4380 Exam 2 Ch 5 Keyterms

Front 1

anaphora

Back 1

referring back to previous discourse through the use of pronouns, definite articles, and other linguistic devices. For example, "I saw a rainbow. It was beautiful."

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binding principles

Back 2

according to government and binding theory, these are part of the rules of our grammar that dictate the relation between words such as pronouns and their referents.

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closed-class

Back 3

in language, this is one of a small group of words with a role that is basically grammatical in nature, such as articles and prepositions in English

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coordination

Back 4

grammatical combinations that can involve two or more sentences connected by conjunctions or combined phrases (e.g. sue and bill ate and drank)

Front 5

d-structure

Back 5

in linguistic theory, refers to the level of a grammar that captures the relationship between subject and object in a sentence

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functional category

Back 6

a grammatical category within the d-structure of a sentence, containing inflectional, complementizer, and other similar elements

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government and binding theory

Back 7

it proposes only one type of transformation (movement of elements), the specification of possible grammatical frames for lexical items and their mapping onto the syntax of sentences, and universal constraints on possible syntactic rules, among many other notions

Front 8

index of productive syntax (IPSyn)

Back 8

a method of evaluating children's spontaneous language that relies upon scoring a sample for the presence of various grammatical forms

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lernability

Back 9

the fact that children master their native tongues across the world in spite of the supposed indecipherable nature of language has come to be called this by nativists who believe that children cannot learn language from what they hear.

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lexical category

Back 10

one of the categories of the d-structure that includes content words and their meanings, according to GB theory

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limited scope formulae

Back 11

simple combinatorial rules followed by children at the two-word stage of language development

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logical form

Back 12

the component of the s-structure in government and binding theory that captures the meaning of the sentence and connects it to other parts of cognition

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mean length of utterance (MLU)

Back 13

a measure applied to children's language to gauge syntactic development; the average length of the child's utterances is calculated in morphemes.

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negation

Back 14

the process ofmaking a sentence negative, usually by adding no or not and auxiliary articles, when appropriate.

Front 15

overregularization errors

Back 15

an irregular form that has been (incorrectly) made regular (e.g. foots, holded)

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parameter

Back 16

a kind of linguistic switch that the yound learner "sets" after exposure to the language-one of a finite number of values along which languages are free to vary.

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passive is

Back 17

sentences in which the object of action is highlighted: The girl was kissed by the chimpanzee.

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plhonetic form

Back 18

a major component of the s-structure, according to government and binding theory. the phonetic form is the actual sound structure of the sentence

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phrase structure rules

Back 19

a major part of the d-structure, according to GB theory, that captures the relation between subjects and predicates.

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relative clauses

Back 20

a dependent clause that begins with a relative pronoun (that, where, who, and so on)

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semantic relations

Back 21

characterizing the limited set of meanings conveyed by children's early utterances.

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sentence modality

Back 22

the basic forms sentences may take, including declaratives, questions, and imperatives

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s-structure

Back 23

one of the major levels of a grammar, according to government and binding theory. the s-structure contains the linear arrangement of words in the sentence

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syntax

Back 24

the rules by which sentences are made, such forms as passives, declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives.

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telegraphic

Back 25

speech that consists of content words without functors, much like a telegram

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thematic roles

Back 26

the components of GB grammar that connect the lexicon to the logical form component of the s-structure, assigning noun phrases to roles such as agent or location

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transformational rule

Back 27

in Chomsky's latest grammar, [move a]-meaning move any part of the sentence to a new postion-applied to the d-structure, produce various syntactic surface forms while retaining the meaning or intent of the original

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universal grammar

Back 28

hypothetical set of restricitons governing the possible forms all human languages may take

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universality

Back 29

property assumed to characterize all human languages

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wh-questions

Back 30

a question preceded by a wh-word, such as who what why where when or how that requires specification of the missing element in the answer.

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yes/no question

Back 31

a question that may be responded to by saying "yes" or "no"