Chapter 1 Flashcards
linguistic competence
What we know when we know a language, the unconscious knowledge that a speaker has about his or her native language. Linguistic Competence is stored in your mind.
linguistic performance
The observable use of language. The actualization of one’s linguistic competence. Linguistic Performance is revealed in your speech.
performance error
Errors in language production or comprehension, including hesitations and slips of the tongue. For ex: not remembering a word, mispronouncing something, or jumbling words in a sentence.
speech communication chain
The process through which information is communicated consisting of an information source, transmitter, signal, receiver, and destination.
speech communication chain steps
Step 1: Think of what you want to communicate
Step 2: Pick out words to express the idea
Step 3: Put these words together in a certain order following rules
Step 4: Speak: Send the sounds through the air
Step 5: Send those pronunciations to your vocal anatomy
Step 6: Figure out how to pronounce these words
Step 7: Perceive: Listener hears the sounds
Step 8: Decode: Listener interprets sounds as language
Step 9: Connect: Listener receives communicated idea
lexicon
A mental repository of linguistic information about words and other lexical expressions, including form, meaning, morphological, and syntactic properties.
mental grammar
The mental representation of grammar. The knowledge that a speaker has about the linguistic units and rules of his native language. For ex: what the linguist is actually trying to understand.
language variation
The property of languages having different ways to express the same meanings in different contexts according to factors such as geography, social class, gender, etc.
descriptive grammar
Objective description of a speaker’s knowledge of a language (competence) based on their use of the language (performance). For ex: the linguist’s description of the rules of a language as it is spoken.
evidence that writing and language are not the same (list 4 reasons)
- Writing does not exist everywhere
- Writing must be taught
- Writing can be edited
- Neurolinguistic evidence
reasons some people believe writing to be superior to speech (list 3 reasons)
- Writing can be edited
- Writing can be taught
- Writing is more physically stable
prescriptive grammar
The set of rules designed to give instructions regarding the socially embedded notion of the “correct” or “ proper” way to speak or write.
prescribe
Prescriptive grammar its is being prescribed like a dr’s prescription of medicine. Prescriptive rules serve only to mold your spoken and written English to some norm.
Charles Hockett’s nine design features (necessary for a communication system to be considered a language) (list)
- the list tells us a great deal about what language is like and what we can do with it*
- Mode of Communication
- Semanticity
- Pragmatic Function
- Interchangeability
- Cultural Transmission
- Arbitrariness
- Discreteness
- Displacement
- Productivity
mode of communication
Means through which a message is transmitted and received. Mainly by voice, but can we hand, arm, head, and face movement.
semanticity
Convey meaning by means of the symbols we use to form the utterance. Language signals have meaning. For ex: if your friend says to you “pizza” you both have a similar idea of what he is talking about. Even if you hear a word that you don’t know, you would assume that it must have some meaning. “dog” common pet, fur, bark, etc
pragmatic function
The ability to understand another persons intended meaning. For ex: person who needs food might use language to ask for more mashed potatoes or a person trapped in a burning house might stay alive by calling for help.
interchangeability
The property of a communication system by which all individuals have the ability to both transmit and review messages (as opposed to systems where some individuals can only send messages and others can only receive messages) For ex: each human can both produce messages ( by speaking or singing) and comprehend messages of others (by listening or watching)
cultural transmission
Property of a communication system referring to the fact that at least some aspects of it are learned through interaction with other users of the system. For ex: a child who is never spoken to will not learn language. (My parents when watching Liam and Jade, no interaction)
arbitrariness
refers to the fact that a word meaning is not predictable from its linguistic form, nor is its form dictated by its meaning. For ex: no resemblance b/w the language signal and the thing that it represents. pic of dog and th word “dog” “chien” “Hund” “Perro”
linguistic sign
A combination of a linguistic form and meaning.
convention
A certain group of sounds goes with a particular meaning.
nonarbitrariness
Direct correspondence between the physical properties of a form and the meaning that a form refers to.
iconic
Relationship between form and meaning such that the form of a word bears a resemblance to its meaning.
onomatopoeia
Iconic use of words that are imitative of sounds occurring in nature or that have meanings that are associated with such sounds. For ex: splat for the sound of a rotten tomato hitting a wall, burble for expressing the rushing noise of running water.
conventionalized
Something that is established, commonly agreed upon, or operating in a certain way according to common practice. For ex: different languages can have different onomatopoeia words for the same sounds. like rooster says (kakadoodledo) in English but (kukuku) in Mandarin Chinese, even though roosters sound the same in China and America.
sound symbolism
Phenomenon by which certain sounds are suggestive of a particular meaning.
discreteness
The property of communication systems by which complex messages may be built up out of smaller parts. For ex: we can combine the sounds [f] [u] [l] to create the word fool, combining very small number of sounds to create a very large number of meaningful words
displacement
The property of some communication systems that allows them to be used to communicate about things, actions, and ideas that are not present at the place or time where communication is taking place. For ex: communicating about things that are physically and temporally removed from us…
“did you see what happened in the high bar competition on Monday?”
productivity
(unique to human language) for a novel messages built out of discrete units to be produced and understood. For ex: allow creation of new forms, tell which new forms are allowed, and tell how they can be used. (I was tired of cleaning up after my dog in my backyard so I taught him to pole vault)
modality
a mode of communication. for ex: we must be able to use those grammatical rules to produce something in the world, something that others are able to perceive and interpret. it tells us 2 things: how it is produced and how it is perceived.
myths about signed languages (list 4)
- signed languages derive from spoken languages, rather than being languages in their own right.
- signed languages don’t consist of words at all but rather involve signers using their hands to draw pictures in the air or to act out what they are talking about.
- signed languages are pantomime, is that there is only one signed language that is used by deaf speakers all over the world.
- signed languages do not have any internal structure
differences between codes and languages (list 4)
- codes never have native speakers, languages do have native speakers
- codes use certain gestures to represent letters, morphemes, and words of a spoken language and follow the grammar of that spoken language.
- manual codes are not natural languages
- true language, whether spoken or signed is much more efficient means of communicating than signed codes.
