Linguistics Flashcards
Prosody
The systematic structure of a spoken or signed utterance.
The function of Prosody
- provides cues about the goals of a speaker (to persuade, teach, inquire, entertain, etc.);
- signals conversational turn-taking;
- conveys urgency and intensity, mood, and tone;
- arranges utterances in a way that supports meaning and clarity (syntax)
- chunks information (for organization, ease of memory, and understanding); and
- provides flow and rhythm.
It is through the speaker’s ______ _______that we know it is either expected that we take our turn now, or hold our remarks until the speaker signals that s/he is opening the floor to others.
prosodic proficiency
In the absence of prosody…
we are left wondering what a speaker’s intent is.
Linguistics
The scientific study of language
Linguists are interested in…
discovering and describing the rules that govern language.
The Major subfields of Linguistics (12)
1) Anthropological Linguistics
2) Applied Linguistics
3) Historical Linguistics
4) Morphology
5) Neurolinguistics
6) Phonetics
7) Phonology
8) Pragmatics
9) Psycholinguistics
10) Semantics
11) Sociolinguistics
12) Syntax
1) Anthropological Linguistics
the study of inter-relationship between language and culture (particularly in the context of non-Western cultures and societies).
2) Applied Linguistics
the application of the methods and results of linguistics to such areas as language teaching; national language policies; lexicography; translation; and language in politics, advertising, classrooms, courts, and the like.
3) Historical Linguistics
the study of how languages change through time; the relationships of languages to each other.
4) Morphology
- the study of the way in which words are constructed out of smaller meaningful units.
- the study of the smallest meaningful units in language and of how those units are used to build new words or signs.
- it is the study of word formation, of how a language uses smaller units to build larger units.
5) Neurolinguistics
the study of the brain and how it functions in the production, perception and acquisition of language.
6) Phonetics
the study of speech sounds; how they are articulated (articulatory phonetics); their physical properties (acoustic phonetics); how they are perceived (auditory/perceptual phonetics).
7) Phonology
the study of the sound system of language; how the particular sounds used in each language form an integrated system for encoding information and how such systems differ form one language to another.
8) Pragmatics
how the meaning conveyed by a word or sentence depends on aspects of the context in which it is used (such as time, place, social relationship between speaker and hearer, ans speaker’s assumptions about the hearer’s beliefs).
9) Psycholinguistics
the study of the interrelationship of language and cognitive structures; the acquisition of language.
10) Semantics
the study of meaning; how words and sentences are related to the (real or imaginary) objects they refer to and the situations they describe.
11) Sociolinguistics
the study of the interrelationship of language and social structure; linguistic variation; attitudes towards language.
12) Syntax
the study of the way in which sentences are constructed; how sentences are related to each other.
Phonology
- the study of the smallest contrastive units
- ASL the study of how signs are structured and organized.
- ASL signs have 5 basic parts (HOLME)
5 basic parameters
1) Handshape
2) Palm Orientation
3) Location
4) Movement
5) Expression (nonmanual signs)
Languages
rule-governed communication systems
Symmetry Condition
states that in a two-handed sign, if both hands move, then they will have the same handshape and type of movement. Ex. DRAMA, MAYBE
Dominance Condition
states that in a two-handed sign, if each hand has a different handshape,then only the active hand can move, the passive, or weak hand serves as a base and does not move. EX. MONEY, WORD
When a two-handed sign has different handshape the passive hands tends to be one of the 7 Basic Shapes:
B, A, S, 1, C, 5, 0
also called unmarked handshapes
Symbol forms may be _________ or _________.
Arbitrary or Iconic
Arbitrary
means that the actual form of the symbol does not reflect the form of the thing or activity it symbolizes.
Iconic
means the form of the symbol is an icon or representation of some aspect of the thing or activity being symbolized.
(people can guess the meaning)
Features that make language unique
1 of 13
Language is Productive; The number of sentence that can be made is infinite; and new messages on any topic can be produced at any time.
Features that make language unique
2 of 13
Language has ways of showing the relationship between symbols
Features that make language unique
3 of 13
Language has mechanisms for introducing new symbols
Features that make language unique
4 of 13
Language can be used for an unrestricted number of domains
Features that make language unique
5 of 13
The symbols can be broken down to smaller symbols
Features that make language unique
6 of 13
More than one meaning can be conveyed by a symbol or a group of symbols.
Features that make language unique
7 of 13
Language can refer to the past, the future, and nonimmediate situations; it is not restricted to the present and immediate.
Features that make language unique
8 of 13
Language changes across time
Features that make language unique
9 of 13
Language can be used interchangeably.
* all users of the language can send and receive messages.
Features that make language unique
10 of 13
Language users monitor their use
* Corrects self if makes an error
Features that make language unique
11 of 13
Parts of the system must be leaned from other users
Features that make language unique
12 of 13
Language users can learn other variants of the same language
Features that make language unique
13 of 13
Language users use the language to discuss language.
* dictionaries, grammar books and linguistics textbooks
American Sign Language is…
a natural language used by members of the North American Deaf community.
Minimal Pair
• Signs that differ in only one of the co-occurent parts.
• The two signs are identical in all areas except for 1 parameter.
• Minimal pairs show that there are critical parts of a sign that allows us to distinguish it from other signs.
• Minimally different
Ex. SUMMER and DRY
ipsilateral
Same side as the dominant (active) hand
Contralateral
The nondominat side
Typology of Signs (6)
1) Type 0
2) Type X
3) Type 1
4) Type 2
5) Type 3
6) Type C
1) Type 0
• One-handed signs articulated in free space without contact. Ex. PREACH
2) Type X
• One-handed signs which contact the body in any place except the opposite hand. Ex. SOUR
3) Type 1
• two-handed signs in which both hands are active and preform identical motor action.
•Hands may not contact each other or the body
Ex. WHICH, CAR
4) Type 2
• two-handed signs in which one hand is active and one hand is passive
• Both hands have the same handshape
Ex. NAME, SHORT
5) Type 3
• two-handed signs in which one hand is active and one hand is passive
• The two hands have different handshapes
Ex. DISCUSS
6) Type C
• Combination of two or more of the types
Which of the sign types use two-handed signs?
Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3
Onomatopeia
• Occur when the linguistic form of the word symbolizes the sound of the object or activity to which the for refers. Ex. Choo Choo- train
Unmarked handshapes
B, A, S, 1, C, 5, 0
• Easiest to form
Marked handshapes
T, R,E,X 7,8
• these are the most difficult handshapes
Linguistic Competence
- What a user knows about the language; knowledge of the rules for making language
- What you know when you know a language.
- Not available to conscious thought
- Resides in your mind
Linguistic Performance
- How a user uses the language; We can observe it through their speech, make hypothesis, and draw conclusions about the unconscious knowledge (linguistic competence) that underlies it.
- Revealed in your speech
Scientific Method
- The systematic approach that linguists use to study and understand the structure and uses of sign languages. All claims about sign languages need to be tested.
- It is based on gathering observable, empirical, and measurable evidence to prove or disprove hypothesis’s about what is being studied.
Descriptive Rules
• the rules that show us how a linguistic system works
Prescriptive Rules
• the rules that are focused in grammar books and associated with how speakers think a language should be structured.
Constraints
- the characteristics of context in which the sign is used.
- the social background of the signer that may help explain the variation
- There are two kinds: Linguistic and Social Constraints
Linguistic Constraints
- Also know as the internal constraints, are ones that have to do specifically with language structures.
- The sign- or parts of it- that occur immediately before or after the variable sign may be a constraint.
Social Constraints
• Also known as external constraints, are social characteristics such as region, gender, age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class that correlate with variation. Ex. Women may use a variant more than a man.
Features shared by languages and other communication systems (4)
1) Systems use symbols
2) Symbols are organized and used systematically
3) Symbol form maybe arbitrary or iconic
4) Members of a community share the same communication system.
1) Systems use symbols
Language and other communication systems are composed of symbols that their users manipulate to produce meaning. Different kinds of symbol systems exist to facilitate linguistic communication.
2) Symbols are organized and used systematically
- Languages are rule-governed systems.
* Two examples of rules in ASL are two conditions, the symmetry condition and the dominance condition.
3) Symbol form maybe arbitrary or iconic
• all languages, spoken and signed, have examples of arbitrary forms and iconic forms
4) Members of a community share the same communication system.
• Communites of users, often interms of relgion, ehtnic, occupational, socioeconmic, or gender differences.
• There is a variation in ASl
Ex. Different areas in the country, black and white signers, women and men signers.
Variation
Refers to alternative ways of signing or saying something.
- Phonological Variation
- Lexical Variation
- Syntactic Variation
Phonological Variation
the variation that affects the basic parts of the signs, units can be changed, added, removed or rearranged.
Ex. BORED (pinky up), FUNNY (thumb out), KNOW (location on cheek)
Lexical Variation
Variation in word-sized units, that is, where the variation affects the whole sign.
Ex. BIRTHDAY, HALLOWEEN, DEAF
Syntactic Variation
the verb in the sentence may be accompanied by pronoun, but pronoun maybe left out.
Ex. “ I THINK” can be signed PRO.1 THINK or simply THINK
Linguistics recognize 3 distinct things called “grammar”
• the set of elements & rules that make up a knowledge.
Mental Grammar, Descriptive Grammar & Prescriptive Grammar
Mental Grammar
• Consists of those aspects of a speakers knowledge of a language that allow him or her to produce grammatical utterances- speaker’s linguistic competence
Descriptive Grammar
- Linguists concern themselves with discovering what speakers know about a language and describing that knowledge objectively They devise rules of Descriptive Grammar.
- Descriptive Grammar, then, is created by linguists as a model of speaker’s linguistic competence.
- Allows for different varieties of a language, they don’t ignore a construction simply because it some prescriptive grammar does not like it.
Prescriptive Grammar
- When most people think of “grammatical rules” they think of what linguists call rules of Prescriptive Grammar.
- Prescriptive Grammar rules tell you how to speak or write, according to what is “good” or “bad”. They provide a standard form of a language that is accepted by most speakers of that language. Adherence to Prescriptive rules allows a speaker to be understood by the greatest number of individuals.
Notation Methods
- Glossing- a gloss is an English word that represents a sign.
- Transcription- a system devised for describing the structure of signs. Two have been developed. 1) The Stokoe System & 2) Lidell and Johnson System
- Translation- is the representation of a message in one language into another.
Bill Stokoe created the first dictionary of Sign Language in
1965
in 1960, Stokoe proposed that signs have 3 parts (parameters) that combine simultaneously.
The three parts are
tab (tabula)- location
dez (designator)- handshape
sig (signation)- movement
Stokes referred to the 3 parameters (tab, dez & sig) as __________.
Cheremes
Depicting Verbs
Term for classifiers
Lexicalized Signs
• Used to be called Loan Signs
Liddell and Johnson Movement-Hold Model
look up
articulatory bundle
The parameters for each
X
short hold
M
movement
H
Hold
Structures
1) Hold
2) Unidirectional
3) Oscillating movements
4) Simple reduplication, unidirectional
5) 3 movements, not reduplication
6) 3 focal sites, 5 movements
7) 2 movements, no reduplication
8) repeated bidirectional movement
Structures- 1) Hold
Ex. COLOR
Structures- 2) Unidirectional
are produced in a single direction.
XMH- ME, THINK
HMH- GOOD, UNDERSTAND
Structures- 3) Oscillating movements
means that the movement is contained within the hand itself and does not change location.
XMX (osc)- LIGHT-YELLOW
HMH (osc)- DREAM
4) Simple reduplication, unidirectional
movement occurs when a sign begins at one location, ends in another location, and then the entire sequence is repeated.
XMXMXMH- SCHOOL, AIRPLANE
5) 3 movements, not reduplication
XMXMXMH- DEAF, RESTAURANT
6) 3 focal sites, 5 movements
Focal sites- indicate where sign is produced. A sign can have more than one focal spot.
XMXMXMXMXMX- GOAT, CHINA
7) 2 movements, no reduplication
XMXMH or HMXMH EX. SODA-POP, DESTROY
8) repeated bidirectional movement
bidirectional movement move in two directions.
XMXMXMXMXMXMX - MAYBE, INTERPRET
Locatives
• Describe a spacial relationship between two or more things
• They indicate the spacial location of something in relation to something else.
* English uses prepositions (under, in, etc)
Ways to express Locatives in ASL
1) Classifiers
2) Directional verbs
3) Indexing
(Directional gaze is also important)
All of these can and often do occur at the same time.
Time Signs aka Time Indicators
have a relative location on the time line which agrees to their meaning.
• present (NOW, TODAY)
• recent past (ONE-DAY-PAST, RECENTLY)
• near future (ONE-DAY-FUTURE, FEW-DAY-FUTURE)
• distant past (PAST, LONG-TIME-AGO)
Modulation
the change in the form of a sign that changes or ads to the meaning
Non-manual Adverbs
Facial expression and other NMS that can also indicate time
Can incorporate number to quantify time
TWO-WEEK, SIX-MONTHS
In ASL pronouns are made by
pointing to a person or thing that is “present” in the area of communication or by pointing to a specific location in the signing space which has been chosen to represent a person or thing that is not present.
ASL has about 9 different handshapes that can be used for pronominal reference
"1"(YOU, most common) closed "5"(YOUR) closed fist "A"(Self) "Y" (THAT-ONE) flat hand (HONORIFIC) "2" (TWO-OF-US) and "3", "4" and "5"
There are at least 2 kinds of Classifiers in ASL
1) CL that are used to represent nouns and can indicate the location of the noun and it’s actions, if any.
2) SASSes (Size And Shape Specifiers), illustrate certain features of a noun as well as indicate its location in space.
Specific-number classifier
3-CL (three people walked up to me)
SASSes (Size And Shape Specifiers)
are often like adjectives
ex. CANDY F-CL (showing that it is small)
ASL pronouns
number-specific
gender-neutral
English pronouns
gender-specific
number-neutral
Classifiers
Real world CL- take on life size (mime)
Abstract CL- smaller than life-sized; their shape and movement are less iconic than Real world CL
Sentence Types
1) Questions
- Yes-No Questions
- Wh-word Questions
- Rhetorical Questions (rhet.q)
2) Negation/Assertion
3) Commands
4) Topicalization
5) Conditionals
6) Declarations/ Statements
7) Relative Clause
phonological processes
the ways in which the parts of the signs interact with each other.
The 5 phonological processes
1) Movement Epenthesis
2) Hold Reduction
3) Metathesis
4) Assimilation
5) Weak Hand Deletion
1) Movement Epenthesis
When a movement is added between the last segment of one sign and the first segment of the next sign.
ex. FATHER (H) STUDY (H)
when they occur in sequence a movement is inserted between the two Holds
FATHER STUDY
H M H
2) Hold Reduction
shortens holds between movements when signs occur in sequence
Ex. GOOD (HMH), IDEA (XMH)
GOOD IDEA
ME HMH M XMH
HR HMX M XMH3) Metathesis
parts of the segments of the signs change place
Ex. DEAF can be Chin to EAR or EAR to CHIN
other examples, CONGRESS, FLOWER, RESTAURANT and HEAD.
4) Assimilation
a segment takes on the characteristic of another segment, usually the segment just before or just after it
ex. me inform
5) Weak Hand Deletion
the weak, or passive, hand is deleted from two-handed signs; happens more often when both hands have same movement; has resulted in historical change for many signs
ex. horse, cow, deer
Who are Liddell and Johnson?
believed that the principles of spoken languages also apply to signed language, in particular, the study of phonology; spoken languages use a series of features to make up and “articulatory bundle”; sign language also has articular bundles made up of features that Stokoe called ‘parameters;
movement-hold model
signs consist of ‘hold’ segments and ‘movement’ segments that are produced sequentially; holds: articulation in steady state, movements: some aspect of articulation is in transition
Differences between Stokoe and Liddell & Johnson.
S: parameters are produced simultaneously vs. L&J: articulatory bundles are produced sequentially
S: problem with describing sequence vs L&J: sequence can be described
S: identified 19 handshape primes vs L&J: identified 150+ handshapes
S: limited location and orientation features vs. L&J: explicit description of location and orientation possible
S: finger configuration includes thumb vs. L&J: thumb configuration described separately from finger configurations
Problems with Stokoe transcription system.
detail in the description of signs – location (SIGN, CHILDREN) AND handshape (GIVE, NUMBER, NOTHING)
-representation of sequence in ASL signs (DIE, DEAF, GIVE, FINALLY)
Before Stokoe, signs were though of as ______________ _______.
unanalyzable wholes
Derivational Morphology
The Process of making new units for the language, in other words derving new units.
Inflectional Morphology
• The process of adding grammatical information to units that already exists. (without changing the meaning of the base sign.
• Temporal Information
GIVE
me GIVE him (directional)
Free Morpheme
a morpheme that can stand alone
ex. CAT, SIT
Bound Morpheme
• a morpheme that must be bound to another morpheme to create meaning.
• Can not occur as independent units
ex. 3 WEEKS
1978
Ted Supalla & Elissa Newport
First identified that pairs of nouns and verbs in ASL that differ from each other in only the movement of the sign. Noun/Verb pair
Noun/Verb Pairs
related nouns and verbs that have the same handshape, location, orientation, but differ in movement
The repetition in Noun/Verb pairs is called
reduplication
Affixation
the process of adding bound morphemes to other forms to create a new unit.
Ex. TEACH+AGENT= TEACHER
Compound
another way that ASL creates new signs is by taking two signs (free morphomes) and put them together.
3 Morphological Rules to Create Compounds
1) First Contact Rule (M1) - first or only contact hold is kept
2) The Single Sequence Rule (M2) - one movement-hold sequence is kept, internal movement or the repetition of movement is eliminated.
3) The Weak Hand Anticipation Rule (M3) - if the first sign is one-handed and the second sign is two handed, the entire sign becomes two-handed.
Johnson divides fingerspelling into 3 categories
1) Rapid fingerspelling (commonly fs words)
2) Careful fingerspelling (addresses)
3) Lexicalized fingerspelling (have become signs)
The 3 C’s
1) Context
2) Configuration
3) Closure
Lexicalization Process
1) Some of the Signs may be deleted (yes- YS)
2) The location may change (OFF near light)
3) Handshapes may change (CAR R-thumb out)
4) Movement maybe added (BACK- moving back)
5) The orientation may change (WHAT- WT)
6) There may be reduplication in the movement (HAHA)
7) The second hand maybe added. (HAHA)
8) Grammatical information may be added (me#NOyou)
Syntax
- is the study of the rules for combining words to form sentences.
- The number of sentences that can be produced in a language is infinite.
User’s Competence
What a person knows about the language, knowledge of rules and syntax of the language.
User’s Performance
How the person uses the language
predicate in ASL
BOY HOME
noun) (Predicate
Lexical categories
There are 2 types of signs in ASL
1) Content Signs
2) Function Signs
1) Content Signs
N, V, Adj, Adv (open lexical because new signs can be added to them)
2) Function Signs
Pro, Prep, Conj- modal verbs (closed lexical because they do not allow new signs to be added)
Modal Verbs
WILL, CAN, MUST (4 fingers), SHOULD
• express the idea of necessity or possibility
• can be repeated after the verb for emphasis
Prepositions
Show the relationship between nouns and predicates or pronouns.
Conjunctions
Joining words or phrases of the same category
BUT, UNDERSTAND, #OR, PLUS
