Definition (The Study of Lang book) Flashcards
Linguistics Concept Memorising
Onomotopoiec
Words that sound similar to noises they describe.
Larynx
the part of the throat that contains the vocal folds.
Pharynx
the area inside the throat above the larynx.
Communicative signals
Behaviour used intentioailly to provide information.
Informative signals
Behaviour that provides information unintentionally (you looking sick, worried etc).
The property of reflexivity
The use of language to think and talk about language itself.
Displacement
a property of human language that allows us to talk about things that are not present in the immediate environment (past, future, ideas, and fiction).
Arbitrariness
A property describing the fact there is no natural connection between a linguistics form and its meaning.
Cultural transmission
A language being passed from one generation to another through exposure.
Productivity
Humans’ ability to create new words and expressions.
Fixed reference
a property of a communication system whereby each signal is fixed as
relating to one particular object or occasion.
Duality
Linguistics forms exist on two levels, a physical level with distinct sounds, and another level with distinct meaning.
Phonetics
the general study of speech characteristics of speech sounds.
Articulatory phonetics
The study of how speech sounds are made, or articulated.
acoustics phonetics
the study of the physical properties of speech sounds as waves in the air.
auditory phonetics (perceptual phonetics)
the perception of speech sounds via the ear.
Vocal folds or cords
the thin muscular strips in the larynx
place of articulation
the place in the mouth at which the constriction is taking place.
manner of articulation
How speech sounds are produced (stops etc)
diphthongs
the combination of two vowel sounds
How are most consonants sound are made?
by constricting the passage of air through the mouth, by using the tongue and other parts of the mouth to shape the oral tract
Bilabial
producing sounds using both lips [B] [M] BoB MoM
Labiodentals
The use of upper teeth and lower lip to produce sounds [f] [v] Fat Vet.
dentals
the involvement of the teeth to produce sounds “tha” as in thin
interdentals
tip of the tongue between the the teeth “then”
Alveolar
the front of the tongue and the alveolar ridge [T] ToT
Post-Alveolar
when the tongue comes in contact with the behind of back of the alveolar “sh” and “ch” as in child and “shout” they are voiceless
Palatal
involving the tongue and the hard palate and they are voiced [J] as in ‘Judge’
verlars
sounds produced towards the back of the mouth as in “KicK’
glottal
the space between the vocal folds and the larynx, these are sounds produced when the glottal is open and the air passes freely as in [h] as in “Who” or “How”
Stops
blocking the airflow very briefly as in [t] sound
plosive
small explosion as in [p] ‘‘pop’’
fricatives
produced by almost blocking the
airflow, then letting the air escape through a narrow gap, creating friction. as in [s] “sssss”
Glottal Stops
when the space between the vocal
folds is closed completely very briefly, then released making the sound [ʔ] as in “Uh-uh”
flap
sounds produced when the tongue tip tapping the alveolar ridge briefly. [ɾ]
Aphasia
The (partial) loss of language abilities due to brain damage (usually as a result of strokes)
Phonology
how sound functions within a particular language. It describes the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language
what is Phonology in theory?
what every adult speaker of a language unconsciously knows about the sound patterns of that language
With what phonology is concerned with?
with the abstract or mental aspect of the sounds in language rather than with the actual physical articulation of speech sounds. Basically, it is about the underlying design, the blueprint of each sound type,
which may vary in different physical contexts
Phonemes
the smallest meaning-distinguishing sound unit in the abstract representation of the sounds of a language ( “bat” and “pat”)
What is the essential property of phonemes?
it functions contrastively; If we change one sound in a word and there is a change
of meaning, the sounds are distinct phonemes.
Phones
different versions of a specific phoneme sound type regularly produced in actual speech, and they are phonetic unit (Tar, sTar)
allophones
Set of phones all are a set of one phoneme
what is the difference between phonemes and allophones?
changing one phoneme with another will result in different meaning and pronunciation. Allophones if changed will only result in different pronunciation of the same word.
Complementary Distribution
When we have two different pronunciations (allophones) of a sound type (phoneme), each used in different places in words
Minimal Pairs
When two words such as fan and van are identical in form except for a contrast in
one phoneme, occurring in the same position
Minimal set
when a group of words can be differentiated, each one from the others, by changing one phoneme
Phonotactics
permitted arrangements of sounds in a language
Syllables
a unit of sound consisting of a vowel and optional consonants before or after the vowel
What are the basic elements of Syllables?
onset (one or more consonants) followed by a ryhme
Ryhme
consist of two parts: 1- The nucleus which is a vowel, and coda which is any following consonants.
Syllables
onset ryhme
/
/ / /
consonant(s) nucleus coda
vowel consonant
open syllables
when you have onset and nucleus, but no coda (me, to go)
closed syllables
when the coda is present (up, cup, pen, hat)
Consonant Clusters
Both the onset and the coda can consist of more than a single consonant
What is the main feature of consonant cluster?
The first consonant must always be /s/, then class of voiceless stops (/p/, /t/, /k/), plus a liquid or a glide (/l/, /r/, /w/). (splash)
coarticulation
the process of making one sound virtually at the same time as the next
sound
Assimilation
When two sound segments occur in sequence and some aspect of one segment is taken or “copied” by the other (i have to go)
Nasalization
pronunciation of a sound with air flowing through the nose, typically before a nasal consonant
Elision
the process of leaving out a sound segment in the pronunciation of a word
neologism
a new word, usage, or expression
Etymology
The study of the origin and history of a word
adding of new words is sign of what?
sign of vitality and creativeness in the way a language is shaped by the needs of its users
Borrowing
the taking over of words from other languages.
what else can we borrow other than words?
new sounds, for example, the voiced fricative /ʒ/ became part of English through borrowed French (meaSure)
Loan Translation
there is a direct translation of the elements of a word into the borrowing language (the German Wolkenkratzer is an LT of the English word skyscraper.)
Compounding
a joining of two separate words to produce a single form (very common in German and English)
Blending
The combination of two separate forms to produce a single new term (breakfast+lunch=brunch)
how does the process of blending go?
we typically take only the beginning of one word and join it to the end of the other word
Clipping
a word of more than one syllable is reduced to a shorter form (usually in casual speech) for example Vax=vaccine
Hypocorisms
a longer word is reduced to a single syllable (television becomes telly)
Backformation
a word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to form a word of another kind (usually a verb) television=televise
Conversion
A change in the function of a word, as for example when a noun comes to be used as a verb (Someone has to chair the meeting)
Coinage
The invention and general use of totally new terms (not common in English) google as an example
Acronyms
new words formed from the initial letters of a set of other words. (CD=compact Disk)
what is the most common word
formation process?
Derivation which it is accomplished by means of a large number of small “bits” of the English language known as affixes (UNhappy, careLESS)
Syntax
the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.
When we set out to provide an analysis of the syntax of a language, we try to adhere to what?
our analysis must account for all the grammatically correct phrases and sentences.
In other words, if we write rules for the creation of well-formed structures, we have to check that those rules won’t also lead to ill-formed structures
What is the goal of syntactic analysis?
to have a small and finite set of rules that can produce a large and potentially infinite number of well-formed structures.
generative grammar
a set of rules defining the possible sentences in a language
What is the underlying rule in generative grammar
which elements are merged to form structures
What is deep and surface structure?
deep structure refers to concepts, thoughts, ideas & feelings.
surface structure refers to the words / language we use to represent the deep structure
what is semantics
Study of meaning in human Language
