Vocabulary 1

Question 1

linguistic competence

Answer 1

what we know when we know a language; the unconscious knowledge that a speaker has about his or her native language

Question 2

linguistic performance

Answer 2

observable use of language; 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

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

Question 5

speech communication chain steps

Answer 5

• Think of what you want to communicate, pick out words to express the idea, put these words together in a certain order following rules, figure out how to pronounce these words, send those pronunciations to your vocal anatomy, Speak: send the sounds through the air, perceive: listener hears the sounds, decode: listener interprets the sounds as language, connect: listener receives communicated 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 expressions that include their form, meaning, morphological, and syntactic properties. As a part of a descriptive, non-mental, grammar, it is the representation of the mental lexicon, consisting of entries that capture the relevant properties of lexical expressions

Question 8

mental grammar

Answer 8

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

Question 9

language variation

Answer 9

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

Question 10

descriptive grammar

Answer 10

objective description of a speaker’s knowledge of a language based on their use of the language

Question 11

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

Answer 11

• Writing does not exist everywhere
• Writing must be taught
• Processing and production of written language is overlaid on the spoken language centers in the brain
• Writing can be edited

Question 12

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

Answer 12

• Writing can be edited
• Writing must be taught & is associated w/ education & educated speech
• 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

rules that tell you how to speak or write, according to someone’s idea of what is “good” or “bad”; mold spoken and written English to some norm

Question 15

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

Answer 15

Mode of communication, semanticity, pragmatic function, interchangeability, cultural transmission, arbitrariness, discreteness, displacement, and 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

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 learned 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 linguistic 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 that 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 that linguistic sign to convey that meaning

Question 28

sound symbolism

Answer 28

phenomenon by which certain sounds are evocative of a particular meaning

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 discrete units to be produced and understood

Question 32

modality

Answer 32

means through which a message is transmitted for any given communication system; language w/ a spoken modality (produced w/ the voice and interpreted auditorally); language w/ a signed modality (produced with gestures of the hands, arms, and face and interpreted visually)

Question 33

myths about signed languages (4)

Answer 33

• All deaf people sign
• Sign language is universal for all languages
• Signed language is shorthand.
• Signed language is a visual form of English.

Question 34

differences between codes and signed languages (4)

Answer 34

• codes have no structure but borrows its structure from the natural language it represents
• signed languages evolve naturally and independently of spoken languages
• codes never have native speakers while signed language does
• signed languages are structurally distinct from one another and from spoken language