Foundations of Language Study Guide

Question 1

What is language

Answer 1

the cognitive process by which we formulate ideas and thoughts

Question 2

What is Syntax?

Answer 2

the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in language

Question 3

What is Semantics?

Answer 3

the study of meaning in language, including words, phrases, and sentence structure

Question 4

What is Morphology?

Answer 4

the study of the internal structure

Question 5

What is Phonology?

Answer 5

branch of liguistics that deals with systems of sounds within language or between different languages

Question 6

What is pragmantics?

Answer 6

the use of language, code switching, interpreting, and following conversational rules

Question 7

What is Reference?

Answer 7

the entity or thing a word refers to in reality

Question 8

What is Reflexivity?

Answer 8

humans can use language to talk and think about language

Question 9

What is Displacement?

Answer 9

humans can talk about things that are not in the immediate time and place or things that do not exist at all

Question 10

What is cultural transmission?

Answer 10

humans are not born with an instinctual language, but learn it from other humans

Question 10

What is arbitrariness?

Answer 10

language involves arbitrary symbols that stand for an idea, event, or object

Question 11

What is productivity?

Answer 11

Humans can create infinite words and sentences

Question 12

Why is semantics ambiguous and difficult to study?

Answer 12

1. words can have different suffixes
2. words can be combined into different compound words
3. words can have literal and figuritve meanings
4. words can have similar meaning with differenc connotations
5. words can have different registers

Question 13

What is Referent?

Answer 13

the specific object/entity in a given context

Question 14

What is homonyms?

Answer 14

Same word different meaning

Question 15

Polysemy

Answer 15

one word with several meanings and share the same origin

Question 16

hypernyms

Answer 16

a general term
-hyper means above

Question 17

hyponyms (subordinate)

Answer 17

-hypo means below
a word or phrase whose semantic field is more specific than its hypernym

Question 18

Synonyms

Answer 18

the same

Question 19

Antonyms

Answer 19

words that have opposite meaning

Question 20

Gradable antonym

Answer 20

opposite ends of a continium
ex: hot/cold

Question 21

binary (non-gradable)

Answer 21

either dead/ alive

Question 22

Converse (reversive) antonyms

Answer 22

describe relationship from opposite prespectives
example: above/below, send/receive

Question 23

Figurative Language

Answer 23

different devices to express figurative meaning

Question 24

Verbal Irony

Answer 24

implying the opposite of what is said

Question 25

Examples of Figurative Language

Answer 25

sarcasm, jocularity, understatement, and hyperbole

Question 26

Analyzing metaphors

Answer 26

topic: subject of the metaphor vehicle: the topic is being compared to

Question 27

Metonymy

Answer 27

a word of phrase is substituted for another that is closely associated with it ex: he drank the whole bottle

Question 28

slang

Answer 28

informal language use

Question 29

idioms

Answer 29

metaphors that have become fixated: a saying or expression "its raining cats and dogs"

Question 30

proverbs

Answer 30

statements that express the collective beliefs, values and wisdom of a society and are usually culturally specific "Every cloud has a silver lining"

Question 31

What type of Vocabulary would you find in Tier 1?

Answer 31

Everday, conversational vocabulary example: sad, eat, red, phone etc.

Question 32

What type of Vocabulary would you find in Tier 2?

Answer 32

general academic vocabulary ex: elderely, rule, foundation, fine, energy, analyze

Question 33

What type of vocabular would you find in Tier 3?

Answer 33

Domain specific vocabulary ex: molecule, aorta, thesis, anaphoric

Question 34

What is the Agent?

Answer 34

the noun or what performs the action if there isnt an action, then the role would be experiencer

Question 35

What is the action?

Answer 35

the verb of the sentence

Question 36

What is the instrument?

Answer 36

what the agent uses to perform an action

Question 37

What is the experiencer?

Answer 37

if you feel, know, or experience something