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LING 201 > Key Terms 2 > Flashcards

Key Terms 2 Flashcards

1
Q

Mutual Intelligibility

A

when speakers on average can understand each other

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2
Q

Asymmetric Mutual Intelligibility

A

when a speaker of one language understands a speaker of another language but not vice versa

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3
Q

Dialect continuum

A

gradual transition between two non-mutually intelligible varieties

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4
Q

Language Death

A

when the last native speaker of a language dies

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5
Q

Typological Classification

A

languages that share similar features

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6
Q

Genetic Classification

A

Languages that share a common ancestor

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7
Q

Absolute Universal

A

something that is true for all languages

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8
Q

Universal tendency

A

something that is usually true but not always true

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9
Q

Implicational universal

A

when something has to be true if something else to be true

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10
Q

Unmarked

A

linguistic structures or elements that are basic, easy to learn, and cross-linguistically expected

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11
Q

Marked

A

linguistic structures or elements that are complex, difficult to learn, and cross-linguistically rare

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12
Q

language family

A

group of related languages derived from the same ancestor

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13
Q

proto-language

A

ancestor of a language family

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14
Q

proto-indo-european

A

ancestor of indo-european language families (germanic –> english)

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15
Q

sound change

A

phonological change that was once active in the language

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16
Q

assimilation

A

when nearby segments become more similar

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17
Q

dissimilation

A

when nearby segments become less similar

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18
Q

lenition

A

consonant weakening

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19
Q

rhotacism

A

alveolar sibilants become rhotics

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20
Q

deletion

A

loss of a segment

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21
Q

epenthesis

A

insertion of a segment

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22
Q

metathesis

A

segments changing places

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23
Q

great english vowel shift

A

occurred at the boundary of Middle english and modern english

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24
Q

chain shift

A

a series of changes where the input of one change is the output of another

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25
Q

Grimm’s Law

A

Chain shift: PIE - proto-germanic
-voiceless stops –> voiceless fricatives
-voices stops –> voiceless stop
-breathy voiced stops–>voices stops

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26
Q

cognates

A

words derived from the same source

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27
Q

lexical

A

categories that transmit meaning

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28
Q

functional

A

categories that are requires by the grammar of the language

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29
Q

complementizers

A

that, if, whether

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30
Q

conjunctions

A

and, but, nor

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31
Q

auxiliaries

A

must, might, can

32
Q

pronouns

33
Q

open

A

easy to update/expand

34
Q

closed

A

difficult to update/expand

35
Q

phrase head

A

obligatory nucleus of the phrase

36
Q

specifier

A

typically a function word at the edge of a phrase, sometimes required

37
Q

complement

A

provides information about the head, sometimes not required

38
Q

matrix clause

A

the entire sentence

39
Q

complementizer

A

a word signals that a clause follows

40
Q

parameters

A

aspects in which the syntactic structure of languages could vary

41
Q

garden path sentences

A

sentences which are grammatical but difficult to interpret because the start of the sentence implies an incorrect syntactic structure

42
Q

truth conditions

A

the state of the world under which a sentence is true

43
Q

subordination

A

A is a subset of B (male human = subordinate to human)

44
Q

equivalence

A

A and B are the same set (dog = latin name)

45
Q

complementarity

A

A and B are non-overlapping and exhaustive subsets (dead = complementary to alive)

46
Q

incompatibility

A

A and B are non-overlapping subsets (Monday and Tuesday = incompatible)

47
Q

homonyms

A

words with the same spelling or the same pronunciation

48
Q

homographs

A

words with the same spelling but not necessarily the same pronunciation

49
Q

homophones

A

words with the same pronunciation but not necessarily the same spelling

50
Q

polysemes

A

words with more than one related meaning

51
Q

synonyms

A

pairs of words with very similar meanings

52
Q

antonyms

A

pairs of words that are opposite in some sense

53
Q

cooperative principle

A

make you contribution as required by the goal of the conversation

54
Q

stopping

A

obstruent –> stop

55
Q

fronting

A

consonant –> alveolar

56
Q

gliding

A

liquid –> glide

57
Q

denasalization

A

consonant –> oral

58
Q

whole object assumption

A

the word refers to the whole object

59
Q

type assumption

A

the word refers to a type of thing

60
Q

basic level assumption

A

the word refers to objects that are alike in basic ways

61
Q

overextension

A

the acquired meaning is more general than the intended meaning

62
Q

underextension

A

the acquired meaning is more specific than the intended meaning

63
Q

speech community

A

a group of speakers who share sociolinguistic norms about language use

64
Q

indexes

A

linguistic features that are indicative of a speech community

65
Q

free variation

A

allophony not conditioned by phonological environment

66
Q

idolect

A

unique variety of language to each person

67
Q

dialect

A

geographically separate mutually intelligible speech variety

68
Q

accent

A

phonetic component of a dialect

69
Q

real time study

A

measuring the same variable at different points in time

70
Q

apparent time study

A

measuring the same variable at one point in time across different age groups

71
Q

overt prestige

A

when linguistic features associate the speaker with a high socio-economic class

72
Q

covert prestige

A

when non-standard linguistic features associate the speaker with a desired but non-standard speech community

73
Q

change from above

A

a new linguistic feature is perpetuated by the higher social class

74
Q

change from below

A

a new linguistic feature is perpetuated by the lower social class

75
Q

clusivity

A

inclusive we: the speaker listener, and potentially third parties
exclusive we: the speaker, third parties, but not the listener

76
Q

proximate

A

nearby or salient in the conversation

77
Q

obviative

A

distant or not salient in the conversation

LING 201 (2 decks)

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