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General Linguistics > Foundations of Linguistics > Flashcards

Foundations of Linguistics Flashcards

1
Q

What is linguistics?

A

The science of language

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2
Q

What is the scientific method?

A

Developing and testing hypotheses

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3
Q

What does language do?

A

Distinguishes humans from animals

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4
Q

What does it mean to know a language?

A

To speak and be understood by others who know that language

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5
Q

What are most native speakers not aware of?

A

Their underlying knowledge of language

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6
Q

What do native speakers of a language know? (2)

A
  1. the language’s sound system

2. how sound correlates to meaning

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7
Q

What is arbitrary in terms of language?

A

The connection between meaning and sound

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8
Q

What is an exception to the arbitrariness of language?

A

Onomatopoeia

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9
Q

What part of language means you can combine words and phrases into never-before-heard sentence? Who coined this phrase?

A

Creative aspect. Noam Chomsky

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10
Q

What are Hockett’s 7 characteristics of language?

A

Duality of pattern; productivity; arbitrariness; interchangeability; specialisation; displacement & cultural transition

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11
Q

What is duality of pattern?

A

The ability to create meaningful words from non-meaningful sounds

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12
Q

What is productivity?

A

The ability to create new speech

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13
Q

What is interchangeability?

A

The ability to give and receive linguistic signals

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14
Q

What is cultural transition?

A

The ability to teach and be taught language

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15
Q

What is an example of animal communication that displays displacement?

A

The bee ‘waggle dance’

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16
Q

What is the language faculty?

A

The ability to learn language

17
Q

What is one theory of why only humans have the language faculty?

A

Evolution

18
Q

Who suggested natural selection has modified a once basic language faculty into a unique one?

A

Hauser, Chomsky & Fitch

19
Q

What did Jackendoff suggest (in terms of the link between evolution and the language faculty?)

A

That those who have a developed language faculty have an adaptive advantage over those who don’t

20
Q

Why is animal communication not considered language?

A

It does not possess all of the descriptors of human language.

21
Q

What is one language descriptor that Prairie Dog language possesses?

A

Arbitrariness

22
Q

What is one language descriptor that Prairie Dog language does not posses?

A

Displacement

23
Q

What is I-language?

A

The language system within an individual’s brain

24
Q

What does sui-generis mean?

A

One of its kind

25
Q

What do descriptive linguistics look at and why are they criticised by Chomsky?

A

They look at how language is used, but fail to take into account the underlying rules and UG that humans have

26
Q

What kind of system is I-language?

A

A computational system

27
Q

What kind of science did Isac & Reiss suggest linguistics could be?

A

A cognitive science

28
Q

Define intensional.

A

providing a formula/description that characterises the members of the set

29
Q

Define extensional.

A

listing all the members in a set

30
Q

Give an example of a grammatical rule in English that (most) natives are not aware of

A

The subjunctive

31
Q

What does Saussure claim that words are?

A

Signs

32
Q

What two things does the ‘sign’ contain according to Saussure?

A

The signifier (sounds/images) and the signified (concepts/meanings)

33
Q

How does Saussure divide language?

A

langue and parole

34
Q

Define langue.

A

the internal system of language

35
Q

Define parole.

A

the oral communication of language

36
Q

How does Chomsky divide language?

A

I-language and e-language

37
Q

What are performance and competence?

A

Chomsky: performance = the actual utterance; competence = understanding language (innate). Poor performance does not mean poor competence!

General Linguistics (2 decks)

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