Vocab and terminology 1 Flashcards
linguistic competence
The system of linguistic knowledge possessed by native speakers of a language.
linguistic performance
The way a language system is used in communication.
performance error
A deviation from accepted rules of a language made by a learner of a second language.
speech communication chain
getting idea from one person’s head into another person’s so that both people end up with the same idea in their minds
speech communication chain steps
- Speaker- Person communicating
- Message- what speaker is communicating
- Channel- means by which message is communicated
- Listener- Person receiving the message
- Feedback-opinions from the listener to speaker
- Interference- anything that impedes on the message
- Situation- time and place
Noise
a sound, especially one that is loud or unpleasant or that causes disturbance
Lexicon
the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge
Mental grammar
the grammar that human has in mind
language variation
there is more than one way of saying the same thing. Speakers may vary pronunciation (accent), word choice (lexicon), or morphology and syntax (sometimes called “grammar”).
descriptive grammar
is a set of rules about language based on how it is actually used.
evidence that writing and language are not the same
- people don’t write like they speak
- people don’t write um and hm
- language has been spoken way longer than written
- there are more languages spoken than written
reasons some people believe writing to be superior to speech
- can be preserved forever
- can maintain its originality
- as people write they learn better speech
prescriptive grammar
a set of rules about language based on how people think language should be used
prescribe
the practice of elevating one variety or manner of language use over another
Charles Hockett’s nine design features
- mode of communication.
- semanticity:
- pragmatic function:
- interchangeability:
- cultural transmission:
- arbitrariness:
- discreteness:
- displacement:
- productivity:
mode of communication:
How messages in a system of communication are transmitted and received. E.g.: for humans, speaking or signing; for bees, dancing.
semanticity:
The fact that a communication system’s symbols have a meaning or function. Although many humans communicate through speaking, a word-like sound produced with a human mouth has no semanticity if it doesn’t have a meaning.
pragmatic function:
The fact that a communication system serves a useful purpose. Hungry humans can use their language to request food. On the other hand, my cat’s shrieking does not seem to serve any useful purpose (unless we postulate that the cat intends to annoy me for their own amusement, which is entirely possible).
interchangeability:
The fact that a participant in a communication system can both transmit and receive a message. For example, Andy has exhibited interchangeability on a regular basis even if sometimes he seems to ignore the communicative messages i send him if he thinks i’m being obnoxious.
cultural transmission:
Acquiring aspects of a communication system thru’ interaction with other users of a system.
arbitrariness
The meaning of a symbol/word does not define its shape.
discreteness:
Language is made up of small, meaningful bits that can be combined to make larger, complex utterances — sounds combine to make words, words combine to make sentences
displacement
Talking about stuff that isn’t there. This includes everything from talking about a friend who isn’t with you to talking about the past or future to lying.
productivity:
The smaller units of a language can be recombined in infinite ways to create completely novel utterances. Related to discreteness but, hmm, more expensive — allows for creativity
linguistic sign
A classic model is the one by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. According to him, language is made up of signs and every sign has two sides (like a coin or a sheet of paper, both sides of which are inseparable
convention
A linguistic convention is a principle or norm that has been adopted by a person or linguistic community about how to use, and therefore what the meaning is of, a specific term
non arbitrariness
subject to individual will or judgment without restriction; contingent solely upon one’s discretion:
Iconic
relating to, resembling, or having the character of an icon
onomatopoeia
the formation of a word, as cuckoo, meow, honk, or boom, by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent.
conventionalized
to represent in a conventional manner
sound symbolism
a nonarbitrary connection between phonetic features of linguistic items and their meanings, as in the frequent occurrence of close vowels in words denoting smallness, as petite and teeny-weeny.
discretness
consisting of or characterized by distinct or individual parts; discontinuous.
displacement
is the capability of language to communicate about things that are not immediately present (spatially or temporally); i.e., things that are either not here or are not here now.
productivity
the degree to which native speakers use a particular grammatical process, especially in word formation. It compares grammatical processes that are ‘modern’ to more ‘unfashionable’ ones.
modality
meaning having to do with the expression of possibility and necessity. A modalized sentence locates an underlying or prejacent proposition in the space of possibilities
myths about signed languages
- all deaf people sign
- sign language is universal ( there are 70 variations)
- signing is a form of English
- If deaf children are taught to sign, they won’t learn to speak
differences between codes and languages
- codes are more strict whereas language is more free
- codes can be a shortened form of language
- a code can only have 1 meaning, but words can mean several things
- codes sometimes need to be deciphered
