Language and Thought - Yule Flashcards
Parts of language
Phonetics (speech sounds), Phonology (phonemes), Morphology (morphemes, words), Syntax (phrases, sentences), Semantics (literal meaning of phrases, sentences), Pragmatics (meaning in context of discourse)
- Communicative signals
Behavior used intentionally to provide information
- Informative signals
Behavior used most often to unintentionally provide information
- Glossolalia
Also known as “speaking in tongues”, the production of sounds and syllables in a stream of speech that seems to have no communicative purpose
- Reflexivity
A special property of human language that allows language to be used to think and talk about language itself
- Displacement
A property of language that allows users to talk about things and event not present in the immediate environment
- Arbitrariness
A property of language describing the fact that there is no natural connection between a linguistic form and it’s meaning
- Cultural transmission
The process whereby knowledge of a language is passed from one generation to the next
- Productivity
A property of language that allows users to create new expressions, also called “creativity” or “openendedness”
- Fixed reference
A property of a communication system whereby each signal is fixed as relating to one particular object or occasion. In other words fixed in terms of relating to a particular purpose, ex. Animals with three basic calls.
- Duality
A property of language whereby linguistic forms have two simultaneous levels of sounds production and meaning, also called “double articulation”
- International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system that uses symbols to represent the sounds of spoken language. It helps people accurately show how words are pronounced, regardless of the language. These symbols cover all the different sounds humans can make when speaking, from consonants and vowels to tones and accents. It’s like a universal alphabet for sounds, making it easier for linguists, language learners, and speech therapists to understand and describe spoken language. Ex. the English word “cat.” In IPA, it is transcribed as /kæt/.
- Phonetics
The study of the characteristics of speech sounds
- Articulatory phonetics
The study of how speech sounds are produced
- Acoustic phonetics
The study of the physical properties of speech as sound waves
- Auditory phonetics
The study of the perception of speech sounds by the ear, also called “perceptual phonetics”
- Vocal folds/cords
Thin strips of muscle in the larynx (located in neck) which can be open, in voiceless sounds, or close together creating vibration in voiced sounds
- Voiced sounds
Speech sounds produced with vibrations of the vocal folds
- Voiceless sounds
Speech sounds produced without vibrations of the vocal folds
- Bilabial
A consonant produced by using both lips. Ex. the first and last sounds in “pub”
- Labiodentals
A consonant produced with the upper teeth and the lower lip. Ex. The first sounds in “very” and “funny”.
- Alveolar
A consonant produced with the front part of the tongue of the alveolar ridge (bony part behind the upper front teeth). Ex. The first and last sounds in “dot”.
- Dentals
A consonant produced with the tongue tip behind the upper front teeth. Ex. The first sound in “that”.
- Interdentals
A consonant produced with the tongue tip between the upper and lower teeth. Ex. The first sound in “that”.
- Post-alveolars
Consonants formed with the tongue and the back of the alveolar ridge. Ex. The first sound in “ship”.
- Palatal
A consonant produced by raising the tongue to the palate (also called alveopalatal, the hard part of the rood of the mouth). Ex. The first sounds in “ship” and “yacht”
- Velars
A consonant produced by raising the back of the tongue to the velum (soft area at the back of the roof of the mouth). Ex. The first and last words in “geek”.
- Glottal
A sound produced in the space between the vocal folds. Ex. The first sound in “hat”.
- Stop (consonant)
A consonant produced by stopping the airflow, then letting it go, also called “plosive”. Ex. The first and last sounds in “cat”.
- Manner of articulation
A term used in phonetics to describe how speech sounds are produced based on the movement and configuration of the articulatory organs, such as the tongue, lips, and vocal folds, as the airflow is modified in the vocal tract. It refers to the way in which airflow is obstructed or modified to create different speech sounds.
- Fricative
A consonant produced by almost blocking the airflow. Ex. The first and last sounds in “fourth”.
- Glottal stop
A sound produced when the air passing through the glottis (the space between the vocal folds) is stopped completely and then released. Ex. the sound heard in the Cockney pronunciation of the word “butter,” where the “tt” is pronounced as a glottal stop, so it sounds like “bu’er.” Another example is in some dialects or accents of English, where the glottal stop is used in place of the “t” sound in words like “bottle” or “kitten,” so they may sound like “bo’le” and “ki’en.”
- Flap
A sound produced with the tongue tip briefly touching the alveolar ridge. Ex. found in the pronunciation of the “tt” sound in words like “butter” or “water” when they are spoken quickly or in connected speech. In these words, the “tt” is often pronounced as a flap rather than a true stop consonant.
- Diphthongs
A sound combination that begins with a vowel and ends with another vowel or a glide. Ex. the word “price” or “boy”. Defined by sound characteristics.
- Uvula
The small appendage at the end of the velum (soft area at the back of the roof of the mouth).
- Uvular (sounds)
A sound produced with the back of tongue near the uvula. Ex. In the word “rouge”.
- Phonology
The study of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in language
- Phoneme
The smallest meaning-distinguishing sound unit in the abstract representation of the sounds of a language. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language that can change the meaning of a word. It’s like the basic building block of speech sounds. For instance, in English, the sounds /p/ and /b/ are phonemes because they can change the meaning of words (e.g., “pat” versus “bat”). Even though they’re different sounds, they’re perceived as the same “thing” by speakers because substituting one for the other can change the meaning of a word.
- Natural class
A set of sounds with phonetic features in common, such as /p/, /t/, and /k/ in English, which are all voiceless stops
- Phones
A physically produced speech sound, representing one version of a phoneme. Phones are the actual physical sounds that we produce when we speak. They represent specific versions of phonemes.
- Allophones
One of a closely related set of speech sounds or phones. For instance, the “p” sound in “pat” might be slightly different from the “p” sound in “spin,” but we still perceive them as the same phoneme /p/.
- Aspiration
A puff of air that sometimes accompanies the pronunciation of a stop.
- Complementary distribution
In phonology, two different pronunciations of a phoneme always used in different places in words.
- Minimal pair (set)
Two (or more) words that are identical in form except for a contrast in one phoneme in the same position in each word. Ex. “bad”, “mad”.
- Phonotactics
Constraints on the permissible combination of sounds in a language. Phonotactics are rules determining which sounds can appear together in a language. Ex. In English, “bsk” is not a permissible cluster of sounds at the beginning of a word, so you won’t find words that start with “bsk.”
- Syllable
A unit of sound consisting of a vowel and optional consonants before or after the vowel.
- Onset
The part of the syllable before the vowel. Ex. Basketball - B, k, b are the onset before the vowel
- Nucleus
The vowel in a syllable. Ex. Basketball - A, e, a are the nucleus.
- Rhyme
The part of the syllable containing the vowel plus any following consonant(s), also called rime. Ex. Basketball - As, et, all are the rhymes.
- Coda
The part of the syllable after the vowel. Ex. Basketball - S, t, ll is the coda.
- Open syllables
A syllable that ends with a vowel (or nucleus) and has no coda
- Consonant cluster
Two or more consonants in a sequence.
- Closed syllables
A syllable that ends with a consonant.
- Coarticulation effects
The process of making one sound virtually at the same time as the next sound. This refers to the phenomenon where the articulation of one speech sound is influenced by the preceding or following sound. Essentially, it’s the blending or overlapping of sounds due to the physical constraints of the vocal tract during speech production. Ex. In the word “cup,” the lips start to round for the “u” sound before the “k” sound is completed, demonstrating coarticulation effects.
- Assimilation
The process whereby a feature of one sound becomes part of another during speech production.
- Nasalization
Pronunciation of a sound with air flowing through the nose, typically before a nasal (a sound produced through the nose. Ex. the first sounds in “my name”) consonant.
- Elision
The process of leaving out a sound segment in the pronunciation of a word. Ex. In the word “chocolate,” the “o” sound in the second syllable may be elided or left out in casual speech, resulting in pronunciation like “choc-late” instead of “choc-o-late.” Elision helps speakers articulate words more quickly and naturally in everyday conversation.
- Neologisms
A new word
- Etymology
The study of the origin and history of words
- Borrowing
The process of taking words from other languages
- Loan-translation / calque
A type of borrowing in which each element of a word is translated into the borrowing language. Ex. “Gratte-ciel” means scrape-sky to build “skyscraper”.
- Compounding
The process of combining two (or more) words to form a new word. Ex. “waterbed”.
- Blending
The process of combining the beginning of one word and the end of another to form a new word. Ex. the word “brunch” from “breakfast” and “lunch”.
- Clipping
The process of reducing a word more than one syllable to a shorter form. Ex “ad” instead of “advertisement”.
- Hypocorisms
A word-formation process in which a longer word is reduced to a shorter form with -y or -ie at the end. Ex. “telly” or “movie”.
- Backformation
The process of reducing a word such as a noun to a shorter version and using it as a new word such as a verb. Ex “babysit” from “babysitter”.
- Conversion
The process of changing the function of a word, such as a noun to a verb, as a way of forming new words, also known as “category change” or “functional shift”. Ex. “vacation” in “they are vacationing in Florida”.
- Coinage
The invention of new words. Ex. “xerox”.
- Eponyms
A word derived from the name of a person or place. Ex. The word “sandwich” comes from the 4th Earl of Sandwich.
- Acronyms
A new word formed from the initial letters of other words. Ex. “NASA”.
- Derivation
The process of forming new words by adding affixes
- Affixes
A bound morpheme such as un- or -ed added to a word. Ex. The word “un-dress-ed”.
- Prefixes
A bound morpheme added to the beginning of a word. Ex. The word “un-happy”.
- Suffixes
A bound morpheme added to the end of a word. Ex. In “faint-ed” or “ill-ness”.
- Infix
A morpheme that is inserted in the middle of a word. Ex -rn in “srnal”.
- Analogy
A process of forming a new word that is similar in some way to an existing word. The plural form of “foot” follows the pattern of changing the vowel sound and adding the suffix “-et” to form “feet,” similar to other irregular plurals like “tooth” (teeth) and “goose” (geese).
- Morphology
The analysis of the structure of words
- Morphemes
A minimal unit of meaning or grammatical function. Ex. “Cat” consists of one morpheme. “Unhappiness” consists of three morphemes: “un-“ (a prefix), “happy” (a root), and “-ness” (a suffix).
- Free morphemes
A morpheme that can stand by itself as a single word. Ex. The words “cat” or “happy”.
- Bound morphemes
A morpheme such as un- or -ed that cannot stand alone and must be attached to another form. Ex. The word “undressed”.
- Stems
The baser form to which affixes are attached in the formation of words. Ex. In the word “happiness,” “happy” is the stem to which the suffix “-ness” is attached
- Lexical morphemes
A free morpheme that is a content word such as a noun, verb, adjective. Ex. Nouns: “cat”, verbs: “run”
- Functional morphemes
A free morpheme that uses a function word such as a conjunction: “and” or a preposition “in”.
- Derivational morphemes
A bound morpheme such as -ish used to make new words or words of a different grammatical category. Ex. The word “boyish” turns the word “boy” into an adjective by adding an adjective-forming suffix . In contrast to an inflectional morpheme.
- Inflectional morphemes
A bound morpheme used to indicate the grammatical function of a word, also called an “inflection”. Such as tense, plurality, or possession. Ex. “Dog-s, walk-ed”, “-s” (as in “dogs”) indicating plurality.
- Morphs
An actual form used as a part of a word, representing one version of a morpheme. Ex. In “walked,” “walk-“ is a morph representing the verb root, and “-ed” is a morph representing past tense.
- Allomorphs
One of a closely related set of morphs. Ex. The plural morpheme “-s” can be pronounced as /s/, /z/, or /ɪz/ depending on the context (e.g., “cats,” “dogs,” “buses”).
- Reduplication
The process of repeating all or part of a form. Ex. In “boo-boo” or “night-night,” the reduplication of syllables creates new words with repeated or intensified meaning.
- Grammar
The analysis of the structure of phrases and sentences.
- Proper nouns
A noun such as “Cathy”, with an initial capital letter, used as the name of someone or something.
- Nouns
A word such as “boy”, “bicycle” or “freedom” used to describe a person, thing or idea.
- Articles
A word such as “a”, “an”, or “the” used with a noun.
- Adjectives
A word such as “happy” or “strange” used with a noun to describe more information.
- Verbs
A word such as “go”, “drown” or “know” used to describe an action, event or state.
- Adverbs
A word such as “slowly” or “really” used with a verb or adjective to provide more information.
- Noun phrase (NP)
A phrase such as “the boy” or “an old bicycle”, containing a noun plus other constituents, or a pronoun such as “him” or “it”.
- Prepositions
A word such as “in” or “with” used with a noun phrase.
- Pronouns
A word such as “it” or “them” used in place of a noun phrase.
- Conjunctions
A word such as “and” or “because” used to make connections between words, phrases and sentences.
- Agreement
The grammatical connection between two parts of a sentence, as in the connection between a subject (Cathy) and the form of a verb (loves chocolate). Here, the verb “loves” agrees with the singular subject “Cathy.”
- Number
The grammatical category of nouns as singular or plural. Ex. “Cat” or “Cats”.
- Person
The grammatical category distinguishing first person (involving the speaker, “me”, “I”), second person (involving the hearer, “you”) and third person (involving any others, “she”, “them”).
- Tense
The grammatical category distinguishing forms of the verb as present tense and past tense. “She walks” (present tense) vs. “She walked” (past tense).
- Active voice
The form of the verb used to say what the subject does. Ex. “He stole it” - “stole”.
- Passive voice
The form of the verb used to say what happens to the subject. Ex. “The car was stolen” - “was stolen”.
- Gender
A term used 3 ways: 1. Natural gender 2. Grammatical gender 3. Social gender
- Natural gender
A biological distinction between male, female or neither.
- Grammatical gender
A distinction between classes of nouns as masculine, feminine (or neuter)
- Social gender
A distinction between the social roles of men and women.
- Prescriptive approach
An approach to grammar that has rules for the proper use of the language, traditionally based on Latin grammar, in contrast to the descriptive approach. Ex. “Do not split infinitives.” This rule says you shouldn’t separate “to” from the verb, like in “to boldly go.”
- Descriptive approach
An approach to grammar that is based on a description of the structures actually used in a language, not what should be used. In contrast to the prescriptive approach. “They is coming.” Descriptive grammar just looks at how some people speak without saying if it’s right or wrong. In short, prescriptive grammar tells you what’s right or wrong, while descriptive grammar just describes how language is used without judgment.
- Structural analysis
The investigation of the distribution of grammatical forms in a language. This is like examining how different parts of a sentence change or work together. Ex. Imagine you’re studying how the tense of a verb (like “walk” becoming “walked”) changes in different sentences or situations.
- Constituent analysis
A grammatical analysis of how small constituents (or components) go together to form larger constituents in sentences. This means breaking down a sentence into its smaller pieces to understand how they fit together. Ex. Take the sentence “The cat chased the mouse.” You’d look at how “The cat,” “chased,” and “the mouse” fit together to make the whole sentence. So, “The cat” is the one doing the action (subject), “chased” is the action (verb), and “the mouse” is the one receiving the action (object). In summary, structural analysis is about studying how different parts of sentences change, while constituent analysis is about breaking down sentences into smaller parts to see how they fit together.
- Subject
The grammatical function of the noun phrase typically used before the verb to refer to who or what performs the action of the verb. Ex. “The boy stole it” - “The boy”.
- Object
The grammatical function of the noun phrase after the verb that typically undergoes the action of the verb. Ex. “The boy stole the book” - “the book”.
- Adjunct
A part of a sentence, typically an adverb or a prepositional phrase, that provides additional information about where, when and how. An adjunct adds extra details to a sentence, like when, where, or how something happens. Ex. In “She walked quickly to the store,” “quickly” tells us how she walked.
- Prepositional phrase (PP)
A phrase such as “with a dog” consisting of a preposition plus a noun phrase. A prepositional phrase includes a preposition (like “with,” “in,” “on”) and a noun phrase. Ex. “With a dog” in “He played with a dog.”
- Word order
The linear order of constituents in a sentence (ex. Subject-verb-object (SVO)), used in language typology to identify different types of languages. Ex. In “The cat chased the mouse,” the word order is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO).
- Language typology
The identification of a language as one of a specific type, often based on word order such as SVO or SOV. Ex. English follows an SVO word order, while other languages might follow different patterns like SOV (Subject-Object-Verb)
- Syntax
Syntax is the branch of linguistics that deals with the structure, order, and arrangement of words in sentences to convey meaning. It focuses on the rules and principles that govern how words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences in a language.
- Structural ambiguity
A situation in which a single phrase or sentence has two (or more) different underlying structures and interpretations. Ex. “I saw the man with the telescope.” This sentence can be interpreted in two ways: either “I saw the man using the telescope” or “I saw the man who had the telescope.”
- Generative grammar
A set of rules defining the possible sentences in a language. It tells us how to put words together to form grammatically correct sentences, like “The cat chased the mouse.”
- Deep structure
The underlying structure of sentences as represented by phrase structure rules. Think of it as the underlying plan or blueprint of a sentence. It’s the basic structure that shows how the different parts of the sentence relate to each other. In our example, it’s like knowing that “the cat” is the one doing the action, “chased” is the action itself, and “the mouse” is the one receiving the action.
- Surface structure
The structure of individual sentences in contrast to deep structure. This is what we actually see or hear when the sentence is spoken or written down. It’s the sentence in its final form. In our example, it’s the complete sentence “The cat chased the mouse” that we read or hear.
- Phrase structure rules
Rules stating that the structure of a phrase of a specific type consists of one or more constituents in a particular order. These are like guidelines that tell us how to put words together to form sentences. They specify the order and structure that sentences should follow. For instance, they might say that a sentence typically starts with a subject, followed by a verb, and then an object.
- Lexical rules
Rules stating which words can be used for constituents generated by phrase structure rules. These rules help us choose the right words to fit into the sentence structure. They tell us which words are allowed in which positions. For example, they might determine that “cat,” “chased,” and “mouse” are the correct words to use in our sentence.
- Tree diagrams
A diagram with branches showing the hierarchical organization of structures.These diagrams visually represent the hierarchical structure of a sentence, with branches indicating how phrases and words are related. For our example, a tree diagram might show “The cat” as one branch connected to “chased the mouse” as another branch, demonstrating their relationship.
- Movement
An articulatory parameter (four key aspects of visual information used in the description of signs (shape, orientation, location and movement)) in ASL describing the type of motion used in forming signs.
- Semantics
The study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences.
- Referential meaning
The basic components of meaning conveyed by the literal use of words, also described as “objective” or “conceptual” meaning. Ex. In the sentence “The cat is on the mat,” the referential meaning is simply describing the spatial relationship between the cat and the mat. The literal meaning in other words.
- Associative meaning
The type of meaning that people might connect with the use of words. Ex. When you hear the word “needle,” you might associate it with pain or discomfort, even though pain is not part of its literal/referential meaning. Other ex. “Rose” - “love” or “fire” - “warmth”.
- Emotive meaning
Emotive meaning in semantics refers to the emotions or feelings that words convey beyond their literal definitions. It’s about the vibes or moods words bring up, like happy, sad, excited, or scared. Ex. The word “home”.
- Semantic features
Basic elements such as “human”, included as plus (+human) or minus (-human), used in an analysis of work meaning. Ex. “Cat” - +Animate: Indicates that the referent is living, +mammal: Specifies that the referent is a mammal, +quadruped: Indicates that the referent has four legs, -human: Specifies that the referent is not human, -bird: Indicates that the referent is not a bird.
- Componential analysis
The identification of semantic features, (ex. “+human”) as components of the meaning of a word. In essence, semantic features are the pieces of meaning, while componential analysis is the process of examining and understanding how these pieces fit together.
- Semantic roles
The part played by a noun phrase, such as agent, in the event described by the sentence, (ex. agent, instrument, experiencer, location, source, goal).
- Agent
The semantic role of the noun phrase identifying the one who performs the action of the verb in an event. Ex. “The boy kicked the ball” - “The boy”.
- Instrument
The semantic role of the noun phrase identifying the entity that is used to perform the action of the verb. Ex. “The boy cut the rope with a razor” - “A razor”.
- Experiencer
The semantic role of the noun phrase identifying the entity that has the feeling, perception or state described by the verb. Ex. “The boy feels sad” - “The boy”.
- Location
The semantic role of the noun phrase identifying where an entity is. Ex. “The boy is sitting in the classroom” - “The classroom”.
- Source
The semantic role of the noun phrase identifying where an entity moves from. Ex. “The boy ran from the house” - “The house”.
- Goal
The semantic role of the noun phrase identifying where an entity moves to. Ex. “The boy walked to the window” - “The window”.
- Lexical relations
The relationship of meaning, such as synonymy, antonymy and hyponymy, between words.
- Synonymy
The lexical relation in which two or more words have very close related meanings. Ex. “Conceal” is a synonym for “hide”).
- Antonymy
The lexical relation in which words have opposite meanings. Ex. “Shallow” is an antonym to “deep”.
- Gradable antonyms
Words with opposite meanings along a scale. Ex. “Small” - “Big”.
- Non-gradable antonyms
Words that are direct opposites. Ex. “Alive” - “Dead”.
- Hyponymy
The lexical relation in which the meaning of one word is included in the meaning of another. Ex. “Daffodil” is a hyponym for “flower”.
- Superordinate
The higher level term of hyponymy. Ex. “Flower” in “Daffodil” because it’s broader.
- Co-hyponyms
Co-hyponyms are words that share the same superordinate but are not directly related to each other. In other words, they are hyponyms of the same superordinate but do not share a direct hierarchical relationship with each other. Ex. Superordinate - “fruit” & co-hyponyms - “apple”, “orange”, “banana”.
- Prototype
The most characteristic instance of a category. Ex. “Robin” is the prototype of “bird”.
- Homophones
Two or more words with different forms but same pronunciation. Ex “Two” - “Too”.
- Homonyms
Two words with the same form that are unrelated in meaning. Ex. “Mole” - meaning dot on skin or a small animal.
- Polysemy
A word having two or more related meanings. Ex. “Foot” of the bed, of a person, of a mountain.
- Metonymy
A word used in place of another with which it is closely connected in everyday experience. Ex. “He drank the whole (bottle)” = (the liquid). In this case, “bottle” stands in for the liquid itself, indicating what was consumed without explicitly mentioning the specific liquid. Metonymy is a common linguistic device that adds variety and depth to language by allowing speakers to convey meaning indirectly through closely related terms.
- Collocation
A relationship with words that frequently occur together. Ex. “Salt & pepper” but also “Golden & opportunity”.
- Corpus linguistics
The study of language in use by analyzing the occurrence and frequency of forms in a large collection of texts typically stored in a computer. Suppose researchers want to study how the word “love” is used in English literature. They would compile a corpus of novels, poems, and other literary texts, then use computer software to analyze how often “love” appears, how it’s used in different contexts, and which words often co-occur with it.
- Concordance
A listing of each occurrence of a word or phrase in a corpus along with the words surrounding it. A concordance is a specific tool or output used in corpus linguistics. It is a detailed listing or index of every occurrence of a particular word or phrase within a corpus, along with the surrounding words or context.
- Pragmatics
The study of speaker meaning and how more is communicated than said.
- Physical context
The situation, time or place in which words are said.
- Linguistic context / Co-text
The set of other words used in the same phrase or sentence. It provides immediate linguistic context that aids in understanding the intended message or interpretation of the language being used.
- Deictic
Gestures used to point at things or people. Ex. Physically pointing at a dog.
- Deixis (deictic expressions)
Using words such as “this” or “here” as a way of pointing to something through language.
- Reference
The act by which a speaker/writer uses language to enable a listener/reader to identify something or someone. Ex. Saying “the big dog” helps the listener know which dog you’re talking about.
- Inference
Additional information used by a listener/reader to create a connection between what is said and what must be meant. Ex. “She grabbed an umbrella.” From this statement alone, we can infer that it might be raining outside.
- Anaphora (anaphoric expressions)
Use of the pronouns (it) and the noun phrases with the (the puppy) to refer back to something already mentioned. Ex. In the sentence “The puppy chased its tail,” “its” refers back to “the puppy.”
- Antecedent
The first mention of someone or something later referred to via anaphora. Ex. In the sentence “The puppy chased its tail,” “the puppy” is the antecedent of “its.”
- Cataphora
Similar to anaphora, but reversing the antecedent-anaphora relationship, often beginning with a pronoun and a descriptive noun phrase later. Ex. “He loved them, the cookies on the counter”, starts with “them” and then clarifies with “the cookies”.
- Presupposition
An assumption by a speaker/writer about what is true or already known by the listener/reader. Ex. “John regretted eating the last cookie.” This sentence presupposes that there was a last cookie to be eaten or “Tom has fewer friends than he used to.” This sentence presupposes that Tom had more friends in the past.
- Pragmatic markers
Short expressions such as, “you know”, “I mean”, or “well”, that indicate the speaker’s attitude to the listener or the utterance.
- Tautology
An expression (often a saying) that seems simply to repeat an element with no apparent meaning. Ex. “Boys will be boys” or “a sandwich is a sandwich”.
- Hedges
A word or a phrase used to indicate that you are not really sure that what you are saying is sufficiently correct or complete. Words or phrases used to express uncertainty or caution. Ex. “I think,” “maybe,” or “sort of” are hedges.
- Co-operative principle
An underlying assumption of conversation that you will “make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged”. In other words it’s the general guideline that participants in a conversation are expected to follow. It assumes that speakers will contribute relevant information and that listeners will interpret the contributions accordingly. This principle ensures effective communication and mutual understanding.
- Implicature
An additional meaning conveyed by a speaker adhering to the co-operative principle. Ex. If someone says, “It’s getting late,” during a conversation, the implicature may be that they want to wrap up the discussion and conclude the interaction. While the literal meaning of the statement is simply an observation about the time, the implicature suggests a desire to end the conversation.
- Face (in pragmatics)
A person’s public self-image as described in the study of politeness. Ex. Being polite preserves someone’s face.
- Politeness
Showing awareness and consideration to another person’s public self-image. Ex. Showing consideration for someone’s face, like saying “please” or “thank you” is polite.
- Face-threatening act
Saying something that represents a threat to another person’s self-image. Ex. Saying something that might damage someone’s self-image, like criticizing someone’s work.
- Face-saving act
Saying something that reduces a possible threat to another person’s self-image. Ex. Saying something to avoid threatening someone’s self-image, like saying “I appreciate your effort, but…”
- Negative face
The need to be independent and free from imposition, in contrast to positive face. Ex. Wanting independence and freedom from imposition, like saying “I’d rather do it myself.”
- Positive face
The need to be connected, to belong, to be a member of a group, in contrast to negative face. Ex. Wanting connection and belonging, like saying “We should do this together.”
- Speech act
An action such as “promising” performed by a speaker with an utterance, either as a direct speech act or an indirect speech act. Performing an action with words. Saying “I promise” or “Can you pass the salt?” are speech acts.
- Direct speech act
An action in which the form used (ex. interrogative) directly matches the function (ex. question) performed by a speaker with an utterance. Ex. Asking “Can you pass the salt?” to request salt. Form directly matches function.
- Indirect speech act
An action in which the form used (ex. interrogative) does not directly match the function (ex. request) performed by a speaker with an utterance. Ex. Saying “It’s cold in here” to indirectly ask someone to close a window. Form doesn’t directly match function.
- Discourse Analysis
The study of language, beyond the sentence, in text and conversation. Ex. Analyzing a political debate to understand how candidates take turns speaking, how they respond to each other’s arguments, and how they structure their arguments to persuade the audience.
- Cohesion
The ties and connections between words that exist within texts. Ex. In a paragraph about the beach, cohesive elements might include words like “sand,” “waves,” “sun,” and “seagulls,” which create a cohesive picture of the beach environment.
- Cohesive ties
The individual connection between words that exist within texts. Cohesive ties are the specific connections between individual words or phrases within a text that contribute to its overall cohesion. Ex. In the sentence “The cat chased the mouse,” the cohesive tie between “cat” and “chased” creates coherence by linking the subject and action of the sentence.
- Coherence
The connections that readers and listeners create in their minds to arrive at a meaningful interpretation of texts. Ex. In a well-written story, coherence ensures that each event and detail contributes logically to the overall plot and theme, allowing readers to follow the narrative smoothly and understand its deeper message.
- Turns (at speaking)
In conversation, the unit of talk by one speaker, ended by the beginning of the next speaker’s unit of talk. A turn refers to the portion of speech produced by one speaker in a conversation. In a dialogue, each time someone speaks without interruption, it’s considered a turn. For example, if someone says, “I went to the store yesterday,” and then pauses, that’s one complete turn.
- Completion point
In conversation, the end of a turn, usually marked by a paus at the end of a phrase or sentence. This is the natural pause or endpoint that occurs at the end of a speaker’s turn in a conversation. It’s usually marked by a slight break or the completion of a thought. For instance, after saying, “I went to the store yesterday,” the speaker might pause, indicating that their turn is complete.
- Turn-taking
The way in which each speaker takes a turn in conversation. Ex. One person speaks while the others listen, and then they switch roles. In a group discussion, turn-taking ensures that everyone has a chance to contribute their ideas.
- Filled pauses
A break in the flow of speech, usings sounds such as “ um”, “em”, or “er”. Often when searching for words.
- Adjacency pair
In conversation, an automatic sequence of a first part from one speaker and second part from another speaker. Ex. “How are you?” - “Fine, thanks”. These are common in everyday language and often predictable.
- Insertion sequence
In conversation, an adjacency pair that comes between the first and second parts of another pair. An insertion sequence often involves an unexpected or non-predictable response that disrupts the typical flow of conversation, either by changing the topic or introducing new information that may not directly relate to the ongoing exchange. Ex. “Would you like some tea?” - “Actually, I prefer coffee”. Instead of the classic, “yes, please”.
- Background knowledge
Information that is not in a text, but is used from memory by a reader to understand the text. Ex. Understanding a news article about a scientific discovery may require background knowledge of related scientific concepts.
- Schema
A conventional knowledge structure in memory for specific things, such as a supermarket (food is displayed on shelves, arranged in aisles, etc). Another example: Your schema for a movie theater might include your understanding that it typically consists of features (physical) like a ticket counter, concession stand, rows of seats facing a screen, and exits.
- Script
A conventional knowledge structure in memory for the series of actions involved in events such as “going to the dentist”. Another example: Your script for going to the movies might involve actions like buying tickets at the counter, purchasing snacks at the concession stand, finding your seat in the theater, watching the movie, and exiting the theater after it’s finished.
- Neurolinguistics
The study of the relationship between language and the brain.
- Broca’s area
A part of the brain in the left hemisphere involved in speech production.
- Wernicke’s area
A part of the brain in the left hemisphere involved in language comprehension.
- Motor cortex
A part of the brain that controls muscle movement. When you talk or move, the motor cortex is at work.
- Arcuate fasciculus (“the curved bundle”)
A bundle of nerve fibers connecting the Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area in the left hemisphere of the brain.
- Localization view
The belief that specific aspects of linguistic ability have specific locations in the brain. Ex. One part may help us speak and one part helps us understand.
- Tip of the tongue
The experience of knowing a word, but being unable to access it and bring it to the surface in order to say it.
- Malapropisms
A speech error in which one word is used instead of another with a similar beginning, end and number of syllables. Ex. “medication” instead of “meditation”.
- Slip of the tongue
A speech error in which a sound or word is produced in the wrong place.
- Spoonerisms
A slip of the tongue in which two parts of words or two words are switched. Ex. “A dog of bag food” instead of “a bag of dog food”.
- Perseveration
A type of slip of the tongue in which a sound carries over from one word to the following word or words. Ex. “Black bloxes” instead of “black boxes”.
- Anticipation
A type of slip of the tongue in which a sound is used in a word in anticipation of that sound in a following word. Ex. “A tup of tea” instead of “a cup of tea”.
- Exchange
A type of slip of the tongue in which sounds in two words are switched. Ex. “You’ll soon beel fetter” instead of “feel better”.
- Slips of the ear
A processing error in which one word or phrase is heard as another. Ex. Hearing “great ape” when the utterance was “gray tape”.
- Aphasia
An impairment of language function due to localized brain damage that leads to difficulty in understanding and/or producing language.
- Broca’s aphasia
A language disorder in which speech production is typically reduced, distorted, slow and missing grammatical markers. Ex. They might say, “Me go store,” instead of “I’m going to the store”. They struggle to find words and speak slowly.
- Agrammatic speech
A type of speech without grammatical markers, often associated with Broca’s aphasia. It refers to the way sentences are formed. People with agrammatic speech have trouble using grammatical structures correctly. Their sentences may be short and lack function words (like “is,” “the,” “and”), resulting in a telegraphic or choppy speech pattern.
- Wernicke’s aphasia
A language disorder in which comprehension is typically slow. Individuals with Wernicke’s aphasia may produce speech that is fluent and grammatically correct, but it is often nonsensical and lacks meaning. They may also have difficulty understanding spoken and written language.
- Anomia
A language disorder in which it is difficult to find words, often associated with Wernicke’s aphasia. Individuals with anomia may have trouble recalling specific words or names when needed, even though they understand the concept they want to express. For example, they might struggle to name common objects like “table” or “pencil” despite being familiar with these items.
- Conduction aphasia
A language disorder associated with damage to the arcuate fasciculus in which repeating words or phrases is difficult. People with conduction aphasia typically have relatively preserved language comprehension and production abilities but struggle with repeating words or phrases accurately.
- Dichotic listening test
An experiment in which a listener hears two different sounds simultaneously, each through a different earphone.
- Right-ear advantage
The fact that humans typically hear speech sounds more readily via the right ear.
- Lateralization
Divided into a left side and a right side, with control of functions on one side or the other (used in describing the human brain). The left hemisphere is often associated with language, logical reasoning, and analytical thinking and the right hemisphere is often associated with spatial awareness, creativity, and emotional processing.
- Critical period
The time from birth to puberty during which normal first language acquisition can take place. It’s the important time in childhood when your brain is best at learning new languages. If you miss this time, it’s harder to learn later on.
- Acquisition
The gradual development of ability in a first or second language by using it naturally in communicative situations. Ex. A child learning to speak by interacting with family members is an example of language acquisition.
- Input
The language that an acquirer/learner is exposed to.
- Output
The language produced by an acquirer/learner.
- Cooing
The earliest use of speech-like sounds by an infant in the first few months. Cooing sounds are characterized by vowel sounds and soft consonant-like noises, and they’re often made in response to stimuli or as a form of self-soothing.
- Babbling
The use of syllable sequences (baba) and combinations (ma-ga) by young children in their first year.
- One-word stage
The period in L1 (first language acquired as a child) acquisition when children can produce single terms for objects. Ex. A child might say “dog” when they see a dog or “milk” when they want to drink milk.
- Holophrastic
A single form functioning as a phrase or sentence in the early speech of young children. Holophrastic speech refers to the use of a single word to convey a more extensive meaning, similar to a phrase or sentence. For instance, a child might say “juice” to mean “I want some juice” or “Give me juice.”
- Two-word stage
A period beginning at around 18-20 months when children produce two terms together as an utterance. Ex. “More milk”.
- Telegraphic speech
Strings of words (lexical morphemes without inflectional morphemes) in phrases like “Mommy go byebye” produced by two-year-old children.
- Overgeneralization
In L1 acquisition, using an inflectional morpheme on more words than is usual in the language. Overgeneralization occurs when a child applies a grammatical rule too broadly, resulting in incorrect forms. Ex. “Two foots” instead of “two feet”.
- Overextension
In L1 acquisition, using a word to refer to more objects than is usual in the language. This happens when a child uses a word to refer to a broader category of objects than is typical in the language. Ex. Using the word “ball” to refer to any round object, including the moon or a balloon.
