ENGL 2000.01-- American Speech
Spring 2006 / Dr. David Newton
Study Guide for Examination I

FINAL EDITION

The following will identify some of the most important terms, concepts, and questions that you will need to know for the first examination. Not all of the questions listed here will appear on the exam. The study guide simply provides you with some specific topics to consider while you study.  Examination I will cover Chapters 1-6 in your textbook, along with supplemental information presented in class and on the course website.

While it may be unfair to judge people based on how they talk, American Tongues and the article we read from The Galt Global Review indicate that such judgments are common in our society. List three (3) specific negative associations that people sometimes make about others based on how they talk.

List 10 general properties of American English. Be prepared to describe two of the properties using an example from the textbook. You can choose which two you want to describe. See p. 12-15.

What are the major stages or periods related to the development of English in America? What are the approximate time periods for these three stages? Describe two major characteristics of each period. See Chapter 2.

Which stage is known as the "National Period" and why?

How do immigrants from the Third Period of English in America differ from earlier immigrant groups? List three major areas these immigrants are from. See p. 21-22

How do Quakers contribute to the development of the second person pronoun in American English? See p. 23.

How does the absence of a fixed standard in Elizabethan English lead to the development of differences between British and American English? Chapter 2.

How do Shakespeare and the King James Version of the Bible reflect the duality between creativity and simplicity respectively in the early development of American English? See p. 24-25.

What is Elizabethan English?

When we say that American English retrains archaic features, what do we mean?

Give an example of an archaic feature related to 1) pronunciation (one example); 2) vocabulary (two examples).

What contribution do Native American languages make to the development of American English? Give two examples.

Give a lexical (word) example of how the following languages contribute to the vocabulary of American English: French, German, and Spanish.

What is Yiddish and how does it contribute to the development of American English? Give two examples. See p. 35.

Who are Lewis and Clark and how do they contribute to the development of American English through naming? Give two examples.

Give an example of new American words that are used to describe objects in the following categories: 1) plants; 2) animals, 3) geography. See p. 38-39.

How do the following activities contribute words to American English? Give an example of each: 1) Gambling; 2) Drinking; 3) Western Ranching (the cowboy); 4) miners; and 5) the railroad. See 40-43.

What are transfer names? Give an example. See p. 44.

What are personal commemorative names? Give an example. See p. 44-45.

What is linguistic geography?

Who is Hans Kurath?

What is the difference between an idiolect, a dialect, and a language? Be able to define these terms and know the difference between them. See p. 52.

What is an isogloss? How do isoglosses help us to determine dialect boundaries or regions?

What is the D.A.R.E.? How has it contributed to our understanding of American English?

Briefly outline the five major methods of linguistic geography. See p. 54-55.

Based on his work with linguistic geography, Hans Kurath identified how many major dialect regions? What are these? See p. 63.

The Northern dialect is comprised of what two major sub-regions or subdialects?

List characteristics of the Northern dialect from the following: 1) pronunciation (two examples); 2) vocabulary (two examples).

List characteristics of the Coastal Southern dialect from the following: 1) pronunciation (two examples); 2) vocabulary (two examples).

What are two subdialects of Coastal Southern?

What area comprises the Midland dialect? Where does it originate and extend to? How are the immigrants who initially comprised this area different from those who comprised the Northern and Southern areas?

List two characteristics of the Midland dialect.

How do New York, Boston, the Coastal South, and the Midland areas compare when it comes to the presence or absence of / r / in pronunciations, especially after vowels?

What are three major reasons for the relative uniformity of American English? See p. 73

Who is William Labov? See p. 75.

How does the study of social dialects differ from the study of regional dialects? See p. 75 ff.

List four factors that contribute to social variation in language. See p. 79-80.

What is Standard American English? See p. 80-83 and class lectures.

What is Nonstandard (or Vernacular American English? List four stigmatized features that often mark a speaker as nonstandard. See p. 82-84.

Which is more logical, Standard or Nonstandard American English? Which is systematic? Which is governed by rules? See p. 83-84.

List three efforts at standardizing American English. See p. 85-86.

List two reasons why Noah Webster believed there was a need to standardize American English. See p. 86.

What is the difference between prescriptive and descriptive grammar? Class lecture.