Linguistics: Vocab & Terms

Question 1

Linguistic competence

Answer 1

Implicit knowledge of a language. One may not know the exact rules, but they can establish if a rule has been broken by how it sounds out loud. (I-language or LAD)

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Question 2

Linguistic performance

Answer 2

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

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Question 3

Performance error

Answer 3

These are speaking errors that occur when the speaker is tired, hungry, in a rush, etc. They can be easily corrected and are not considered serious.

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Question 4

Speech communication chain

Answer 4

There is a chain of reactions when people talk and listen to each other speak. If even one section malfunctions, this can lead to a speech and/or language disorder.

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Question 5

Speech communication chain steps

Answer 5

There are three phases:
1. Recognizing/Input - notice someone is speaking to you, focus & listen, hear & understand, read speaker’s tone & body language –> get the meaning
2. Processing - ideas of what to say, appropriateness, & find words in memory
3. Expressive/Output - create sentences to say, choose correct body language & words, program speech muscles, speak, & check listener’s body language

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Question 6

Noise

Answer 6

There are different types of noises that can disturb someone’s speech:
1. Physical (ex. loud airplane flies by)
2. Physiological (ex. sleepiness)
3. Technical (ex. static or fuzz in video chat)
4. Organizational (ex. hierarchies in a job, talking to someone higher up)
5. Cultural (ex. cultural differences like etiquette)
6. Psychological (ex. opinions on politics not meshing)
7. Semantic (ex. someone keeps pausing in their speech and saying ‘um’)

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Question 7

Lexicon

Answer 7

The collection of basic words and phrases that make up a language - the words you will learn to help you understand a language.

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Question 8

Mental grammar

Answer 8

The system that all speakers have of a language built in their mind - allows people of the same langauge to understand each other. The mental grammer includes phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics.

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Question 9

Language variation

Answer 9

Regional, social, cultural, or contextual differences in the same language like how people have a southern accent and say ‘oil’ differently than people on the west coast.

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Question 10

Descriptive grammar

Answer 10

Language that is spoken without strict grammar rules like AAVE. Still correct because it is understood!

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Question 11

List 4 reasons why language and writing are not the same.

Answer 11

1. Oral speech/language can exist without a written form but not the other way around. This makes writing secondary to langauge.
2. Language is the creator of words, you speak audibly and someone else hears it. Writing can be read in your head.
3. Writing uses much more detail while language is succint and when spoken, fewer words are needed to express yourself.
4. There is punctuation marks in written language but you do not speak those out loud in any language.

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Question 12

List 3 beliefs that favor writing over speech.

Answer 12

1. Writing can be edited and revised as many times as you want before someone else reads it. Speech cannot be unheard by the listener.
2. You can eliminate the ‘um’ ‘so’ and ‘like’ filler-words that you would use in your speech allowing your audience to easier follow and understand what you are trying to say.
3. You can write about and organize emotions and thoughts in a more neutral manner than if you had to speak them. Maybe you cannot get something out in words because you are experiencing too much grief. Or maybe the police asks for your witness statement but you are in too much shock to say it out loud.

source 1 source 2 source 3

Question 13

Prescriptive grammar

Answer 13

Refers to the set of rules on language that dictate how it should be used like grammar and syntax. Does not focus on the ways that language is actually used.

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Question 14

Prescribe

Answer 14

To prescribe is to set those rules of prescriptive grammar on someone else. Like correcting someone if they say, “he and me.”

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Question 15

Charles Hockett’s 9 design features

Answer 15

FEATURES OF ALL LANGUAGES
1. A medium to transmit (ex. vocal cords)
2. Semanticity (shared meanings to the sounds/words)
3. Pragmatic function (has purpose ex. asking for food)

FEATURES OF SOME LANGAUGES
4. Interchangeability (individuals can all say the same things and it means the same to everyone)
5. Cultural transmission (learning the language from others rather than being born knowing it)
6. Arbitrariness (some words are symbolic ex. that person is a ‘rat’)
7. Discreteness (the words in the language system can be broken down into units like syllables and different sounds that make other words)

FEATURES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE
8. Displacement (ability to talk about less pragmatic functions like feelings and emotions, thoughts on a movie etc.)
9. Productivity (creating new words with the same sounds and letters we’ve always had or rearranging words in a sentence to make a new one)

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Question 16

Modes of communication

Answer 16

1. Linguistic (ex. word choice, spoken or written)
2. Visual (ex. color, size)
3. Aural (ex. music, sound effects, volume)
4. Spatial (ex. arrangement, proximity between people)
5. Gestural (ex. facial expression, hand movements)

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Question 17

Semanticity

Answer 17

The shared meanings to words and sounds in a language.

see Charles Hockett 9 Design Features

Question 18

Pragmatic function

Answer 18

The words have a purpose; for survival

see Charles Hockett 9 Design Features

Question 19

Interchangeability

Answer 19

Individuals can use the same signals and they mean the same things. Like winking may be flirting for everyone, no matter who is winking.

see Chris Hockett card

Question 20

Cultural transmission

Answer 20

The language is taught and learned. It is not naturally born ingrained our brains.

see Chris Hockett card

Question 21

Arbitrariness

Answer 21

Meaning cannot by predicted by sound. Anything could have meant anything. Like how names do not effect how you look.

see Chris Hockett 9 Design Features

Question 22

Linguistic sign

Answer 22

The link between a concept and a sound. Like when you think of or read the word ‘elephant’ - the image of elephant appears in your mind.

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Question 23

Convention

Answer 23

A linguistic convention is the meaning behind words that have been agreed upon by people of a community who will speak the same language. In other words, they are definitions.

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Question 24

Non-arbitrariness

Answer 24

How some words can “feel” like the meaning and some words can reveal aspects of the meanings. (ex. onomatopoeias)

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Question 25

Iconic

Answer 25

Iconicity describes non-arbitrary words that resemble what it means. Like in ASL, people bring their hand to their mouth for ‘eat.’

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Question 26

Onomatopoeia

Answer 26

Words that describe a noise in a way that they sound (ex. boom, sizzle)

Question 27

Conventionalized

Answer 27

If a word is conventionalized, the meaning is common, usual, and generally accepted by people.

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Question 28

Sound symbolism

Answer 28

The characteristics of the conventionalized meaning of a word fits how it sounds. (ex. long sounds long and short sounds short)

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Question 29

Discreteness

Answer 29

The sounds that we use for each letter in a language can be broken apart and turned into other words. (ex. the /p/ in park cannot be changed to /b/ because it will be another word completely).

source see also Chris Hockett card

Question 30

Displacement

Answer 30

Using language in a way that isn’t in line with its meaning and not for pragmatic functions. Like explaining how we feel about a movie or a book we just read. Or talking about astrology.

see discreteness & Chris Hockett card

Question 31

Productivity

Answer 31

Basically the creation of words without creating new sounds.

see Chris Hockett card

Question 32

Modality

Answer 32

How a speaker perceives something. (ex. he is not allowed to do that, you must not cross the street)

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Question 33

List 4 misconceptions about signed languages.

Answer 33

1. Writing notes is just as effective as ASL.
2. People who are proficient in ASL can also read lips.
3. All signed language is the same.
4. People who know ASL also know English.

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Question 34

4 differences between code and language.

Answer 34

1. Codes are most understood in a smaller, regional, or social groups.
2. Code-switching doesn’t depend on knowing another language entirely, it can be the same language with grammatical or pronounciation switches.
3. Codes are used to fit/blend in. Language is used to be understood.
4. Codes are used naturally, people use them subconsciously when they are comfortable. Languages take some time to think about the correct syntax and grammar.

source 1 source 2 source 3 source 4