Linguistics Vocab

Question 1

Linguistic Competence

Answer 1

refers to the unconscious knowledge of grammar that allows a speaker to use and understand a language

Question 2

Linguistic Performance

Answer 2

a speaker’s actual language in real situations; what the speakers actually says, including grammatical errors and other non-linguistic features such as hesitations and other disfluences

Question 3

Descriptive Grammar

Answer 3

describes the rules that govern what people do or can say (their “mental grammar”)

Question 4

Prescriptive Grammar

Answer 4

prescribes rules governing what the people should/shouldn’t say

Question 5

Interchangeability

Answer 5

a user can both receive and broad cast the same signal

Question 6

Arbitrariness

Answer 6

there is no (necessary) connection between the form of signal and its meaning
ex: ‘whale’ is a small word for big animal vs ‘microorganism’ just the reverse

Question 7

Discreteness

Answer 7

larger, complex messages can be broken down into smaller, discrete parts

Question 8

Displacement

Answer 8

ability to talk about things not present in space or time

e.g., A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

Question 9

Productivity

Answer 9

speakers can create infinite number of novel utterances that others can understand
ex: “Little purple gnomes living in my sock drawer said, Elvis Lives.”

Question 10

performance error

Answer 10

subdivided into spontaneously and inadvertently produced speech errors and intentionaly produced word plays or puns

Question 11

speech communication chain

Answer 11

describes the stages in speech communication whereby a message moves between the mind of the speaker and the mind of the listener

Question 12

speech communication steps

Answer 12

Through idea of speech chain we see the information in which is communicated linguistically to achieve some goal is encoded by a sequence of articulatary gestures which makes sounds, that sound is communicated to the listener, processed by the hearing mechanism into a neural signal that is interpreted to extract the meanings of utterance and the intention of the communicative act

Question 13

noise

Answer 13

a sound, especially one that is loud or unpleasant or that causes disturbances

Question 14

lexicon

Answer 14

the vocabulary of the person, language, or branch of knowledge

Question 15

mental grammar

Answer 15

generative grammar stored in the brain that allows a speaker to produce language that other speakers can understand

Question 16

language variation

Answer 16

refers to the regional social, or contextual differences in the ways that particular language is used

Question 17

evidence that writing and language are not the same (list 4 reasons)

Answer 17

1. writing is usually permanent and written texts cannot usually be changed once they have been printed/written out
   speech is usually transient unless recorded and speakers can correct
2. written can communicate across time and space as long as writing is still understood
   speech is used for immediate interactions
3. written language tends to be more complex
   spoken tends to be full of repetitions, incomplete sentences and interruptions
4. writers receive no immediate feedback from their readers, except through computer based communication
   speech is more dynamic interaction between two or more people

Question 18

reasons some people believe writing to be superior than language ( list 3 reasons)

Answer 18

• social anxiety or hard to to prounounce words but in writing you think of the words you want to use
• there is an option to go back in spoken language you can not
• there is no body language in writing or vocal emphasis

Question 19

Charles Hockett’s nine design features (necessary for communication

Answer 19

• Mode of communications
• interchangeabilty
• cultural transmission
• arbitrariness
• discreteness
• displacement

Question 20

Semanticity

Answer 20

the extent to which a language can transmit meaningful messages

Question 21

pragmatic functions

Answer 21

all communication systems serve some useful purpose

Question 22

cultural transmission

Answer 22

refers to the notion that at least some part of a communication system is learned through interaction with other users

Question 23

linguistic sign

Answer 23

an abstract structure whose instances participate in a linguistic system, or language. Formal structure is determined by grammar if a language.

Question 24

convention

Answer 24

a principle or norm that has been that has been adopted by a person or linguistic community about how to use,and therefore what the meaning is of a specific term

Question 25

nonarbitrariness

Answer 25

native users language font view the linguistic sign as arbitrary on the contrary, they view is as necessity of nature

Question 26

iconic

Answer 26

relationship of resemblance or similarity between the two aspects of a sign: its form and its meaning

Question 27

onomatopoeia

Answer 27

words which imitate the natural sounds of a thing

Question 28

conventionalized

Answer 28

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

Question 29

sound symbolism

Answer 29

branch of linguistics which refers to the idea that vocal sounds have meaning

Question 30

modality

Answer 30

system of linguistic options that allows expressing speaker’s general intentions as well as the speaker’s belief as to whether the propositions expressed is true, obligatory, desirable or actual

Question 31

myths about signed languages

Answer 31

• Sign language is universal language
• Sign language only uses your hands
• Sign languages are easy to learn
• Sign language was invented by hearing people
• American sign language is based on English

Question 32

differences between codes and languages

Answer 32

a language code is a code that assigns letters or numbers as identifiers or classifiers for languages where language is a method of communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.