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Linguistics 102 > Classification of Language > Flashcards

Classification of Language Flashcards

1
Q

What’s the difference between a language and a dialect?

A

-“A language is a dialect with an army”, so they have mutual intelligibility but there is a strong difference socio-politically.

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2
Q

How many languages are there in the world?

A

-There are between 3000-8000 languages in the world, the textbook puts it at 7000

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3
Q

Why do languages disappear?

A

1) The speakers die or are killed
2) Languages aren’t protected
3) A different language is favoured for social or economic reasons, so it is not taught to subsequent generations

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4
Q

What are the 3 types of classification and how do they classify languages?

A

Genetic: Their historical relatedness
Linguistic: Their shared features
Areal: Shared features due to inter-language contact

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5
Q

What are language universals?

A

These are features shared by all languages

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6
Q

What are language implications?

A

If _____ then ____

They do not work both directions… only the one way written

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7
Q

What are salient features?

A

These are “marked” features that change can be seen from

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8
Q

What are marked features?

A

These are features that are relatively rare

ie more than 9 vowels, or less than 5

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9
Q

What are marked features

A

These are features that are commonly found throughout languages

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10
Q

What is the average number of vowels, what are they and why?

A

The average number of vowels is 5 (but the normal range is between 5-9)
/i/ /e/ /a/ /u/ and /o/
These are the most common because they are the most spread apart and therefore are the most distinctive from each other.

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11
Q

What is the most common vowel?

A

/a/

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12
Q

What are 2 vowel tendencies?

A

1) Front vowels and low vowels tend to be unrounded (french is an exception)
2) Back vowels tend to be rounded

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13
Q

What are 2 vowel implications?

A

1) If you have nasals you will have orals

2) If you contrast long vowels, you’ll contrast short ones

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14
Q

What are the 3 most common consonants and what is the most common one?

A

1) /p/ /t/ and /k/

2) /t/ is the most common consonant

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15
Q

What are some general characteristics of consonants?

A

1) Nasal consonants are common, with /n/ being the most common
2) Languages without liquids are rare
3) Voiceless consonants are more common

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16
Q

What are the most common fricatives?

A

/s/ and /f/

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17
Q

Having fricatives implies having ________

A

stops

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18
Q

Voiced obstruents implies having _____ ones.

A

voiceless

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19
Q

What are sonorants?

A

These are any phonemes that can be sung…

they are always voiced

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20
Q

What is the suprasegmental system?

A

This is where tones come into play.

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21
Q

What are the 2 types of tones?

A

1) Level: –high __ low

2) contours: ⤴ rising ⤷ falling

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22
Q

What is the implication of tones?

A

Contour tones imply level ones

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23
Q

What is a tonal tendency?

A

There is usually just 2 levels, but never more than 4.

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24
Q

What is the most common syllable structure?

A

CV or V, they are found in all languages

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25
Q

What is an implication concerning clusters?

A

If a language allowed clusters in the onset/code, they will allow single consonants in the onset/coda.

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26
Q

What does English allow in coda clusters?

A

There can only be nasal + consonant.

Our longest cluster is 3… SPLit.

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27
Q

Definition and characteristics: isolating (analytic)

A
  • This used free morphemes for both lexical and grammatical information
  • Languages that use this have relatively free word order.
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28
Q

Definition and characteristics: Agglutinating

A
  • There is an extensive use of affixation
  • Each morpheme has an identifiable function or interpretation
  • there is a 1-to-1 ratio for morphemes
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29
Q

Definition and characteristics: Fusional (inflectional)

A
  • One affix performs 2 or more functions

e. g gender, number and function

30
Q

Definition and characteristics: Polysynthetic

A

-There is no way to see an inflected word from a clause.
-There is more than 1 root in a string
-

31
Q

Definition and characteristics: Mixed Types

A

-This is when languages draw on more than one process at a time

32
Q

The presence of ____ affixes implies _____ ones

A

1) inflectional

2) derivational

33
Q

If a language only has suffixes, it will have ______

A

postpositions

34
Q

Regarding affixes, ____ are more common than ____

A

1) Suffixes

2) Prefixes

35
Q

What occurs closer to the root? Inflectional or derivational affixes?

A

Derivational

36
Q

What is an ergative language?

A
  • This is a language that treats the subjects of intransitive verbs like objects
  • It does so by morphological processes
37
Q

What are the 3 most common WO patterns?

A

SVO
SOV
VSO

38
Q

What is a grammatical hierarchy?

A

Subject > Direct Object > Indirect object

This means that some functions/positions are more likely to undergo certain process than others.

39
Q

If the order is VO, it most likely has __positions

If the order is OV, it most likely have __positions

A

1) prepositions

2) postpositions

40
Q

Northern Germanic language

A

Scandinavian

41
Q

Western Germanic language

A

German and English

42
Q

Eastern Germanic language

A

Gothic (all extinct)

43
Q

Insular

A

Brythonic (Welsh) and Goidelic (Irish/Scottish Gaelic)

44
Q

The celtic family is composed of what 2 branches?

A

Insular and Continental (now extinct)

45
Q

Italic languages are derived from what form of latin?

A

Vulgar

46
Q

What are the 4 main branches of Italic

A

1) Ibero
2) Gallo
3) Italo
4) Balkano

47
Q

Many many branches are a part of the Indo-European family?

A

9

48
Q

Spanish and Portuguese are a part of what large category?

A

Ibero

49
Q

Gallo (Italic) includes what languages?

A

French, Catalan and Romanch

50
Q

What baltic language is is part of Italic branch?

A

Romanian

51
Q

What larger branch is Greek part of?

A

Hellenic

52
Q

What two languages are part of the Baltic branch?

A

Latvian and Lithuanian

53
Q

What’s the difference between Hindu and Urdu?

A

There is no different linguistically … Just socially and culturally.
Urdu uses sand script
Hindu is spoken by hindus

54
Q

What are the branches and languages on the main Slavic branch?

A

East: Russian and Ukrainian
West: Czech, Slovac and Polish
South: Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian

55
Q

What is a language Phyla?

A

It’s an attempt to group language families into even larger groups

56
Q

What are the political groups of Aboriginal Languages?

A
  • Metis
  • Inuit
  • First Nations
57
Q

How many aboriginal families and isolates are there?

A

11

58
Q

Algonquian

A
  • 80K speakers (most widely spoken language)
  • Spoken all across Canada
  • Cree is the most well known
59
Q

Eskimo-Aluet

A
  • 25K speakers
  • Know as Inuktitut
  • Found in Northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland
60
Q

Athabascan

A
  • Spoken in Northern BC, AB and SK
  • Dene is the most widely spoken (Chipewyan)
  • Has the greatest amount of internal variation
61
Q

Siouan-Catawban

A
  • 17k speakers, mostly in the USA with about 1500 in Canada
  • The Canadian dialect is called Stoney
  • Stoney is found in southern AB and Assiniboine is spoken in saskatchewan.
62
Q

Salish

A
  • 10 Languages
  • Fewer than 2000 speakers
  • Spoken in BC e.g Okanagan
63
Q

Tsimishianic

A
  • 2 Languages
  • Fewer than 2000 speakers
  • Spoken in North west BC
64
Q

Iroquian

A
  • 4K speakers
  • Spoken in Quebec and Southern Ontario
  • Main language is Mohawk
65
Q

Wakashan

A
  • 5 distinct languages
  • 900 speakers in total
  • Spoken on Vancouver Island
66
Q

What are the two isolates

A
  • Haida

- Koutenay-Kinbasket

67
Q

Haida

A
  • 40 speakers

- Only found on Haida Gwaii

68
Q

Koutenay-Kinbasket

A
  • 12 Speakers

- BC side of the rockies

69
Q

What is an example of a Contact Language?

A
  • Michif is a mix between Cree (VP) and French (NP)

- There are currently no more than 1000 speakers

70
Q

What is the difference between apparent time studies and real time studies.

A

Real time: You study the change in real life. They are expensive and take a long time
Apparent: You look at generational differences in order to see the differences

Linguistics 102 (7 decks)

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