Nature of Language Flashcards
” (1) _______ is a primarily human and non- instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols” - (2) ______
(1) Language
(2) Sapir
“Language, in its widest sense, means the (1) ______ of such signs of our thoughts and feelings as are capable of external perception and as could be produced and repeated at will” - (2) ______
(1) sum total
(2) A. H. Gardiner
“Language may be defined as the (1) ______ by means of speech-sounds” - (2) ______.
(1) expression of thought
(2) Henry Sweet
“A system of communication by sound i.e., through the (1) ______, among human beings of a certain group or community, using vocal symbols possessing arbitrary conventional meanings.” - (2) ______
(1) organs of speech and hearing
(2) Mario A Pei & Frank Gayno
Language is human…a (1) ______… a means of transmitting information…a form of social behaviour… (with a) high degree of convention.” - (2) ______.
(1) verbal systematic symbolism
(2) J. Whatmough
“A language is a device that establishes (1) ______, pairing meanings with signals to enable people to exchange ideas through observable sequences of sound.” - (2) ______
(1) sound-meaning correlations
(2) Ronals W. Langacker
“A language is (1) ______ as produced by the action of the tongue and adjacent vocal organs… The body of words and methods of combining words used and understood by a considerable community, especially when fixed and elaborated by long usage; a tongue” - (2) ______
(1) audible, articulate human speech
(2) Webster
Is a body of words and the systems for their use common to a people who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural tradition.
Language
Any system of __________, or the like used or conceived as a means of communicating thought, emotion, etc.
formalized symbols, signs, sounds, gestures
In computers, language is a set of __________ for their combination and use, by means of which a computer can be given directions.
characters and symbols and syntactic rules
Origin of Language
- Scientists (1) ______ when human language was first used.
- Estimates range from (2) ______ years ago to only ______ years ago.
- The nature of speech means there is (3) ______ to base these conclusions on.
(1) do not agree on
(2) 2,000,000; 40,000
(3) no data
Language Properties
C - ______
A - ______
M - ______
M - ______
P - ______
D - ______
Communicative
Arbitrary (except for onomatopoeia)
Meaningfully structured
Multiple structures
Productive
Dynamic
Is the study of the different phonemes found in various
cultures.
Phonemics
Is the study of the physical sounds of human speech.
Phonetics
Are the simplest units of sound with meaning. Prefixes and
suffixes are considered as such.
Ex: un|break|able
Morphemes
A ______ is the total set of morphemes a person knows.
lexicon
Is the number of words a person knows. The average person has around 20,000 words in the vocabulary.
Vocabulary
A ______ is the way in which words are put together to form phrases or clauses.
SYNTAX
The study of the meaning of words.
SEMANTICS
A theory of semantics where the meaning comes from the defining features of a concept
Definitional Theory
A theory of semantics where characteristic features and prototypical aspects of a concept; better way to understand meaning.
Prototype Theory
Focuses on a higher level of analysis and on the implied
meaning of the given idea.
PRAGMATICS
What is being spoken
Verbal
- Communication besides spoken words
- Can occur through any sensory channel– sight, sound, smell, touch, or taste
Nonverbal
