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67 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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df language acquisition
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natural, unconscious process of language development that occurs without instruction
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df language learning
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process of gaining conscious knowledge of language through instruction
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What are Hockett's 6 design features of language?
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semanticity, arbitrariness, discreteness, displacement, productivity and duality of patterning
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explain semanticity
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specific signals can be matched with specific meaning - words have meaning
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explain arbitrariness
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there is no logical connection between the form of the signal and the thing it refers to
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The fact that dog in English is hund in German and perro in Spanish is an example of which design feature of language?
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arbitrariness
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explain discreteness
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(one of the design features of language) messages in the system are made up of smaller, repeatable parts rather than indivisible units
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The fact that a word can be broken down into units of sound is an example of which design feature of language?
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discreteness
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explain displacement
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(one of the design features of language) The language user can talk about things that are not present or things that are not currently existing
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explain productivity
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(one of the design features of language) language users can understand and create never-heard before utterances
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explain duality of patterning
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(one of the design features of language) a large number of meaningful utterance can be recombined in a systematic way from a small number of discrete parts.
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Adding suffixes to a root or combining words in numerous ways to create novel sentences is an example of which design feature of language?
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duality
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df grammar
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A complex system of rules that governs how speakers organize sounds into words and words into sentences.
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What are the components of grammar?
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PMS - phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics
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df phonetics
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the inventory of sounds in a language
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df phonology
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rules of how sounds are combined in a language
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df morphology
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the rules of word formation in a language
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df syntax
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rules of sentence formation in a language
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df semantics
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rules that govern how meaning is expressed by words and sentences
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How many vowel sounds in English?
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12
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What is a grammatical sentence?
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a possible sentence in the language - one a speaker would naturally produce, regardless of its social value.
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What is an ungrammatical sentence?
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a sentence that is impossible in a given language
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df descriptive grammar
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a set of grammatical rules based on what we say, not on what we should say according to some language authority
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df prescriptive grammar
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a set of grammatical rules prescribed by a language authority
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What does it mean to split infinitives
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you should not divide the infinitive form of a verb - to go, to work eg to boldly go, to carefully work are split infinitves
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What is language modification?
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the adjustment, change, and modification of grammatical systems based on various social factors.
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The shift from child language to adult speech is an example of what?
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Modification
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The differences between Old English, Middle English and current English is an example of what?
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the continuum of language varieties
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Explain the continuum of language varieties
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grammars that share enough of a historical and grammatical relationship to be recognized as varieties of one language.
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What are dialects?
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a variety of a lnaguage that differs from other varieties in grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary and that is spoken and understood by a particular group, which might be identified by region, ethnicity, social class, etc.
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What is universal grammar (UG)?
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the set of linguistic rules common to ALL languages; hypothesized to be part of human cognition
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The fact that all languages combine subjects and predicates to form larger units or classes is an example of what?
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Universal grammar
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What does null subject language mean?
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the subject of the sentence is unpronounced but clearly interested as third-person singular?
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What are linguistic parameters?
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binary (on/off) settings of universal grammatical principles proposed to account for differences among languages
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Give an example of linguistic parameters
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In some languages the word order may be svo (English) while in others it is sov (Japanese)
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What are 4 universal principles of language?
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> they all have subjects and predicates
>they all have nouns and verbs >they all have a subset of sounds > they all have similar ways of categorizing meaning distinctions |
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Why is body language not a language?
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> It cannot combine different gestures to create novel "utterances"
> No displacement - eg handshake means one thing |
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What is linguistics?
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The scientific study of language involving examining data, forming hypotheses about the data and testing those hypotheses.
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What is generative grammar?
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A finite set of rules that allow speakers to create possible sentences in a language.
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Who wrote Syntactic Structures?
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Noam Chomsky
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What do we call Chomsky's theory of grammar?
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Generative grammar
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How was Chomsky's approach to language unique for the time?
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It studied language from the inside out - what is it that we know about language in order to speak it and understand it?
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df rationalism
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a philosophy based on the idea that we use innate knowledge, or reason to make sense of the world
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Name some rationalist writers
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Descartes, Leibniz and Spinoza.
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df empiricism
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A philosophy based on the idea that we gain knowledge not through reason but through experience - the mind starts out blank.
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Name some empiricist philosophers
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John Locke, Thomas Hobbes and David Hume.
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What are descriptive linguists?
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Researchers whose main interest is in observing and cataloging languages
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To which philosophy does Chomsky fall - rationalism or empiricism?
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rationalism - grammatical rules and principles can be inferred from the study of child language.
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Who was the father of modern descriptive linguistics?
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Ferdinand de Saussure (pub 1916)
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What is the central idea of de Saussure's writing/
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language is a structural system
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What is structural linguistics?
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the study of the relationship between signifier and signified and how signs get their meaning from structure.
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What is a signifier?
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a spoken word or signed word or a word on a page.
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How did Saussure explain the signified?
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the concept, idea or meaning of the signifier.
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In Saussure's writing, what connects sound and idea and is abstract rather than concrete?
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the sign
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df langue
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set of organizing principles of signs, including rules of combination
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df parole
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the physical utterance, the use of a sign or a set of signs - it is only the manifestation of langue.
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df linguistic competence
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unconscious knowledge of grammar that allows us to produce and understand a language
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What is linguistic performance?
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the language we actually produce, including slips of the tongue
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What are the subfields of linguistics?
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grammar, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, historical linguistics and anthropological linguistics.
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df grammar
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The study of phonetics, phonology, semantics, syntax and morphology
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df pragmatics
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The study of language use in context, including rules of conversation and politeness conventions
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df sociolinguistics
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The study of how social factors - including class, race and ethnicity - influence language
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df neurolinguistics
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The study of language and the brain, how brain damage(aphasia) affects language and the location of language centers in the brain
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df psycholinguistics
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The study of how we acquire our first language, how we acquire second languages and how we produce and understand sentences
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df computational linguistic
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The study of artificial languages, computer programming and modeling of natural language by computers, including voice production and recognition.
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df historical linguistics
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The study of language change over time, including the study of language families and relationships among the world's languages.
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df anthropological linguistics
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The study of language and culture, including the study of kinship terms and how language shapes cultural identify.
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