Definitions

Question 1

Semiotics

Answer 1

the study of how signs and symbols are used to create meaning.

Linguistics is a sub discipline of Semiotics.

Question 2

Semantics

Answer 2

Is a sub discipline of linguistics, which studies how human language is used to create meaning.

Question 3

Lexical semantics

Answer 3

the study of meaning of individual words (in and out of context).

Question 4

Language

Answer 4

in English both means langue, human way of speaking, and language as in computer language for example.

Question 5

Lexicology

Answer 5

the study of words, their history, definition, derivation and use

E.g. dictionaries are made by lexicologists.

Question 6

Semantics

Answer 6

the study of meaning in language (words, phrases, sentences, discourse)

In semantics there are no “rules”, compared to other fields.

Question 7

Collocation

Answer 7

words that go together

e.g. “play” gets meaning because of its collocation.

Question 8

Structuralism

Answer 8

meaning is created through a combination of conceptually independent pieces (double articulation)

Question 9

Phonetics

Answer 9

• Articulatory : production, sound production in the mouth > voices / unvoiced stops / fricative
• Acoustic : how sound travels through the air
• Auditory : the human ear receives sounds of human language, perception

Question 10

Phonology

Answer 10

how sounds are used to create meaning

Question 11

Morphology

Answer 11

the smallest meaningful units of language (morphemes free or bound)

Question 12

double articulation

Answer 12

The use of combinations of a small number of meaningless elements (phonemes) to produce a large number of meaningful elements.

Question 13

morphemes

Answer 13

the smallest unit of language carrying meaning
two types : free or bound

Question 14

free morpheme

Answer 14

• lexical
• functional (at, and, a, in, on)

Question 15

bound morpheme

Answer 15

• derivational > new dictionary entry
• inflectional > grammatical relationships (plural, 3rd s, past tense, progressive, possession, comparatives) no change of grammatical class

Question 16

Syntax

Answer 16

systematic rules governing language structure

Question 17

Pragmatics

Answer 17

• the role of context, which can induces meaning
• meaning is flexible and highly subject to context

> Grice’s Cooperative Principle
locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts

Question 18

Grice’s cooperative principle

Answer 18

the idea that under normal circumstances, the person you are talking is trying to understand you and being understood, that they are genuine and honest.

• quality
• quantity
• relevance
• manner

Question 19

Discourse analysis

Answer 19

• an approach to the analysis of texts : cohesion, coherence, turn taking…
  coz a perfectly grammatical sentence can mean nothing

Question 20

Language history and change

Answer 20

Diachronic linguistic, across time, etymology

Question 21

Language Variations

Answer 21

synchronic linguistic, differences happening at the same time, regional and social variations accents, dialects

Question 22

Sociolinguistics

Answer 22

language in a social context, cf. the Labov “fourth floor” experiment.

Question 23

Psycholinguistics

Answer 23

• how the brain manages to learn and use human languages ; language as a cognitive function.

Question 24

Sign by De Saussure

Answer 24

Arbitrary nature of the sign
Sign = significant + signifier

Question 25

langue vs. parole

Answer 25

= competence vs. performance

Question 26

Charles Pierce scheme

Answer 26

• Sense
• Reference
• Word