General Linguistics

Question 1

What is a langauge?

Answer 1

Language is a system of conventional signs used for human communication

Question 2

What are properties of language?

Answer 2

Displacement, arbitrariness, discreteness, duality of patterning, vocal-auditory channel, specialization, non-directionality, productivity, cultural transmission

Question 3

What are functions of language?

Answer 3

Referential, artistic, expressive/emotive, conative, metalinguistic, phatic

Question 4

What are branches of lingustics?

Answer 4

Historical lingustics, phonetics, phonology, pragmatics, neurolinguistics, syntax, semantics, morphology

Question 5

Where is the language centre located in the brain?

Answer 5

The language centre in the brain is located in the left hemisphere of the brain, approximately around the left ear

Question 6

What does the language centre in the brain include?

Answer 6

It includes:
Broca’s area- resposible for production of speech difficulties while damaged
Wernicke’s area- responsible for comprehension of speech difficulties while damaged
The motor cortex- if damaged, it impedes the physical articulation of speech
the curved bundle- connection between the Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas; while damaged, it might cause difficulties in repeating

Question 7

What is aphasia?

Answer 7

Aphasia is an impairment of language function due to the brain damage. It may result difficulties in comprehension or production of speech.

Question 8

Dialect

Answer 8

variation of a language characteristic for a particular group

Question 9

Sociolect/ social dialect

Answer 9

language variation used by a particular social group

Question 10

Slang

Answer 10

informal, non-standard and non-technical vocabulary, characterized by lowered dignity of discourse

Question 11

Idolect

Answer 11

personal dialect of a person

Question 12

Regional dialect

Answer 12

distinct form of language spoken in the particular geographical area

Question 13

Register

Answer 13

the conventional way of using language in a given context

Question 14

Standard variety

Answer 14

variety of language used in official communication, generally accepted by the authorities and shared between various social group

Question 15

Non-standard variety

Answer 15

variety of language used in the selected groups

Question 16

Denotation

Answer 16

direct meaning of the word

Question 17

Connotation

Answer 17

secondary meaning and implications assosiated with the word

Question 18

Utterance

Answer 18

a statement in context

Question 19

Speech act

Answer 19

an utterance with a function in communication

Question 20

Grice’s maxims

Answer 20

rules to be followed to facilitate meaningful communication
1. Quantity- say as much as you have to say
2. Quality- try to tell the truth
3. Relation- be relevant
4. Manner- be brief, clear orderly

Question 21

Principles of politeness

Answer 21

1. Consideration (minimize discomfort)
2. Modesty (minimize self praise)
3. Taxt (minimize cost, maximize benefits)

Question 22

Presupposition

Answer 22

implicit assumption behind the utterance that is taken for granted in discourse

Question 23

Implicature

Answer 23

something that a speaker suggest within an utterance, but it is not outwardly stated

Question 24

Hedge

Answer 24

a word or phrase used to express ambiguity

Question 25

Cohesion

Answer 25

being logical and understandable in the sense of the organization of the text

Question 26

Coherence

Answer 26

being logical and understandable in the sense of the organization of the ideas

Question 27

Language family

Answer 27

group of languages connected through a common ancestral language (proto-language)

Question 28

What structural classes of language there are?

Answer 28

1. Isolating- each word is a single morpheme
2. Agglutinative- the word forms can be segmented into morphs, each of which represents a single grammatical category
3. Inflectional- words where single inflectional morpheme denote multiple features

Question 29

Non-Indo-European languages spoken in Europe

Answer 29

Uralic (Hungarian, Finnish), Basque