midterm Flashcards
First-language education
When a child studies their home language or languages
Second-language education
When someone studies their society’s majority or official language which is not their home language
Foreign-language education
When someone studies the language of another country
Language testing
The assessment and evaluation of language achievement and proficiency, both in first and additional languages, and for both general and specific purposes
Clinical linguistics
The study and treatment of speech and communication impairments, whether hereditary, developmental, or acquired (through injury, stroke, illness, or age)
Workplace communication
The study of how language is used in the workplace, and how it contributes to the nature and power relations of different types of work
Language planning
The making of decisions, often supported by legislation, about the official status of languages and their institutional use, including their use in education
Forensic linguistics
The deployment of linguistic evidence in criminal and other legal investigations, for example, to establish the authorship of a document, or a profile of a speaker from a tape-recording
Literary stylistics
The study of the relationship between linguistic choices and effects in literature
Critical discourse analysis
The study of the relationship between linguistic choices and effects in persuasive uses of language, of how these indoctrinate of manipulate (for example, in marketing or politics), and the counteracting of this through analysis
Translation and interpretation
The formulation of principles underlying the perceived equivalence between a stretch of language and its translation, and the practices of translating written text and interpreting spoken language
Information design
The arrangement and presentation of written language, including issues relating to typography and layout, choices of medium, and effective combinations of language with other means of communication such as pictures and diagrams
Lexicography
The planning and compiling of both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, and other language reference works such as thesauri
sociolinguistics
Is the study of language variation and language change.
standardization
is a process that is apparent in almost all modern nations, in which one variety of a particular language is taken up (by government, the education system, newspapers and other media) and promoted as the ‘standard’ form.
codification
is a prominent feature of standard forms: grammar books and dictionaries are written promoting the form; texts of religious or cultural significance and canonical literature in the form are valued; and the variety is taught to children in schools.
speech community
which might correspond with the group as defined by other non-linguistic means: nationality, age range, gender, town or city population, political allegiance and so on.
linguistic variable
operating at a grammar level, for example, variations in the morphology of subject-verb agreement.
diglossia
Where there is a functional division between the languages’ usage, for example when one is used for formal or printed contexts and the other just in speech
genderlect
The notion of a it has been proposed to account for some of the apparently systematic differences in the ways men and women use language.
observer’s paradox
The concern that the interactants’ awareness of being observed and recorded for research purposes may actually affect their communicative behaviour and thus distort the primary research data.
accommodation
Most conversations have a ‘recipient design’, that is, speakers plan their utterances with the addressee in mind. This factor often results in speakers adjusting their accent, style or language towards their addressees.
idiolect-sociolect
Idiolect is one’s own characteristic in speaking, it’s individual, while sociolect is used by a social group.
dialect-accent
A dialect refers to the characteristic patterns of words and word-order which are used by a group of speakers while the accent is a pattern of pronanciation.
pidgin-creole
Pidgin languages are new languages based on two or more languages and these become the first languages of a new generation than they are called creoles.
hypercorrection-covert prestige
People of certain social groups aiming for a more prestigious form of language than they would naturally use. This is called ‘hypercorrection’. The counterpart of hypercorrection is the phenomenon observed when some people use stigmatized forms of language this is known as ‘covert prestige’.
dialect levelling model - gravity model of diffusion
A ‘dialect levelling model’ of change has been used to account for data in a number of studies. Large-scale homogenization appears to be taking place in spoken British English: differences between accents are becoming less marked. A ‘gravity model’ of ‘diffusion’, which involves the spreading of variants from an identifiable local base into other geographical localities, also appears to be underway. Many of the spreading features in British English are thought to be moving northwards from a south-eastern epicentre. Forms associated with London English are now found in urban centres far from the capital.
What aspects of language can be explored within sociolinguistics, i.e., what are the descriptive tools of language variation? Give one example for each category.
(a) The linguistic variable
e.g. This is any single feature of language which could be realized by different choices.
Farm some pronounce the /r/ some not and if they do there are also variations
(b) Phonological variation
e.g. . Phonological variables also have the advantage that they are usually below the level of conscious awareness, so the recorded data can be relied on to be naturalistic. (strong or broad accent)
(c) Grammatical variation
e.g. A major feature of African–American vernacular English (AAVE) is the non-use of the verb ‘to be’ in some contexts: he a big man, you the teacher. This is known as ‘zero copula’, and is the grammatical form to use when the verb could be contracted in general American English or standard British English: he’s a big man, you’re the teacher.
(d) Lexical variation
e.g. Most local areas have specific lexical items that serve to identify their speakers: your nose is a neb in Yorkshire; a square is to Philadelphians what a block is to a New Yorker
(e) Discoursal variation
e.g. how politicians can be trained to exploit techniques for ‘keeping their turn’ or how politeness (and impoliteness) works have been generalized cross-culturally
ELF
English as a lingua franca – concerned with the particularities of international communication where speakers with different linguacultural backgrounds interact
World Englishes
Refers to the English language as it is variously used throughout the world
Euro-English
Is a group of dialects of the English language used in Europe.
EIL
English as an international language,
English is used as a local means of intra-national communication in countries like the outer-circle and English has become the common global means of intra-national communication
intranational communication - international communication
In intranational communication, English functions as a second official language like in ex-colonial countries such as India or Pakistan, while in international communication it functions as a lingua franca among speakers who represent a wide variety of different languages and cultures.
Please describe and explain Kachru’s Circles model in detail
Kachru’s circle model represents the functions that English fulfils in the world. The figure is made of three circles placed inside each other. The inner circle represent those countries which speak English as a native language (ENL), such as Britain, North America, and New Zeland. The middle one called the outer circle, this one stands for the countries which adopted English as a second language like Africa and Asia during the colonisation. Lastly, the expanded circle includes all of the countries that spoke the language as a foreign language.
pragmatics
a branch of language study which is concerned with what we do when we are going about the business of everyday life using language
speech act theory
suggests that such instances of discourse can be understood in terms of conventional actions speakers perform when engaging in acts of communication
politeness
this kind of behaviour makes sure that the conveyance of information is carried out in a manner which is acceptable to the addressees and renders the intrusion into their private space least harmful
/
in an interaction can be defined as the means of employed show awareness of another person’s face
knowledge of the world
when people make sense of language in various contexts they heavily rely on their knowledge of the world and of how conversations work
pragmatics - semantics
both explore how meaning is created but while semantics focuses on what words mean by themselves, pragmatics is the study of contextual meaning
negative face – positive face
A person’s negative face is the need to be independent, to have freedom of action, and not to be imposed on by others. A person’s positive face is the need to be accepted, even liked, by
others, to be treated as a member of the same group, and to know that his or her wants are shared by others. In simple terms, the negative face is the need to be independent and the positive face is the need to be connected.
Please describe Grice’s Cooperative Principle and his Maxims in detail
Grice represented a general guide which governs human interactions, to this principle there are four maxims. The maxim of quantity (the interlocutors make their contribution as informative as required), the maxim of quality (have to say the truth), the maxim of relation (what they say is relevant to the conversation), and the maxim of manner (to be brief and clear).
face
means the public self-image of a person, it refers to that emotional and social sense of self that everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize
face wants
within their everyday social interactions, people generally behave as if their expectations concerning their public self-image will be respected
mitigating devices
serve to soften a demand for bald on record forms
solidarity strategy
the tendency to use positive politeness forms, emphasizing closeness between speaker and hearer
deference strategy
the tendency to use negative politeness forms, emphasizing the hearer’s right to freedom
pre-sequences
the tendency to use negative politeness forms, emphasizing the hearer’s right to freedom
face threatening act – face saving act
If a speaker says something that represents a threat to another individual’s expectations regarding self-image, it is described as a face threatening act. Alternatively, given the possibility that some action might be interpreted as a threat to another’s face, the speaker can say something to lessen the possible threat. This is called a face saving act.
positive face – negative face
A person’s negative face is the need to be independent, to have freedom of action, and not to be imposed on by others. A person’s positive face is the need to be accepted, even liked, by
others, to be treated as a member of the same group, and to know that his or her wants are shared by others. In simple terms, the negative face is the need to be independent and the positive face is the need to be connected.
positive politeness – negative politeness
A face saving act which is oriented to the person’s negative face will tend to show deference, emphasize the importance of the other’s time or concerns, and even include an apology for the imposition or interruption is called negative politeness. A face saving act which is concerned with the person’s positive face will tend to show solidarity, emphasize that both speakers want the same thing, and that they have a common goal is called positive politeness.
off record – on record – bold on record
These, and other similar types of statement, are not directly addressed to the other. The other can act as if the statements have not even been heard. They are technically described as being off record. In contrast to such off record statements, you can directly address the other as a means of expressing your needs. These direct address forms are technically described as being on record. The most direct approach is known as bald on record. The other person is directly
asked for something.
Universal grammar
All human beings inherit an universal set of priciples and parameters that control the shape human languages can take and which are what make human languages similar to each other.
LAD
It stands for language acquisition device which means how children leave behind their childish and incorrect language usage without the correction of the parents.
What is the difference between competence and performance according to Chomsky?
Linguistic competence means what language users know while linguistic performance is what a language user actually writes, says, and understands.
List and explain the five hypotheses of the Monitor theory
- There is a difference between acquisition and learning. Acquisition is hypothesized to occur in a manner similar to L1 acquisition, that is, with the learner’s focus on communicating message meanings.
- The monitor hypothesis suggests that, although spontaneous speech originates in the acquires system what has been learned may be used as a monitor to edit speech message.
- Learners go through a series of predictable stages in their acquisition of language features, proposed the natural order hypothesis.
- The comprehensible input hypothesis reflects his view that L2 learning, like L1 learning, occurs as a result of exposure to meaning and varied linguistic input.
- The affective filter hypothesis suggests however that a condition for successful acquisition is that the learner be motivated to learn the L2 and thus receptive to the comprehensible input.
Behaviourism
Was based on the view all learning, including language learning, occurs through a process of imitation, practice, reinforcement, and habit formation. (Environment is crucial)
CAH
Contrastive analysis hypothesis was proposed to account for the role of the L1 in L2 learning. It predicted that there were similarities existed between L1 and L2 structures.
Cognitive psychology
It sees no reason to assume that language acquisition requires specific brain structures used uniquely for language acquisition, rather, they hypothesize that second language acquisition, like other learning, requires the learner’s attention and effort.
- Declarative knowledge
Language is first acquired through intentional learning.
- Procedural knowledge
Declarative knowledge with practice becomes this.
- Controlled processing
Occurs when a learner is accessing information that is new, rare, or complex.
- Automatic processing
Occurs quickly and with little or no attention and effort.
- Restructuring
This may result in learners appearing to have made quite sudden changes in their interlanguage systems rather than gradually increasing the speed with which they use constructions that were already present.
- Noticing
The learner have to notice that the input makes the meaning.
Connectionism
According to these views, the brain creates network which connect words or phrases to other words ot phrases which occur at the same time. It suggested that these links are strengthened when learners are repeatedly exposed to linguistic stimuli in specific contexts.
Processability theory
Represents a way to relate underlying cognitive processes to stages in the L2 learner’s development.
- Developmental features
L2 learners were observed to acquire certain syntactic and morphological features of the L2 in predictable stages.
- Variational features
Appeared to be learned by some but not all learners and in many cases did not appear to be learned in fixed sequences.
- Teachability hypothesis
Learners can only be taught what they are psycholinguistically ready to learn.
Interactionist perspectives
Some of the L2 research in the framework is based on L1 research into children’s interaction with their caregivers and peers. L1 studies showed that children are often to a socialized variety of speech which is tailored to their linguistic and cognitive abilities.
Sociocultural perspectives
There is an intimate relationship between culture and mind, and that all learning is first social than individual.
interlanguage
Characterize this developing linguistic system of the L2 learner.
Corpus
Collection of both spoken and written natural texts.
Corpus linguistics
uses corpus that are stored on computer by using a variety of computer-based tools, it can explore different questions about language use.
Structural markup
Refers to the use of codes in the texts to identify structural features of the text.
Header
Many corpora provide information about the contents and creation of each text attached to the beginning of the text or stored in a separate database.
Tagging
The most common kind of linguistic annotation, involves assigning a grammatical category tag to each word in the corpus.
Concordancing tool
That can be easily used to provide word frequency information.
Word frequency
A list of the words which occur in the corpus in frequency order.
Collocate
Words that commonly occur with or in the vicinity of a target word.
Collocation
Words that commonly occur with or in the vicinity of a target word are called collocate, and the resulting sequence or sets of words are called collocation.
Lexical bundles
These are patterns that occur with a greater than random frequency.
