Vocab and Terms Chapter 1

Question 1

linguistic competence

Answer 1

What we know when we know a language, the unconscious knowledge that a speaker has about their language.

Question 2

linguistic performance

Answer 2

The observable use of language. The actualization of one’s linguistic competence.

Question 3

performance error

Answer 3

Errors in language production or comprehension, including hesitations and slips of the tongue.

Question 4

speech communication chain

Answer 4

The process through which information is communicated, consisting of an information source, transmitter, signal, receiver, and destination.

Question 5

speech communication chain steps

Answer 5

1. Think of what you want to communicate
2. Pick out words to express the idea
3. Put these words together in a certain order following rules.
4. Figure out how to pronounce these words
5. Send those pronunciations to your vocal anatomy
6. Speak: send the sounds through the air
7. Perceive: Listener hears the sounds
8. Decode: Listener interprets sounds as language
9. Connect: Listener receives communication idea.

Question 6

noise

Answer 6

Interference in the communication chain

Question 7

lexicon

Answer 7

A mental repository of linguistic information about words and other lexical expressions, including their form and meaning and their morphological and syntactic properties. As a part of a descriptive, not mental, grammar, the lexicon is the representation of the mental lexicon, consisting of lexical entries that capture the relevant properties of lexical expressions.

Question 8

mental grammar

Answer 8

The mental representation of grammar. The knowledge that a speaker has about the linguistic units and rules of his native language.

Question 9

language variation

Answer 9

The property of languages having different ways to express the same meanings in different context according to factors such as geography, social class, gender, etc.

Question 10

descriptive grammar

Answer 10

Objective description of a speaker’s or group of speaker’s knowledge of a language (competence) based on their use of the language (performance).

Question 11

evidence that writing and language are not the same (list 4 reasons)

Answer 11

1. Writing must be taught
2. Writing does not exist everywhere
3. Writing can be edited
4. Archaeological evidence

Question 12

reasons some people believe writing to be superior to speech (list 3 reasons)

Answer 12

1. Writing can be edited
2. Writing must be taught
3. Writing is more physically stable

Question 13

prescriptive grammar

Answer 13

A set of rules designed to give instructions regarding the socially embedded notion of the “correct” or “proper” way to speak or write.

Question 14

prescribe

Answer 14

The practice of promoting one kind of language use over another. … Sometimes informed by linguistic purism, these normative practices may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, grammar, semantics, pronunciation, and syntax.

Question 15

Charles Hockett’s nine design features (necessary for a communication system to be considered a language) (list)

Answer 15

1. Mode of communication
2. Semanticity
3. Pragmatic Function
4. Interchangeability
5. Cultural Transmission
6. Arbitrariness
7. Discreteness
8. Displacement
9. Productivity

Question 16

mode of communication

Answer 16

Means through which a message is transmitted for any given communication system.

Question 17

semanticity

Answer 17

Property of having signals that convey a meaning, shared by all communication systems.

Question 18

pragmatic function

Answer 18

The useful purpose of any given communication system.

Question 19

interchangeability

Answer 19

The property of a communication system by which all individuals have the ability to both transmit and review messages (as opposed to systems where some individuals can only send messages and others can only receive messages).

Question 20

cultural transmission

Answer 20

Property of a communication system referring to the fact that at least some aspects of it are learning through interaction with other users of the system.

Question 21

arbitrariness

Answer 21

In relation to language, refers to the fact that a word’s meaning is not predictable from its linguist form, nor is its form dictated by its meaning.

Question 22

linguistic sign

Answer 22

The combination of a linguistic form and meaning

Question 23

convention

Answer 23

Something that is established, commonly agreed upon, or operating in a certain way according to common practice. When an arbitrary relationship of a linguistic sign and its meaning is conventionalized, the linguistic sign bears a constant relationship only because people consistently use the linguistic sign to convey that meaning.

Question 24

nonarbitrariness

Answer 24

Direct correspondence between the physical properties of a form and the meaning that the form refers to.

Question 25

iconic

Answer 25

Relationship between form and meaning such that the form of a word bears a resemblance to its meaning.

Question 26

onomatopoeia

Answer 26

Iconic use of words that are imitative of sounds occurring in nature or that have meanings that are associated with such sounds.

Question 27

conventionalized

Answer 27

Something that is established, commonly agreed upon, or operating in a certain way according to common practice. When an arbitrary relationship of a linguistic sign and its meaning is conventionalized, the linguistic sign bears a constant relationship only because people consistently use the linguistic sign to convey that meaning.

Question 28

sound symbolism

Answer 28

Phenomenon by which certain sounds are evocative of a particular meaning. (Small = tEEny, wEE, lEETle “little”

Question 29

discreteness

Answer 29

The property of communication systems by which complex messages may be built up out of smaller parts.

Question 30

displacement

Answer 30

The property of some communication systems that allows them to be used to communicate about things, actions, and ideas that are not present at the place or time where communication is taking place.

Question 31

productivity

Answer 31

The capacity of a communication system (unique to human language) for novel messages built out of a discrete units to be produced and understood.

Question 32

modality

Answer 32

A mode of communication, telling us 2 things: how it is produced, and how it is perceived.

Question 33

myths about signed languages (list 4)

Answer 33

1. They derive from spoken languages, rather than being language in their own right.
2. Signed languages do not have any internal structue
3. Words in sign language are completely iconic.
4. There is only one signed language that is used by deaf speakers all over the world.

Question 34

differences between codes and languages (list 4)

Answer 34

1. Codes are artificially constructed for representing a natural language, whereas signed languages evolve naturally and independently of spoken language.
2. Codes never have native speakers, whereas languages do have native speakers
3. How morphemes are represented and also difference in word orders differ between codes and signed languages.
4. The rate of transmission of information. Average second-per-proposition rate: English and ASL= 1.5, SEE II code = 2.8.