations by interrupting men and seizing the floor, as the dominance model claims

Belongs to a different but fully equal subculture, as the difference model of Tannen suggests

Is essentially identical to men's language, with no meaningful differences between the two at all

Is tentative, marked by hedges, tag questions and empty adjectives

Synthetic personalisation

Covert prestige in non-standard speech

Overextension of a word's meaning

Convergence towards an interlocutor

Instrumental power: an advert persuading you to buy

Instrumental power: a judge sentencing a defendant

Influential power: a judge sentencing a defendant

Influential power has no examples

Because it is the single variety that happens to be spoken natively by everyone in the country

Because, unlike regional dialects, it has no fixed grammar rules and so cannot be a dialect itself

Because it is one codified variety with social prestige, not inherently more logical

Because it is exactly the same thing as the Received Pronunciation accent, simply written down

Non-standard forms are simply errors that ought to be identified and corrected wherever they occur

Only Received Pronunciation counts as acceptable English, and other accents fall short of it

Regional dialects have no real grammar rules and are merely careless versions of the standard

Non-standard forms are systematic and valid; the stigma is social, not linguistic