Linguistics vocab terms

Question 1

linguistic competence

Answer 1

a speaker’s subconscious, intuitive knowledge of the rules of their language.
Definitions from Oxford Languages

Question 2

linguistic performance

Answer 2

an individual’s use of a language, i.e. what a speaker actually says, including hesitations, false starts, and errors.
Definitions from Oxford Languages

Question 3

performance error

Answer 3

The performance of a speaker may not be fault free, even though their competence is perfect.
Sahil Gupta slideshare

Question 4

speech communication chain

Answer 4

The speech chain describes the stages in speech communication whereby a message moves between the mind of the speaker and the mind of the listener. Through the idea of the speech chain we see that information which is communicated linguistically to achieve some goal is encoded by the speaker into a sequence of articulatory gestures which generate sound, that sound is communicated to the listener, processed by the hearing mechanism into a neural signal that is interpreted to extract the meaning of the utterance and the intention of the communicative act.
UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Question 5

speech communication chain steps

Answer 5

The Speech Chain comprises the processes of: • speech production, • auditory feedback to the speaker, • speech transmission (through air or over an electronic communication system (to the listener), and • speech perception and understanding by the listener.
UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Question 6

noise

Answer 6

the variation among users of language. This can take place through shifts in spelling, grammar, or other aspects of language. Essentially, this is grammatical language that the hearer cannot understand—this can even happen with people who speak the same language.

What is linguistic noise? | Homework.Study.comhttps://study.com

Question 7

lexicon

Answer 7

the complete set of meaningful units in a language.
Definitions from Oxford Languages

Question 8

mental grammar

Answer 8

Mental grammar is the generative grammar stored in the brain that allows a speaker to produce language that other speakers can understand. It is also known as competence grammar and linguistic competence
https://www.thoughtco.com/mental-grammar-term-

Question 9

language variation

Answer 9

Everyone speaks at least one language, and probably most people in the world speak more than one. Even Americans, most of whom speak only English, usually know more than one dialect. Certainly no one talks exactly the same way at all times: You are unlikely to speak to your boss in the style (or vocabulary) that you’d use in talking to the idiot who just rammed your car from behind. All dialects start with the same system, and their partly independent histories leave different parts of the parent system intact. This gives rise to some of the most persistent myths about language, such as the claim that the people of Appalachia speak pure Elizabethan English. Non-Appalachians notice features of Shakespeare’s English that have been preserved in Appalachia but lost in (for instance) Standard English, but only Appalachian fans of Shakespeare would be likely to notice the features of Shakespeare’s English that have been preserved in Standard English but lost in the Appalachian dialect.
https://www.linguisticsociety.org/

Question 10

descriptive grammar

Answer 10

lay out the grammatical elements and rules of a language as it is actually used.
https://guides.emich.edu/

Question 11

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

Answer 11

1. Writing must be taught
2. language uses noises from your mouth and throat
   3.?
   4?

Question 12

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

Answer 12

1.
2.
3.

Question 13

prescriptive grammar

Answer 13

a set of norms or rules governing how a language should or should not be used rather than describing the ways in which a language is actually used.
https://www.thoughtco.com/

Question 14

prescribe

Answer 14

Prescriptive grammar explains or rather prescribes rules on how a language should or ought to be used by the speakers. As a result, prescriptive grammar consists of a set of rules that teach the speaker the most accurate and the correct manner to use the language, highlighting what should be used and what should be avoided so that he can achieve that certain grammar and the language standard.
https://pediaa.com/

Question 15

Charles Hockett’s nine design features (necessary for a communication system to be considered a language) (list)

Answer 15

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

Question 16

mode of communication

Answer 16

Modes of communication means interpersonal communication involving conversational speaking and listening or signed exchanges
lawinsider.com

Question 17

semanticity

Answer 17

the quality that a linguistic system has of being able to convey meanings, in particular by reference to the world of physical reality.
Definitions from Oxford Languages

Question 18

pragmatic function

Answer 18

the meaning a speaker wishes to convey to the person they are speaking to (the addressee). Now usually the meaning of the individual words will give the addressee the meaning that the speaker wants to give, but NOT always

Question 19

interchangeability

Answer 19

capable of being put or used in the place of each other: interchangeable symbols. (of one thing) capable of replacing or changing places with something else: an interchangeable part.
dictionary.com

Question 20

cultural transmission

Answer 20

the process through which cultural elements, in the form of attitudes, values, beliefs, and behavioral scripts, are passed onto and taught to individuals and groups.
linkspringer.com

Question 21

arbitrariness

Answer 21

refers to the fact that the meaning of linguistic signs is not predictable from its word form, nor is the word form dictated by its meaning/function. It is not possible to deduce the underlying meaning from its word form. Furthermore, there may be semantic change.
blogs.ntu.edu

Question 22

linguistic sign

Answer 22

not a link between a thing and a name, but between a concept and a sound pattern. The sound pattern is not actually a sound; for a sound is something physical. A sound pattern is the hearer’s psychological impression of a sound, as given to him by the evidence of his senses.
newlearningonline.com

Question 23

convention

Answer 23

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

tandfonline.com

Question 24

non-arbitrariness

Answer 24

the converse of arbitrariness, a relation between form and meaning such that aspects of a word’s meaning or grammatical function can be predicted from aspects of its form.
pure.mpg.de

Question 25

iconic

Answer 25

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

Question 26

onomatopoeia

Answer 26

the connection, or symbolism, of a sound that is interpreted and reproduced within the context of a language, usually out of mimicry of a sound.
wikipedia.org

Question 27

conventionalized

Answer 27

For certain meanings, there is a form that speakers expect to be used in the language community
cambridge.org

Question 28

Sound Symbolism

Answer 28

the resemblance between sound and meaning
wikipedia.org

Question 29

discreteness

Answer 29

means that the boundary between linguistic symbols is clear. Since the linguistic symbols are discrete, the chain of linguistic symbols can be segmented part by part until the smallest linguistic symbols are assigned
blogs.common.georgetown.edu

Question 30

displacement

Answer 30

the capability of language to communicate about things that are not immediately present (spatially or temporally); i.e., things that are either not here or are not here now.
wikipedia.org

Question 31

productivity

Answer 31

the degree to which speakers of a language use a particular grammatical process, especially in word formation.
wikipedia.org

Question 32

modality

Answer 32

a category of linguistic meaning having to do with the expression of possibility and necessity.
mit.edu

Question 33

myths about signed languages (list 4)

Answer 33

Myth 1: Sign language is universal. …
Myth 2: The Deaf can understand your spoken language by lip reading. …
Myth 3: If you’re talking to a Deaf person, speak slowly so they can understand you. …
Myth 4: It’s effective to write notes back and forth to communicate with the Deaf.
blog.cyracom.com

Question 34

differences between codes and languages (list 4)

Answer 34

1.
2.
3.
4.