Linguistics Final Exam

Front 1

What is innateness and who coined the term?

Back 1

-it is a property that emerges before it is necessary
-it is not a conscious decision (it is a process that happens regardless of what happens around you

-Eric Lenneberg has to do with innateness

Front 2

Aquisition vs. learning

Back 2

-we don't learn our first language, we acquire it
-direct teaching has little effect
-there is a sequence of milestones (like a baby learning to walk, there are stages)
-there is likely to be a critical period, if you miss it you prob. won't acquire the ability
(i.e., like feral and neglected children that have been isolated for years)

Front 3

What is Imitation Theory?

Back 3

-children acquire their language by imitating the people around them

*they have a phonetic inventory (they are able to pronounce all sounds at first)

Front 4

What is Reinforcement Theory?

Back 4

-children acquire language and produce things/ sounds/ words on their own and are reinforced by either positive or negative feedback
-this is where they decide/learn what is right and wrong in their language (i.e., Giraffe tall...yes it is)
-often use child-directed speech (simplifying syntax and content of sentences for kids 'baby talk')

Front 5

What is the Active Construction of Grammar?

Back 5

-It is also called the U-shaped construction
-it is a graph that shows kids begin young at an imitation stage, which digresses for a while into an overlapping of pattern, then they acquire a full acquisition of the language at an older age

Front 6

What are the first sounds a baby probably makes?

Back 6

-bilabial sounds/ palatals ('mama') come first
-'daddy', alveolar sounds prob. come 2nd
-labiodental sounds/interdental, the baby needs teeth first

Front 7

What is the order of acquisition?

Back 7

1. one word
2. two words
3. plurals
4. positive/ negative stages
5. full sentences
6. questions (subject-verb inversion, "Is the block red?")
7. passives
8. attention getters/ keepers

Front 8

What age is best to start acquiring second language?

Back 8

3-6

Front 9

At what age does a child pass the critical point to learn a second language?

Back 9

-when they hit double digits, puberty

Front 10

Does the U.S.A. have an official language?

Back 10

-no, but english is primary
-not a very bilingual country

Front 11

What are heritage language learners?

Back 11

-they have already acquired a language, but L2 has overtaken L1

Front 12

What is code-switching?

Back 12

-when someone switches back and forth between languages while speaking
-done by constituency
-sometimes because on non-translatable words
-can also happen between speakers

Front 13

Why do people have foreign accents?

Back 13

-They acquire a new language after their phonetic inventory has already been established

Front 14

What is a transfer?

Back 14

When L1 seeps into L2 (sounds and syntax)
(i.e., It was true? / Was it true?)

Front 15

What is fossilization?

Back 15

-Like with Arnold Schwarzenager's accent--> the transfer becomes permanent

Front 16

What are the different variation types of language?

Back 16

1. regional (i.e., U.S.A. has 5 regions)
2. age
3. socioeconomics (Labov's "Klein's/ Macy's experience with 'R's' and the "fourth floor")
4. gender (women more words per sentence than men?)
5. ethnic

Front 17

What are Professor Berger's office hours?

Back 17

Monday (3:30-4:15)
Tuesday (1:00-2:15) At Walker's DT

Front 18

What is Overt Prestige?

Back 18

-how you use your standard language (you are linguistically above average)
-how well you speak this language
-if you sound educated
-if your accent is good
-being able to command this language

Front 19

What is Covert Prestige?

Back 19

-the ability to use both types of slang in the correct way

Front 20

What are the types of slang?

Back 20

1. common slang: everyday slang that everyone uses
(i.e., Fridge, TV)
-it can be associated with either type of prestige

2. in-group slang: it can only be socially accepted with certain groups
(i.e., N word, Que*r in LBGT communities)
-your ability to use this type of slang correctly deals with your Covert prestige)

Front 21

What are some examples of slang used by 'kids these days'?

Back 21

-bruh / brah

-y'all / y'uns / you guys

Front 22

What are some examples of shortenings?

Back 22

-Dt
-legit
-sup?
-preesh
-offish
-def
-totes
-probs
-obvi/ obvs

Front 23

What are some examples of abbreviations?

Back 23

-GTL
-DT
-SMH
-ROFL
-LOL
-BRB
-BTW's

Front 24

Is there a difference between Slang and Jargon?

Back 24

Yes, jargon is like dentist talk

Front 25

What is Phonetic Variation?

Back 25

-different sounds in your sound inventory
(i.e., if you are missing sound, can't roll r's, do clicks)
-this is more rare

Front 26

What is Phonological Variation?

Back 26

-it's based on the environment around a certain sound

Front 27

What are the 5 regions the book distinguises?

Back 27

1. west
2. mid west
3. north east
4. appalachia
5. south

* People make finer grain distinctions around where they live

Front 28

What are some quirks about the south?

Back 28

Phonetic/Phonological: -in'(g), -n, -pin/pen, 'I useta could'

Syntactic: double negatives, double modals ('I might could'), southern dative ('...get me gone')

Lexical: y'all, yonder, ain't, coke, bless her heart, fixin', reckon

Front 29

What are some quirks about the west?

Back 29

Phonetic/ Phonological: [dɄd], [nɄ] (don't say it like us)

Syntactic: 'I'm like, she was all'

Lexical: dude (surfer culture), narley, granola, lookie lou (traffic jam)

Front 30

What are some quirks about the north east?

Back 30

Phonetic/ Phonological: deletion of the 'R', there's a diff. b/w 'marry', 'merry', 'Mary'

Syntactic: 'so don't I'

Lexical: Tonic=all carbonated bevs., 'wicked'

*Ties into socioeconomic variation b/c of Labov study about the use of 'R's' in department stores in NY (Klein's, Macy's and Saks): Asked for something on the 4th floor in each to see who deleted the 'R". Saks used 'R' the most, Macy's usually used the 'R' the 2nd time when asked to repeat themselves, and Klein's deleted the 'R' most of the time

Front 31

What are some quirks about appalachia?

Back 31

Phonetic/ Phonological: use word intitial stress on first syllable (i.e., insurance, November)

Morphological: -a-hunting (used in the progessive readings like 'I am hunting'), 'clumb' past tense of climb

Syntactic: double negation

Lexical: 'Jasper' is a stranger

Front 32

What are some quirks about the midwest?

Back 32

Phonetic/ Phonological: bag--> [beIg], both--> 'bolth'

Syntactic: alls I wanted, can I come with?, I was by her house

Lexical: pop, ven for venison, beggie is a rutabega, sneakers, you(s) guys

Front 33

What are needs verbs?

Back 33

- "hair needs combing" etc. (happens in the south)

- "it needs combed" (happens in the midwest)

Front 34

What's up with anymore?

Back 34

- it can be used in a positive way in the midwest 'I go the the librar a lot anymore'...
-it should be used mostly in negative can't/ don't situations

Front 35

Some quirks about American language and culture?

Back 35

- "let's do lunch"...we don't really mean this, a way of leaving a situation

-"that's what she said jokes"

-sarcasm

Front 36

What are Lexical Borrowings?

Back 36

-borrowed words from other languages used in english

Front 37

What are some Lexical Borrowings from French?

Back 37

-cul de sac
-bon apetit
- 'in lieu of'
-deja vu
-rendez vous
-filet mignon
-resumé
-reconnaisance
-fiancé
-hor d'euvres
-entré

Front 38

What are some Lexical Borrowings from Italian?

Back 38

-laté
-café
-macchiato
-forté
-balcony
-macaroni

Front 39

What are some Lexical Borrowings from German?

Back 39

-kindergarten
-schadenfreude (happiness at the misfortune of others)

Front 40

What are some Lexical Borrowings from Spanish?

Back 40

-patio
-nacho
-burrito
-taco
-poncho
-macho
-armadillo
-mosquito
-armada

Front 41

What are some Lexical Borrowings from Yiddish?

Back 41

-schmuck
-schlep
-oy ve
-klutz

Front 42

What are some Lexical Borrowings from Hawaiian?

Back 42

-ukelele
-aloha

Front 43

What are some Lexical Borrowings from Dutch?

Back 43

-dock
-freight

Front 44

What are some Lexical Borrowings from Arabic?

Back 44

-giraffe
-gazelle
-ghoul

Front 45

What are some Lexical Borrowings from Greek?

Back 45

-bacteria
-physics
-theatre

Front 46

What are some Lexical Borrowings from Japanese?

Back 46

-kareokee
-teriyaki
-tsunami
-soyanara

Front 47

What are some Lexical Borrowings from Native American?

Back 47

-chipmunk
-opossom
-skunk

Front 48

What is folk etymology?

Back 48

-when you borrow a word but don't know how to analyze it in your head, so use words you do know an make your own meaning/word... (i.e., woodchuck, ocek= woodchuck: wood and chuck sounds like woodchuck,

asparagus= 'sparrow grass'

alzheimers= 'old timers'

Front 49

What are Structural Borrowings?

Back 49

Phonological Borrowing: [ ʒ ] from french 'measure', 'vision','garage'

Morphological Borrowing: [Latin and Greek] the plural of phenomenon= phenomena, same with colloquium,

Syntactic Borrowing: [Romansch] a romance language, the adjective in front of the noun like in German

Front 50

What are Loan Translations?

Back 50

-also known as Calques: these are direct translations of words ( a phrase or compound) that are translated from one language to another
-(i.e.,
-kettenraucher: 'chain' 'smoker'
-il va sans dire: "it goes without saying"
-rascacielos: 'skyscrapers'
-te llamo p'atras: "I'll call you back"

Front 51

What happens when languages come into contact with each other, but the two people don't speak the same language? What is this 'new language' called?

Back 51

-simple syntax and morphology are used
-they speak louder
-lots of hand gestures are used

* This new language of sorts is called a Pidgin (an invented simplified language)

Front 52

What is a Pidgin called when it is passed onto the next generation?

Back 52

-a Creole (i.e., the gullah creole...gwine is future tense of 'going to', LA creole, Haitian creole)

Front 53

What are the most common words for Borrowings? and what are words that don't get borrowed?

Back 53

-FOOD ITEMS
-next comes animals, then cultural things, then political words (Kaiser, Caesar, Tzar)

*Non-borrowed words: body parts, sun/moon/water- things that every culture has, so they have a word for it, kinship terms, #'s, function words (like determiners/pronouns etc.) except for 3rd person plural pronouns

Front 54

Where did we borrow the 3rd person plural from and why?

Back 54

-the Scandinavian language 'them' (they/them/they're) now in modern day Swedish it's 'dem' (b/c of strengthening)

-this is b/c back in the day hi=he and also the 3rd person plural was pronounced 'hi' so borrowed from the Scandinavians

Front 55

What is special about the Romani Language?

Back 55

- began in India
-were a nomadic people who spread all across Europe/Africa

*flicka=girl in swedish/ tjej is a more hip word for girl (a Romani word)

*In english 'pal' is Romani
*In spain there is an entire dialect called 'Caló' spoken by the 'Gitanos' or gypsies...it's still hanging around but barely

Front 56

What are non-translatable words?

Back 56

-words that do not have another single word to match it in another language

(i.e., Toska, Mamihlapinatapei, Jayus, Treppenwitz, Tartle, Ilunga, Prozvonit, Tingo)

Front 57

Toska?

Back 57

-a feeling of deep spiritual anguish; usually for no particular reason; soul crushing without reason (Russian)

Front 58

Mamihlapinatapei?

Back 58

- a wordless look shared by two people that want to intiate something, but neither want to make the first move
(Tierra del Fuego)

Front 59

Jayus?

Back 59

- a joke that is told so poorly you can't help but laugh at it (Indonesian)

Front 60

Treppenwitz?

Back 60

-staircase humor; you think of a comeback too late (German)

Front 61

Tartle?

Back 61

-an act of hesitation when introducing someone b/c you forgot or don't know their name (Scottish)

Front 62

Ilunga?

Back 62

-Someone offends you and you're willing to forgive the first time, tolerate it a second time, but will not put up with it a third time (Congo)

Front 63

Prozvonit?

Back 63

-call someone and let it ring once and hope they call back, b/c it's cheaper (Czheck)

Front 64

Tingo?

Back 64

-the process of gradually acquiring things you want by 'borrowing' things from other peoples' houses (Spoken on Easter Island)

Front 65

Keep endangered languages alive (like Navaho)...by?

Back 65

-Arizona, NM Miss Navaho Padgent (wear native clothing, know culture, sheer and butcher a sheep, tell folklore story and it helps to tell it in Navaho, ride a horse)

Front 66

What are the three types of Invented Languages?

Back 66

1. a priori
2. a posteriori
3. modifications

Front 67

a priori?

Back 67

-a type of invented language
-completely made up out of the blue

Front 68

a posteriori?

Back 68

-a type of invented language
-based on natural languages (it usually brings together multiple languages)

Front 69

modifications?

Back 69

-a type of invented language
-make changes to existing languages (modifications to help it survive...it is usually only with one language)

Front 70

What is a Common Language?

Back 70

-it's largely based on English, but more learnable for non-native speakers to grasp it
-uses diacritics

Front 71

What is Real Character Language?

Back 71

-based on similar ideas (more universal-make any language more learnable to outsiders)
-it's more intuitive
-any concept of a language can be identified by any 40 categories of words
-uses diacritics too

Front 72

What is Ro Language?

Back 72

-(1900s) played a bit on people's intuitions and tried to categorize things (i.e., bofoc "red", bofod "orange", bofof "yellow"
-an a priori language

Front 73

What is Loglan Language?

Back 73

-(1950s) supposed to be completely logical
-goal not to be spoken, but understood
-good for science

Front 74

What is Lojban Language?

Back 74

-a split off from Loglan
-a specific tense system
-5 year freeze on the language
-still used today by some

Front 75

What is Laadan Language?

Back 75

-shows the world from the female perspective
-invented by a lady Dr.
[thulid]= lady/lord

Front 76

What is Klingon Language?

Back 76

-not a full language
-hard to require all the sounds
-not a full vocabulary
-a warrior language, no words for mercy, pity, forgiveness, etc.

Front 77

What is Tolkien Language?

Back 77

-Lord of the Ring
-Elvish, Advnail, BlackSpeech, Westron, Common Speech, Entich

Front 78

What is Parseltongue Language?

Back 78

-from Harry Potter
-only 4 sounds [s, ʃ, j, a]

Front 79

What is Interlingua Language?

Back 79

-some people tried to revive Latin with no case endings or inflectional endings
-tried to make word order more important, didn't work

Front 80

What is Esperanto Language?

Back 80

-invented to be a universal language; **has no cultural tie which eliminates the power struggle of a natural language
-based off of other invented languages
-Has caught on better than any other invented language
-has a couple 1000 speakers
-Ido is also a language based off of Esperanto, created by Otto Jespersen but it didn't do well

Front 81

What is Volapuk Language?

Back 81

-based off of Germanic language, but Esperanto brings in other cultures/languages

Front 82

Why should someone speak Esperanto?

Back 82

1. The use of natural languages was 'fundmentally undemocratic'.
2. It's not tied to a culture
3. It's easier to reach fluency
4. It would eventually lead to "the emancipation of humankind"

Front 83

What does Synchronic mean?

Back 83

-language spoken at any given time (a snapshot of language at a specific time)

Front 84

What does Diachronic mean?

Back 84

-linguistics studied over time (a linguistic movie)

Front 85

Do languages tend to change a lot over time?

Back 85

-YES!
-sound, morphology, syntax, meaning, etc., can all change in a language
-i.e., Modern day english spelling show more Middle english:rice like ricce

-Swedish: ett tva tre
-English: one two three ear sister
-Latin: unus duo tres auris soror
-Basque: bat bi iru belari aispa...this is a language isolate (don't really know what it's related to)

Front 86

What does it mean when words have similar sounds and meanings?

Back 86

-there's a good chance they are related by an ancestral language(doesn't count onomonapias and borrowings)

Front 87

What are the forms of reconstructing?

Back 87

1.Internal: use one language's modern form to study its old form (wife/ wives, loaf/ loaves)

2.The Comparative Method: it's a systematic process that uses multiple related languages to come up with an older language, which they all came from. **a Proto language**

Front 88

What are the Daughter Languages of the Indo-Europeans?

Back 88

1. Italic (Latin)
2. Hellenic (Greek)
3. Tocharian
4. Celtic
5. Germanic
6. Indo Iranian (Sanskrit)
7. Anatolian (Auestin)
8. Balto-Slavic (Lithuanian, Ch. Slavi)
9. Armenian
10. Albanian

Front 89

What does it mean if a word has a *?

Back 89

-It is a reconstructed language, a Proto Language

Front 90

What is the Family Tree model?

Back 90

-shows languages branching off from one another beginning with the PIE (Proto Indo-European)

* It only shows language evolution, not contact

Front 91

What is the Wave Diagram model?

Back 91

-shows all Indo-European Languages inside a circle marking their relationships with a solid circle and contact with a dotted circle

* it gets messy and doesn't show language evolution

Front 92

What is the Great Vowel Shift and when did it happen?

Back 92

-happend around 12-1400 and only affecte long vowels
-people began to pronounce vowels a bit differently, caused chart to shift and for dipthongs to be created

*an ex. of a Historical sound change: Old English for mouse= mus/ mice= musi
mus-->mouse/ musi-->müsi--> müs--> mis-->mice
(english don't like the ' ü ')

Front 93

A historical morphological change?

Back 93

-nickname, before great vowel shift was pronounced like german name

an eke name (a other name)--> a neke name (n got analyzed with eke then 'a' got left off...people don't know this word 'neke' so say it sounds like Nick, so....
Nickname

*also happend with an and other
another
a whole nother (nother is not a word)

Front 94

What are Back Formations?

Back 94

-Use the 'er' form of a word to find its base

act:actor
wait:waitor
rob:robber

or the other way
burgle<--burgler
butle<--butler (From the move CLUE)

Cerise-->cherries-->cherry (went from singular and French to plural and english, then to singular and english)

Front 95

What is Paradigmatic Levelling?

Back 95

-describes a paradigm with inconsistencies

PIE *swesor > soror

Front 96

What are Acronyms?

Back 96

-first letter of every word in a long string of words stands for something
(i.e., DMV, NATO, SCUBA, RADAR (radio detection and ranging), NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing)

Front 97

What are Blends?

Back 97

-two words masked together

(i.e., brunch, spanglish, smog, chortle, spork, fugly, Brangelina)

Front 98

What are Clippings?

Back 98

-start out with a longer word and clip a lot of it off

(i.e., exam > examination, dorm > dormitory, gym > gymnasium, auto > auto mobile, taxi and cab > taximeter cabriolet)

Front 99

What are Coinages?

Back 99

-a completely new/made up word

-(i.e., Kodak)

Front 100

What are Conversions?

Back 100

-having a word that's one part of speech and is changed to another

-(i.e., to have a laugh: laugh, go for a run: run, I got this sale, it's a real steal steal, table a meeting: table, chair a meeting: chair)

Front 101

What are Eponyms?

Back 101

-something usually named after someone or something

-(i.e., Washington D.C.: George Washington and Christopher Columbus- district of Columbia, ohm= a unit of measure in science, watt= another unit of measure in sciences, band-aid, kleenex, velcro)

Front 102

What are some Lexical Components that happen over time and that are Non-Traditional?

Back 102

1. Acronyms
2. Blends
3. Clippings
4. Coinages
5. Conversions
6. Eponym

Front 103

Are there Syntactic Changes that occur over time?

Back 103

-They are pretty rare, it's hard to move words around and still them still make sense

-(i.e., as in with the Jespersen Cycle)

Front 104

What is the Jespersen Cycle?

Back 104

-Created by Otto
-it deals with negation in languages and syntactic changes over time with languages
-it says that a negative polarity item can become part of (if not replace) the negation in a language over time by forming the negation itself or some blend of it
-(i.e., the 'ne' and 'pas' in French/ the 'ne' isn't needed anymore)

Front 105

What are Negative Polarity items?

Back 105

-(NPIs) they get construed with negation particles for more emphasis...i.e., 'I don't give a rats ass', or 'Don't bet on your life'.

*English: 'not' came from 'naught'
*German: 'nicht'
*French: 'pas'
*Latin: 'nihil', non filum (not a bean)
*Greek: Ou > not or Ouk (used before a vowel); Homeric form=ouki
ou/ouk <nettoyukid> 'not on your life', this was the original Greek negative particle...this is where the english word for 'quick' comes from

Front 106

What Jobs are out there for a Linguist?

Back 106

1. Forensics (Xenolinguistics: interpreting in the courtrooms)
2. Code Breaking/ Computaional
3. Speech Pathologist/ Therapist (Audiologist)
4. Interpreting
5. Language Education (TSOL) Teachers of a second language...(i.e., Spanish speakers needed in USA and highschool teachers)
6. Law (need to twist words, be very confident in speech
7. Advertising (i.e., 'New Low Price' at Kroger, not the Kroger Plus price...doesn't even have to be lower than the old price...it is just a 'new' price and it is also a 'low' price, or 'Are you trying to lose weight AGAIN?"..this presupposes you've tried it already

Front 107

What is the Critical Time to acquire a language?

Back 107

-birth to puberty