Chapter 1 Flashcards
linguistic competence
What we know when we know a language, the unconscious knowledge that a speaker has about her or his native language.
linguistic performance
The observable use of language. The actualization of one’s linguistic competence.
performance error
Errors in language production or comprehension, including hesitations and slips of the tongue.
speech communication chain
The process through which information is communicated consisting of information source, transmitter, signal, receiver and destination.
speech communication chain steps
step 1: Think of what you want to communicate. Step2: 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: Connection- Listener receives communication idea.
noise
Interference in the communication chain.
lexicon
A mental repository of linguistic information about words and other lexical expressions including their form and meaning and their morphological and syntactic properties
mental grammar
A mental representation of grammar.
language variation
The property of languages having different contexts according to factors such as geography social class gender.
descriptive grammar
Objective description of a speaker’s or group of speaker’s knowledge of a language (competence) based on their use of the language (performance).
evidence that writing and language are not the same (list 4 reasons)
1) Spoken language is acquired naturally and all writing systems must be taught explicitly. 2) The processing and production of written language is overlaid on the spoken language centers in the brain. Spoken language involves several distinct areas of the brain, writing uses these areas and other as well. 3) Writing can be edited before it is shared with others in most cases, while speech is usually much more spontaneous. 4) Archeological evidence indicates the writing is a later historical development than spoken language.
reasons some people believe writing to be superior to speech (list 3 reasons)
1) Writing is usually more aptly worded and better organized, containing fewer errors, hesitations, pauses, fillers words, false starts and incomplete sentences than are found in speech. 2) Writing is more physically stable than spoken language, which consists of nothing more than waves traveling through the air and is therefore ephemeral and transient. 3) Written language can be edited to fit different formats of writing for example texting, tweeting, discussion board posting and emailing, while spoken language can not.
prescriptive grammar
A set of rules designed to give instructions regarding the socially embedded notion of the “ correct” or “ proper” way to speak or write.
prescribe
Advised and authorized the use of writing.
Charles Hockett’s nine design features (necessary for a communication system t be considered a language)(list)
1) Mode of communication. 2) Semanticity. 3) Pragmatic function. 4) Interchangeable. 5) Cultural Transmission. 6) Arbitrariness 7) Discreteness. 8) Displacement. 9) Productivity
