Chapter 1 Flashcards
What is multilingual? Monolingual?
Multi: speaks more than one language (Singapore, London, etc.)
Mono: speaks one language (rural areas like WV)
What is language variation?
Whenever there is a difference in form (ex. Elevator vs. lift) It tells us important info about human language
What is the discrete combinatorial system humans use most for communication? (Discrete meaning separate and combinatorial meaning ability to add together)
Language (bc we put small separate parts together and combine them)
What’s the difference between living langs & dead ones?
The living languages is still spoken by a community of native speakers (i.e. Arabic, French, etc.) whereas dead ones (Latin, Native American langs) are not.
What is a word? A phrase?
A language package containing both form and meaning; combinations of words in structured patterns
What is discourse?
Conversations, monologues, arguments, and any type of talking that uses multiple phrases in a context (turn-taking in the classroom is the best example)
Describe arbitrariness.
It allows for all the possible sound combinations to be possibly paired with all the possible meanings which allows an enormous amount of variation; the natural relationship between form and meaning is arbitrary
What is a mental grammar?
A blueprint we construct for the languages we know; rules, ways in which it can be used; what works & What doesn’t.
What is the prescriptively correct perspective and the rhetorically correct perspective?
Mythically Assumes that one form of language is superior to another and must be protected from variation; judges based upon how well the language worked for that person in that context , which makes the most sense given how Lang works (art of persuasion- did it work or not?)
descriptive approach is when all judgement is suspended
There is a standard~vernacular continuum for language variation. Explain this.
Standard exists in contrast to vernacular, as they are on opposite ends of the spectrum; standard variety of language receives no stigma but vernacular (not standard, “ain’t”) does
What are formal classes and books explaining a language examples of?
Teaching grammars; these include rules that native speakers don’t have to learn
What are prescriptive and descriptive grammars?
Prescriptive: people attempt to be an authority on language, which is incorrect (don’t end a sentence with a preposition)
Descriptive: describe the workings and rules of a language but don’t judge speakers’ usage of that language (book)
What is the place in your mind where language happens, or the language module?
Mental grammar (debate on including lexicon or not)
What is universal grammar?
The biological endowment for building a mental grammar; a set of genetic instructions we use to acquire language
When can meaning be confounded?
With ambiguity, which happens when multiple meanings are attributed to some bit of language (ex. Bat can be a flying bloodsucker or a wooden sport stick)
