Quiz #1 Flashcards
not to cry
What is language?
an open, arbitrary, conventional system of signs of communication within a specific linguistic community
open
- accepts new members-words or phrases coming in and going out
- ex: blog
conventional
- rule governed regardless of dialect
- ex: sentence structure
system
phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and lexicon
signs of communication
spoken word or written
within a specific linguistic community
listener is not communicated within speech community
lingustics
study of how language works
descriptive language
- observe and describe language
- what we will be studying
- collections of generalizations
prescriptive language
- one standard of language is put over the rest
- one perfect code
prescriptive language
- one standard of language is put over the rest
- one perfect code
linguistic competence
- ability to create words/sentences
- ability to accept what belongs and what doesn’t (filter things out)
- “hidden” part of language
- what we don’t think about/unseen potential
grammar
- how we put words and sentences together
- phonology, morphology, and syntax
Why study language?
- makes us human
- reflects self-identity
retroflex
way you shape your tongue as you say a word
retroflex
way you shape your tongue as you say a word
linguistic performance
- way one produces and comprehends a language
- observable realization of said potential
performance errors
- simple mistake made while using language
- mispronunciation, stumbling
phonetics
sounds of a language
phonology
- specific knowledge about distribution of speech sounds
- “pt” in pterodactyl vs. captive
- allows us to recognize sounds/words spoken by different speakers despite different pronunciations
morphology
facts about word formation
syntax
- how words combine to form words or phrases
- helps to determine whether a sentence is grammatically correct
semantics
ability to understand the meaning of sentences
pragmatics
ability to use context in order to interpret a meaning
lexicon
- collection of all the words that you know; what functions they serve, what they refer to, pronunciation, and relation to other words
- stored as mental grammar, no two people’s are alike
grammar
a language system; set of all elements of a language
rule
statement of pattern that occurs in language
language acquisition
how humans go about construction mental grammar
writing
- representation of language in a physical medium different from sound
- all units are based on units of speech
speech is more basic than writing
- must be taught
- doesn’t exist everywhere
- can be edited
- neurolinguistic evidence
- archeological evidence
mental grammar
what the linguistic is actually trying to understand
descriptive grammar
linguistic’s description of the rules of a spoken language
prescriptive grammar
socially embedded notion of the “correct”/”proper” ways to use language
design features
Hockett’s descriptive characteristics of what a language is
mode of communication
- the means by which messages are transmitted and received
- ex: voices and hand gestures
semanticity
property requiring that all signals in a communication system have meaning or function
pragmatic function
- serve a useful purpose
- influences behavior or to gain information
interchangeability
ability of individuals to both transmit and receive messages
cultural transmission
aspects of language that can only be acquired only through interaction with other speakers
linguistic sign
combination of a form and a meaning
arbitrary
- meaning is not in any way predictable from the form, nor is the form dictated by the meaning
- without there would be no synonyms
- new words are created everyday
onomatopoeia
words that imitative of natural sounds/meanings are associated with the sound of the word
sound symbolism
- certain sounds occur in words no any virtue o being directly imitative of some sound by rather simply by being evocative or a particular meaning
- being non-arbitrary
- tEENy, petIte, and wEE=smallness
discreetness
- ability to combine together discrete units in order to create larger units
- every language has a limited amount of sounds (around 10-100) (english has 50)
- sounds are meaningless by themselves
displacement
- ability of a language to communicate about things, actions, and ideas that are not present in space or time while speakers are communicating
- ex fictional things
productivity
-language’s capacity for novel messages to be built up out of discrete units
three ways that phonetics is defined
- state of glottis
- place of articulation
- manner of articulation
places of articulation
- bilabial
- labiodental
- interdental
- alveolar
- alveolar-palatal
- palatal
- velar
- glottal
manner of articulation
- stop
- fricative
- affricate
- nasal
- lateral approximant
- retroflex approximant
- glide
state of glottis
- voiceless
- voiced
bilabial
- uses both lips
- constriction at lips
- “p” “b” “m” “w^3” “w̥”
- “pat”, “mat”
labiodental
- lip and teeth
- lower lip against the upper front teeth
- “f” “v”
- “fat”, “vat”
interdental
- made with tip of tongue protruding between front teeth
- “θ” “ð”
- “THigh”, “THy”
alveolar
- tongue tip at/or near the hard pallet closet to teeth
- constriction behind teeth
- “t” “d” “s” “z” “n” “l” “ɾ” “ɹ”
- “dab”, “loose”
post-alveolar
- made farther back than alveolar-hard pallet
- “ʃ” “ʒ” “ʧ” “ʤ”
- “leaSH”, “meaSure”
palatal
- body of the tongue near center of the hard palate
- “j”
- “Yes”
velar
- produced at the soft palate; back part of the tongue is raised at soft palate
- “k” “g” “ŋ”
- “Kill”, “siNG”
glottal
- when air is constricted at the larynx, absolute back, puking sound
- “h” “ʔ”
- “High”, “coTTon”, “uh-oh”
stop
- obstructs the air stream completely in the oral cavity
- “p” “b” “t” “d” “k” “g” “ʔ”
fricative
- forming a nearly complete obstruction of the vocal tract
- not a sound you would sing, uses teeth and lips
- “f” “v” “s” “z” “h” “ʃ” “ʒ” “θ” “ð”
affricate
- begins with a stop
- releases a fricative
- “ʧ” “ʤ”
- “ch-uh”, “CHurCH”
tap (flap)
- flick of tongue on roof of mouth; much faster than a stop
- “ɾ”
- “waTER”
nasal
- air is coming out of nose, no stop
- “m” “n” “ŋ”
- “mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm”
lateral liquid
- more construction
- “l”
- “Leaf”
retroflex liquid
- curling tip of tongue behind the alveolar
- “ɹ”
- “red”
glide
- slight closure of articulators and have some movement of particulars during production
- most vowel like, depends on syllable structure
- “w^3” “w̥” “j”
- “woo”
voiceless
- no vocal cords movement
- “p” “w̥” “f” “θ” “t” “s” “ʃ” “ʧ” “k” “ʔ” “h”
voiced
- use of vocal cords
- “b” “m” “w^3” “v” “ð” “d” “z” “ɾ” “n” “l” “ɹ” “ʒ” “ʤ” “j” “g” “ŋ”
p
bilabial, stop, voiceless
w̥
bilabial, glide, voiceless
b
bilabial, stop, voiced
m
bilabial, nasal, voiced
w^3
bilabial, glide, voiced
f
labiodental, fricative, voiceless
v
labiodental, fricative, voiced
θ
interdental, fricative, voiceless
ð
interdental, fricative, voiced
t
alveolar, stop, voiceless
s
alveolar, fricative, voiceless
d
alveolar, stop, voiced
z
alveolar, fricative, voiced
ɾ
alveolar, flap, voiced
n
alveolar, nasal, voiced
l
alveolar, lateral liquid, voiced
ɹ
alveolar, retroflex liquid, voiced
ʃ
post-alveolar, affricate, voiceless
