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Chapter 7
1. Variation in English. Answers will vary considerably, depending on the dialect of the student. Transcrip-
tions are given in two sample dialects: Dialect A is the one represented in the original question and Dia-
lect B is another American English dialect.
Word
Transcriptions
Word
Transcriptions
Dialect A
Dialect B
Dialect A
Dialect B
a. horse
[hɔrs]
[hors]
hoarse
[hors]
[hors]
b. morning
[mɔrnɪŋ̃]
[mornɪŋ̃]
mourning
[mɔrnɪŋ̃]
[mornɪŋ̃]
c. for
[fɔr]
[for]
four
[for]
[for]
d. ice
[ʌɪs]
[aɪs]
eyes
[aɪz]
[aɪz]
e. knife
[nʌɪf]
[naɪf]
knives
[naɪvz]
[naɪvz]
f. mute
[mjut]
[mjut]
nude
[njud]
[nud]
g. din
[dɪ̃n]
[dɪ̃n]
den
[dɛ̃n]
[dɛ̃n]
h. hog
[hɔg]
[hag]
hot
[hat]
[hat]
i. marry
[mæri]
[mɛri]
Mary
[meri]
[mɛri]
j. merry
[mɛri]
[mɛri]
marry
[mæri]
[mɛri]
k. rot
[rat]
[rat]
wrought
[rɔt]
[rat]
l. lease
[lis]
[lis]
grease (v.)
[griz]
[gris]
m. what
[ʍʌt]
[wʌt]
watt
[wat]
[wat]
n. ant
[æ̃nt]
[æ̃nt]
aunt
[nt]
[æ̃nt]
o. creek
[kʰrɪk]
[kʰrik]
creak
[kʰrik]
[kʰrik]
2. A. Cameroon English Pidgin and Standard American English.
Some Similarities: Many of the words in the CEP passage are derived from English words, such as tok
“talk,” gud “good,” nuus “news.” The word order seems to be SVO, as in English: mek yi rud tret
B. Tok Pisin derivations.
Tok Pisin
Gloss
Answer
taim bilong kol
winter
time belong cold
pinga bilong fut
toe
finger belong foot
hamas krismas yu gat?
how old are you?
how much Christmas you got?
kukim long paia
barbeque
cook them long fire
sapos
if
suppose
haus moni
bank
house money
kamup
arrive
come up
tasol
only
that’s all
olgeta
all
all together
solwara
sea
salt water
haus sik
hospital
house sick
handet yia
century
hundred year
3. American slang. Answers will vary quite a bit depending on the students’ dialect and age. Note that in
the answers given below, part (1) answers whether or not the word or phrase still exists with an idiomat-
take.”
to get over (seduce, fascinate): (1) Yes; (3) This now means “recover from” as in I’ll get over it.
groovy (settled, limited): (1) Yes; (3) “really good, great”; in modern slang usage, it is sometimes used
looby (a fool): (1) No; (2) dork.
malady of France (syphilis): (1) No; (2) clap, VD.
poky (cramped, stuffy, stupid): (1) Yes; (3) poky (or pokey) can also mean “slow” or “jail.”
4. Slang dictionary. Sample answers:
1. OMG: Wow! (from Oh my God!)
2. chill: cool down; stop acting excited, angry, or nervous
5. British–American equivalents.
British
American
a. clothes peg
clothes pin
b. braces
suspenders
c. lift
elevator
d. pram
baby buggy/stroller
e. waistcoat
vest
f. shop assistant
clerk
g. sweets
candy
h. boot (of a car)
trunk
i. bobby
cop
j. spanner
wrench
k. biscuits
crackers
l. queue
line
m. torch
flashlight
n. underground
subway
o. high street
main street
p. crisps
potato chips
q. lorry
truck
r. holiday
vacation
s. tin
can
t. knock up
wake up
6. Pig Latin.
A. (i) Dialect 1: Suffix [me] to any vowel-initial word.
Dialect 2: Suffix [he] to any vowel-initial word.
Dialect 1
Dialect 2
Dialect 3
honest
[anɪstme]
[anɪsthe]
[anɪste]
admire
[ædmaɪrme]
[ædmaɪrhe]
[ædmaɪre]
illegal
[ɪligɛlme]
[ɪligɛlhe]
[ɪligɛle]
B. (i)
Dialect 1: Take the onset (all initial consonants) from the first syllable of the word, add [e], and suffix
Dialect 1
Dialect 2
spot
[atspe]
[patse]
crisis
[aɪsɪskre]
[raɪsɪske]
scratch
[æʧskre]
[kræʧse]
7. Other English language games.
The rule is to insert -op- after the initial consonant(s) of each syllable, or prefix it if there is no syl-
8. Informal English.
a. Where’ve ya been today? ← Where have you been today?
Contraction of where have to where’ve.
Use of ya for you.
9. Jargon. Answers to this exercise will naturally vary according to the profession or trade the student
chooses to represent. The jargon listed here as a sample answer is taken from the field of academic pro-
fessors at the University of California, Los Angeles.
10. Formal-colloquial translation. Here is a sample “translation” of the first paragraph of the Declaration of
Independence. There are varying degrees of informality in style that could be used in doing this exercise.
11. Cockney rhyming slang.
A
B
Rhyming Slang
Word
a. drip dry
cry
b. in the mood
food
c. insects and ants
pants
d. orchestra stalls
balls
e. Oxford scholar
dollar
f. strike me dead
bread
g. ship in full sail
ale
Constructed rhyming slang. Sample answers:
h. chair
cut your hair
i. house
dirty louse
j. coat
around the moat
k. eggs
eat the dregs
l. pencil
window sill
12. Euphemisms.
A (Euphemism)
B (Meaning)
a. Montezuma’s revenge
diarrhea
b. joy stick
penis
c. friggin’
fuckin’
d. ethnic cleansing
genocide
e. French letter (old)
condom
f. diddle oneself
masturbate
g. holy of holies
vagina
h. spend a penny (British)
urinate
i. ladies’ cloak room
women’s toilet
j. knock off (from 1919)
kill
k. vertically challenged
short
l. hand in one’s dinner pail
die
m. sanitation engineer
garbage collector
n. downsize
fire
o. peace keeping
waging war
13. Words which resemble derogatory words. To argue against this statement, the student could note that
14. Waitron and waitperson. Answers will vary. A Google search retrieved 119,000 hits for waitron and
205,000 hits for waitperson. Thus, it appears that the latter is slightly more popular. Also, they both ap-
first often conflict, and their significance and ramifications must be weighed carefully.
15. Tok Pisin. Answers will vary.
16. Language game.
Cogito ergo sum.
foreplay
17. Newspeak. Answers will vary. It is unlikely that Newspeak would achieve its goal. Human languages
18. Nameless concepts. Answers will vary. What this notion misses is that the concepts humans can enter-
19. Gender and lexical choice. Answers will vary. One observation commonly made is that women use un-
20. Research project: Banned languages. Answers will vary. For example, Macedonian was once banned in
Greece.
21. Abbreviated English.
A. Translations.
a. Clinton is in Bulgaria this week.
B. Distinguishing features of AE.
C. Other contexts (answers may vary).
Recipes and journals exhibit similar—but not identical—abbreviated forms. Recipes are generally se-
ries of orders, so there is a dropped (but implied) second-person subject with concomitant verb agree-
Challenge exercises:
22. Euphemisms in daytime soaps. Answers will vary.
23. That’s not a language, it’s a dialect. Answers will vary. Here is one possible retort: It’s interesting that
you use dialect in that way because linguists actually use it differently. I’ve heard a lot of people use dia-
24. Preserving linguistic diversity. Answers will vary. Sample answer: A society can act to preserve linguis-
tic diversity by promoting multiple language use. This can be done by setting up cultural/language cen-
25. Ebonics in the classroom. Answers will vary. Possible arguments in favor of the use of Ebonics in the
classroom include that the use of Ebonics in a classroom would make the students who are speakers of
26. The use of Karen in Myanmar. Answers will vary.
27. Pygmalion. Answers will vary. Professor Henry Higgins would benefit from an introductory linguistics
class. His notion that only foreigners who have been explicitly taught the rules of English can speak it
