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It shows how language evolves as a process of 'competition-and-selection', and how certain linguistic features emerge. [2] The Dynamic Model illustrates how the histories and ecologies will determine language structures in the different varieties of English, and how linguistic and social identities are maintained.
Variation is a characteristic of language: there is more than one way of saying the same thing in a given language. Variation can exist in domains such as pronunciation (e.g., more than one way of pronouncing the same phoneme or the same word), lexicon (e.g., multiple words with the same meaning), grammar (e.g., different syntactic constructions expressing the same grammatical function), and ...
The variations will determine some of the aspects of language like the sound, grammar, and tone in which people speak, and even non-verbal cues. Code-switching is the term given to the use of different varieties of language depending on the social situation. This is commonly used among the African-American population in the United States.
The use of the word variety to refer to the different forms avoids the use of the term language, which many people associate only with the standard language, and the term dialect, which is often associated with non-standard language forms thought of as less prestigious or "proper" than the standard. [3]
The following is a non-exhaustive list of standardized tests that assess a person's language proficiency of a foreign/secondary language. Various types of such exams exist per many languages—some are organized at an international level even through national authoritative organizations, while others simply for specific limited business or study orientation.
In the Language Survey Reference Guide issued by SIL International, who produce Ethnologue, a dialect cluster is defined as a central variety together with a collection of varieties whose speakers can understand the central variety at a specified threshold level (usually between 70% and 85%) or higher. It is not required that peripheral ...
When different language varieties come into contact, a variety of relationships can form between the two, all typically influenced by prestige. When they have equal power or prestige, they form adstratum , as exemplified by Old English and Norse , which shared elements with each other more or less equally.
There are generally four types of spelling tests. In an oral spelling test, the teacher pronounces each word out loud and the students write each word down. In a spelling bee-type test (see spelling bee below), each student is asked individually one-at-a-time to spell a (different) specific word out loud. In a proofreading-style test, sentences ...