Microlinguistics Flashcards
Phonetics
It looks on how to pronounce the words better.
Phonology
It looks on how different structures in words sound are pronounced (ex. str in “street”)
Morphology
It builds a word with prefix, suffix (they are affixes) and roots.
Syntax
It arranges the words in a sentence until it makes sense.
Semantics
Studies the meaning in words and sentences (ex. if it had a double meaning)
Pragmatics
It changes the meaning of a word or sentence
Synchrony
Looks at a language at a single point in time
Diachrony
Examines how languages evolve and change over time.
Lexical Classes
Categories of words based on their function (nouns, verbs, adjectives).
Grammatical Categories
The trait that words can have.
Free Morphemes
Words that stay alone (ex. book, run)
Bound Morphemes
Must stay attached to another morpheme (ex. unhappy - un - is a morpheme)
Vocabulary
Total set of words in a language: 1. Active vocab (tools you use); 2. Passive vocab (tools you know but rarely use)
Inflexion
Changes the word itself (adding “s” to make a plural)
Lexical
Using different words for the same thing (ex. “go” and “went”)
Isolating Morphemes
Where words typically have one morpheme (ex. Chinese)
Agglutinative Morphemes
Words with multiple morphemes (ex. Turkish)
Polysynthetic
Words combine many morphemes to form whole sentences (ex. Eskimo)
Language Contact
Speakers of different languages interact, leading to borrowing and changes in languages.
Types of borrowings?
Straight borrowing, Partial borrowing and Loan shifts
Language shift
Gradually stops using one language in favor of another.
Language convergence
Languages close in contact become more similar
Types of Bilingualism
Coordinate (keeping language separate); Subordinate (one language influences the other)
