Introduction to Linguistics : Vocabulary & Terminology

Question 1

Linguistic Competence

Answer 1

What we know when we know a language: the unconscious knowledge that a speaker has about her or his native language.

Question 2

Linguistic Performance

Answer 2

The observable use of language.

Question 3

Performance Error

Answer 3

Errors in language production or comprehension, including hesitations and slips of the tongue.

Question 4

Speech Communication Chain

Answer 4

The process through which information is communicated, consisting of an information source, transmitter, signal receiver, and destination.

Question 5

Noise

Answer 5

Interference in the communication chain.

Question 6

Lexicon

Answer 6

A mental repository of linguistic information about words and other lexical expressions, including their form and meaning and their morphological syntactic properties.

Question 7

Mental Grammar

Answer 7

The mental representation of grammar. The knowledge that a speaker has about the linguistic units and rules of his native language.

Question 8

Language Variation

Answer 8

The property of languages having different ways to express the same meanings in different contexts according to factors such as geography, social class, gender, etc.

Question 9

Descriptive Grammar

Answer 9

Objective description of a speaker’s or a group of speakers’ knowledge of a language (competence) based on their use of the language (performance).

Question 10

Prescriptive Grammar

Answer 10

A set of rules designed to give instructions regarding the socially embedded notion of the “correct” or “proper” way to speak or write.

Question 11

Mode of Communication

Answer 11

Means through which a message is transmitted for any given communication system.

Question 12

Semanticity

Answer 12

Property of having signals that convey a meaning , shared by all communication systems.

Question 13

Pragmatic Function

Answer 13

The useful purpose of any given communication system.

Question 14

Interchangeability

Answer 14

The property of a communication system by which all individuals have the ability to both transmit and review messages.

Question 15

Culture Transmission

Answer 15

Property of a communication system referring to the fact that at least some aspects of it are learned through interactions with other users of the system.

Question 16

Arbitrariness

Answer 16

In relation to language, refers to the fact that a word’s meaning is not predictable from its linguistic form, nor is its form dictated by its meaning.

Question 17

Linguistic Sign

Answer 17

The combination of linguistic form and meaning.

Question 18

Convention

Answer 18

Something that is established, commonly agreed upon, or operating in a certain way according to common practice.

Question 19

Nonarbitrariness

Answer 19

Direct correspondence between the physical properties of a form and the meaning that the form refers to.

Question 20

Iconic

Answer 20

Relationship between form and meaning such that the form of a word bears a resemblance to its meaning.

Question 21

Onomatopoeia

Answer 21

Iconic use of words that are imitative of sounds occurring in nature or that have meanings that are associated with such sounds.

Question 22

Conventionalized

Answer 22

Something that is established, commonly agreed upon, or operating in a certain way according to common practice.

Question 23

Sound Symbolism

Answer 23

Phenomenon by which certain sounds are evocative of a particular meaning.

Question 24

Discreteness

Answer 24

The property of communication systems by which complex messages may be built up out of smaller parts.

Question 25

Displacement

Answer 25

The property of some communication systems that allows them to be used to communicate about things, actions, and ideas that are not present at the place or time where communication is taking place.

Question 26

Productivity

Answer 26

The capacity of a communication system (unique to human language) for novel messages built out of discrete units to be produced and understood.

Question 27

Modality

Answer 27

How language is produced and how it is perceived.

Question 28

Prescribe

Answer 28

To lay down a rule.

Question 29

Speech Communication Chain Steps

Answer 29

1. Think of what you want to communicate.
2. Pick out words to express the idea.
3. Put these words together in a certain order following rules.
4. Figure out how to pronounce these words.
5. Send those pronunciations to your vocal anatomy.
6. Speak: Send the sounds through the air.
7. Perceive: Listener hears the sounds.
8. Decode: Listener interprets sounds as language.
9. Connect: Listener receive communicated idea.

Question 30

Evidence That Writing & Language Are Not The Same

Answer 30

A. Writing must be taught.
B. Writing does not exist everywhere.
C. Neurolinguistic evidence.
D. Writing can be edited.

Question 31

Reasons Some People Believe Writing To Be Superior To Speech

Answer 31

A. Writing can be edited.
B. Writing must be taught.
C. Writing is more physically stable.

Question 32

Charles Hockett’s 9 Design Features (Necessary For A Communication System to Be Considered A Language)

Answer 32

1. Mode of Communication
2. Semanticity
3. Pragmatic Function
4. Interchangeability
5. Cultural Transmission
6. Arbitrariness
7. Discreteness
8. Displacement
9. Productivity

Question 33

Myths About Signed Languages

Answer 33

1. Signed languages derive from spoken languages, rather than being languages in their own right.
2. Don’t consists of words at all but rather involves singers using their hands to draw pictures in the air or to act out what they are talking about.
3. There is only one signed language that is used by deaf speakers all over the world.
4. Signed languages are pantomime.

Question 34

Differences Between Codes & Languages

Answer 34

1. A code is artificially constructed.
2. A code represents another language.
3. A code borrows its structure from a language.
4. A code never has a native speaker.