Meier's Linguistic Packet Lists

Front 1

The Six Properties of Language (12)

Back 1

-Creativity

-Discreteness

-Duality

-Arbitrariness

-Displacement

-Cultural Transmission

Front 2

(Properties of Language) Creativity (12)

Back 2

(Properties of Language) Ability to produce new expressions and new sentences. This aspect is linked to the fact that the potential number of utterances in any human language is infinite.

Front 3

(Properties of Language) Discreteness (12)

Back 3

(Properties of Language) Despite the fact that language is produced in a continuous stream, we perceive that stream to be a sequence of distinct sounds.

Front 4

(Properties of Language) Duality (12)

Back 4

(Properties of Language) Language is organized at two levels: individual sounds (distinct sounds) and a combination of these sounds (distinct meanings). With a limited set of distinct sounds we are capable a producing a very large number of sound combinations.

Front 5

(Properties of Language) Arbitrariness (12)

Back 5

(Properties of Language) There is no natural connection between a linguistic form and its meaning.

Front 6

(Properties of Language) Displacement (12)

Back 6

(Properties of Language) Allows users of language to talk about things and events not present in the immediate environment. Humans can create fiction.

Front 7

(Properties of Language) Cultural Transmission (12)

Back 7

You do not "inheret" language; it is taught by one's culture.

Front 8

linguistic competence (14)

Back 8

The unconscious knowledge of formal linguistic properties.

Front 9

linguistic performance (14)

Back 9

The actual use of language, including errors, etc.

Front 10

Collocation (19)

Back 10

When a word just "goes with" another word as per language use.

Front 11

Case (20)

Back 11

He- subject

His-possessive

Him- Object

The above differences are differences in ______.

Front 12

How many tenses are there in English? What are they? (23)

Back 12

There are two of these: past and present

Front 13

Why do English teachers say there are more tenses in the English language then there really are?

Back 13

There are two tenses, but the other ones are actually called aspect/manner. The aspects are present perfect, past perfect, present continuous, and past continuous.

Front 14

Present perfect (23)

Back 14

An aspect in English that involves have/has + the past participle.

E.g. I have eaten

She has eaten

Front 15

Past perfect (23)

Back 15

An aspect in English that involves "had."

E.g. I had eaten.

Front 16

Present continuous (23)

Back 16

An aspect in English that involves "to be" and "ing."

E.g. I am eating

He is eating

You are eating

Front 17

Past continuous (23)

Back 17

An aspect in English that involves "to be" and "was/were."

E.g. I was eating

He was eating

You were eating.

Front 18

Is English an inflectional language? (24)

Back 18

English is not this type of language because we depend on word order to understand which noun is the subject and which is the object. In contrast, in this type of language the word endings can tell us this information.

Front 19

Plato's problem (33)

Back 19

How can people know aspects of language they could not have learned from the speech they have already heard?

Front 20

Eight word knowledge types necessary if one is to be considered to have complete knowledge of a word (41):

Back 20

1. Spoken form

2. Written form

3. Grammatical behavior

4. Collocational behavior

5. Frequency

6. Stylistic register constraints (e.g. not elegant)

7. Conceptual Meaning (usually denotation)

8. Word associations (connotations)

Front 21

Euphemism (43)

Back 21

The practice of referring to something offensive or delicate in terms that make it sound more pleasant or becoming than it really is.

War--collateral damage, neutralize, surge, pockets

Death--passed, deceased, departed.

Front 22

Pragmatic competence (48)

Back 22

This entails a variety of abilities regarding the use and interpretation of language in context. Pragmatics norms, especially sociopragmatic norms, will vary from culture to culture because of different perceptions of contextual variables. These perceptions are informed by underlying cultural values and beliefs.

Front 23

Pragmalinguistic (48)

Back 23

Resources for conveying communicative acts and interpersonal meanings, a.k.a., knowing which correct form to use.

E.g. "can I use the bathroom?" is in fact, an accepted form especially in a teacher/student situation. Correcting the student shows pragmalinguistic incompetence.

Front 24

Sociopragmatic (48)

Back 24

Appropriate to context...Norms of behavior for realizing a given speech act in a given context, taking into account: the culture involved, relative age and gender of communicators, and their roles/status..

You know you should lie when your grandmother gives you an ugly sweater you don't like.

Front 25

FIve things of small talk/ phatic communion (53)

Back 25

-to establish "ties of union"

-loaded with social information

-emotionally uncontroversial material

-signals cordiality and tentative social solidarity

-has opening and closing phases

Front 26

(Discourse Analysis) (57) Cohesion

Back 26

(Discourse Analysis) Ties or connections within texts that make up their structure.

Front 27

(Discourse Analysis) (57) Coherence

Back 27

(Discourse Analysis) A person's perception of a text (written or spoken) as making sense/ being connected in a logical way. Goes with ideas, not language form.

Front 28

(Discourse Analysis) (57) Turn-taking

Back 28

(Discourse Analysis) People need to know how long to talk, if/when to overlap, and when to go to the next person based on nonverbal communication or to interpret a pause as temporary.

Front 29

(Discourse Analysis) (57) backchanneling

Back 29

Overlap that is supportive and meant to encourage the speaker to continue.

Front 30

cohesive devices (57)

Back 30

Pronouns, lexical connections, logical connectors, verb tense, definite articles and demonstratives...

Front 31

direct object (107)

Back 31

represents the person or thing upon which the action of the verb is performed or towards which it is directed.

She loves popcorn.

Front 32

indirect object (107)

Back 32

This is generally the receiver of the direct object.

He gave the dog popcorn.

Front 33

intransitive verbs (110)

Back 33

verbs that do not have an object; they can have a modifier/complement.

He is sleeping

She is sleeping soundly

Front 34

transitive verbs (110)

Back 34

verbs that have an object. To test for this, see if a pronoun can be substituted for the complement AND it can be passivized.

She cut the cake.

She cut it.

Front 35

ditransitive verbs (110)

Back 35

When a verb has two objects, one is the direct object and one is the indirect object. (They aren't always used this way, but can be.)

She sent him some flowers.

I called him a cab.

Front 36

complex transitive verbs (111)

Back 36

When the object of the verb requires its own complement. (They aren't always used this way, but can be.)

He put the book (on the table).

I called him (a fool).

Front 37

linking verbs (111)

Back 37

Verbs that connect the subject of the verb to additional information about the subject.

John is a nurse.

The room looks clean.

Front 38

middle verbs (111)

Back 38

Verbs you cannot passivize within a sentence but a nominal complement follows.