Quiz 4 part 3 Flashcards
What are the 5 properties of language
- symbolic
- structured
- conveys meaning
- generative
- permits displacement
what is symbolic in terms of language properties
arbitrary symbols represent objects or actions.
- the words or sounds do not look like the represented object -> “dog”
what is structured in terms of language property
rules for meanings, sound/word/phrase combinations. adjective comes before the noun, it does not make sense the other way around.
what does conveying meaning mean in terms of language property
once people know the symbols and rules, they can communicate ideas, and thoughts
- you can describe your own thoughts and other people would understand.
what does generative mean in terms of language property
symbols of language can be combined to generate an infinite number of messages
books, they are just words in different combinations
what does permitting displacement mean in terms of language property
can refer to objects or events that are not physically present
- “remember when…”
What are phonemes
the most basic unity of speech sounds. this is what you learn when you sound words out
What are morphemes
smallest unit of meaning, combine these to form the words. some are whole words some are prefixes and suffixes
what are semantics
meanings of words and sentences
the meaning of words can change over time
what is a syntax
grammatical rules that govern how we organize sentences
what are pragmatics
knowledge of the practical application of language
- social rules and contexts that can affect the understanding and word choice
What is surface structure vs deep structure
surface are the words that are actually spoken, deep structure is the underlying meaning
what is prosody
not what you say but how you say it
- those sentences with 7 different meanings because you can pause, emphasize and change your pitch to make them all different
