Linguistics 100 Final Definitions

Front 1

Absolute vs. Relative frame of reference

Back 1

Absolute- (fixed external reference point)- north, south, east, west, uphill, downhill, inland, oceanward, upriver, downriver
Relative- left, right, in front of, behind.

Front 2

Affricate

Back 2

Sounds produced by complete obstruction of airflow, followed by slight release of the articulators, allowing frication. AKA a stop followed by a fricative. [ʧ](church), [ʤ](judge).

Front 3

Allophone

Back 3

One of a set of non-distinctive realizations of the same phoneme. English [n] and [ŋ]. Interchangeable in a language- doesn't impact meaning.

Front 4

Allomorph

Back 4

One of a set of non-distinctive realizations of a particular morpheme that ahve the same function and are phonetically similar. English -ed can appear as [əd] in started, [-t] as in picked, [-d] as in loved.

Front 5

Alveolar

Back 5

Description of sounds produced by making contact between the tongue and alveolar ridge. t, d, s, z, n, l, ɹ.

Front 6

antonymy: contradictory, contrary, scalar aspiration.

Back 6

Words that are in some sense opposite. Contradictory (aka complimentary)- only two choices, must be one or the other- on/off, visible, invisible, . Contrary (aka relational)- Opposites within a relationship. Everything is ether X, or Y or neither. doctor/patient, coffee/tea, over/under, alive/dead.
Scalar (aka gradable)- two opposing points on a scale- good/bad, strong/weak, hot/cold. Use "quite" in sentence as a test.

Front 7

aspiration

Back 7

A puff of air that follows the release of a consonant when there is a delay in the onset of voicing. Symbolized by a superscript h.

Front 8

basic (elsewhere) vs. restricted allophone

Back 8

An allophone of a phoneme that is used when none of the change inducing conditions are fulfilled. Least limited. English Retroflex vs alveolar r. Can be free interchanged.
Restricted allophone- The allophone of a phoneme that apeas in a more limited set of phonetic environments. [ŋ] replaced [n] when followed by g or k.

Front 9

bilabial

Back 9

Sound produced by bringing both lips together. [p, b, m, w]

Front 10

conflation

Back 10

multiple parts expressed as a single morpheme- motion + manner, cause, path, figure but not ground normally.

Front 11

deletion (phonology)

Back 11

process by which a sound present in the phonemic form (underlying form) is removed from the phonetic form in certain environments. /h/ may be deleted in unstressed syllables. handed her his hat- [hi hændəd r ɪz hæt]

Front 12

denotation/reference

Back 12

The entity to which a word or linguistic expression relates. For the word "table" it is actually a physical table.
?

Front 13

diphthong vs. monophthong

Back 13

Diphtohong- a two part vowel sound consisting of a vowel and a glide in the same syllable. English [aɪ] buy, [aʊ] bow down, [ɔɪ] (boy), [oʊ] arrow, [eɪ] bay.
Monophthong- i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ, a, ə, ʌ, ʊ, u, ɔ.

Front 14

downward entailment

Back 14

Whenever we have to verb phrases VP₁and VP₂such that VP₁is always a subset of VP₂then [DET N VP₂ entails [DET N VP₁]. Usually used in phrases with particular determiners- 'no', 'at most'- No student got a grade in Ling 100 entails no student got a good grade in Ling 100.
VP₁= got a good grade in Ling100, VP₂= got a grade Ling 100.

Front 15

entailment

Back 15

A=B
Mattuchi runs fast entails Mattuchi runs.

Front 16

Free variation

Back 16

Term used to refer to two sounds that occur in overlapping environments but cause no distinction in the meanings of the respective words. Aspirated [p] can replace un-aspriated [p] freely without context requirement or change of meaning.

Front 17

fricative

Back 17

Sounds made by forming a nearly complete obstruction of the airstream so that when air passes through the small passage, turbulent airflow (frication) is produced. f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ]

Front 18

front, central, back

Back 18

front- i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ,
central- ə, ʌ
back- u, ʊ, o, ɔ, a

Front 19

glide

Back 19

Sounds produced with a closure in the vocal tract that is only slightly more constricted than that for vowels. j, w.

Front 20

glottal

Back 20

Sounds produced with the glottis.
ʔ, h

Front 21

Gricean Maxims:

Back 21

Conversation rules that regulate conversation by enforcing compliance with the Cooperative principle. (what one says contributes to the purpose of conversation).

Front 22

Gricean Maxim: Quality

Back 22

1. Do not say what you believe to be false.
2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

Front 23

Gricean Maxim: Relation or Relevence

Back 23

Be relevant- stay on topic

Front 24

Gricean Maxim: Quantity

Back 24

1. make your contribution as informed as required.
2. Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

Front 25

Gricean Maxim: Manner

Back 25

1. Avoid obscurity of expression.
2. Avoid ambiguity.
3. Be brief.
4. Be orderly.

Front 26

high, mid, low

Back 26

high- i, ɪ, u, ʊ
mid- e, ə, ɛ, ʌ, o, ɔ
low- æ, a

Front 27

insertion

Back 27

Phonological process by which a segment in the phonemic or underlying form, is added to the phonetic form. athlete [æθəlit] schwa is added.

Front 28

interdental

Back 28

Term used to refer to sounds produced by positioningthe tip of the tongue between the upper and lower teeth. [θ, ð]

Front 29

intersection (intersective) vs. non-intersective adjectives.

Back 29

Intersetion-Adjectives that are a set, which when added to nouns of a set, intersect to a subset. all red things, all roses- subset- red roses.
Non-intersective- comparative adjectives (big- as in big mouse)
Anti- as in fake Rolex or former professor.
Alleged unabomber

Front 30

intonation vs. tone.

Back 30

Intonation- commonly refers to the patterns of pitch movements across a stretch of speech such as a sentence. Can impact meaning.
tone- pitch at which the syllables of a word are pronounced; can make a difference in meaning.

Front 31

inverse scope

Back 31

second interpretation of ambiguous sentences. In Two professors irritate every graduate student, it is the meaning in which verb2 has domain over the subject.- Every grad student has two (possibly different) profs who irritate him/her.

Front 32

labiodental

Back 32

Sounds produced by making contact between the lower lip and the upper teeth. f, v.

Front 33

liquid

Back 33

Consonant sounds made by an obstruction of airflow that is less narrow than that of stops or fricatives, but more narrow than glides. l, r.

Front 34

minimal pair

Back 34

Two words that vary only by one single sound, and have different meanings. They determine allophones of separate phonemes. map and nap.

Front 35

nasal

Back 35

sounds produced by making a complete obstruction of the airflow in the oral cavity and by lowering the velum to allow air to pass through the nasal cavity. n, m, ŋ

Front 36

natural class

Back 36

a group of sounds in a language that satisfy a description to the exclusion of other sounds in that language. nasals, voiced, stops,etc. Also- obstruents and sonorants

Front 37

near-minimal pair

Back 37

Like minimal pairs, except words have an addition sound different. fart vs. hard

Front 38

obstruent

Back 38

A natural class of sounds produced with an obstruction of the airflow in the oral cavity while the nasal cavity is closed off. Includes oral stops, fricatives and affricates.

Front 39

sonorants

Back 39

Sounds (usually voiced) produced with a relatively open passage of air flow. Nasals, liquids, glides, and vowels

Front 40

palatal

Back 40

Refers to sounds made with the tongue approximating the hard part of the roof of the mouth (hard palate). ʃ,ʒ,j,ʤ,ʧ

Front 41

phoneme

Back 41

A class of speech sounds identified by a native speaker as the same sound. English n, ŋ

Front 42

polysynthetic (morphology/language)

Back 42

A type of language that attaches several affixes to a stem to indicate grammatical relationships- Latin

Front 43

Principle of Compositionality

Back 43

Frege's principle- the meaning of a sentence is determined by the meaning of its words and by the syntactic structure in which they are combined.

Front 44

rounded vs. unrounded

Back 44

rounded: u, ʊ,ɔ,o
unrounded: all else

Front 45

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Back 45

We are at the mercy of our language which impacts our thoughts. We must mentally encode experiences in sucha way that we can describe them later, in terms required by our language.

Front 46

Static vs dynamic palatography

Back 46

static- olive oil and charcoal on tongue to see where it touches palate.
dynamic- electronically charged palate senses tongue touching palate.

Front 47

stop

Back 47

Nasal and oral.
Nasals, air is stopped at velum. n, m ŋ
Oral- air is stopped in oral cavity then released.
p, b, t, d, k, g, ʔ

Front 48

structural ambiguity

Back 48

groupings of words change meaning.
More intelligent administrators.
shot the soldier with the gun

Front 49

pragmatic ambiguity

Back 49

practical meaning is different from semantic meaning.
Can you tell me the time?

Front 50

syllable

Back 50

a unit of pronunciation that consists of at least a nucleus, maybe a coda and onset.

Front 51

synomymy

Back 51

two or more words with the same referent. Sofa and couch.

Front 52

tense vs lax

Back 52

tense- i, e, u, o
lax- all others

Front 53

velar

Back 53

soft part of roof of mouth (velum) k, g, ŋ

Front 54

vocal folds

Back 54

muscles in larynx that open and close for voicing of sounds.

Front 55

voiced vs voiceless

Back 55

voiced: b m w v ð d z n l ɹ ʒ ʤ g ŋ j w
voiceless: p f θ s t ʃ ʧ k h ʔ

Front 56

VP Topicalization

Back 56

A verb phrase is replaced by a verb.
We thought the new doctrine would prosper, and prosper it did.