Vocabulary and Terminology

Question 1

Linguistic Competence

Answer 1

The unconscious knowledge of grammar that allows a speaker to use and understand a language.

Question 2

Linguistic Performance

Answer 2

Ability to produce and comprehend sentences in a language.

Question 3

Performance Error

Answer 3

Errors made by learners when they are tired or hurried

Question 4

Speech Communication Chain

Answer 4

The process by which we exchange info, using auditory/oral method to communicate, or when a message moves between the mind of the speaker and the mind of the listener.

Question 5

Speech Communication Chain Steps

Answer 5

• Speech production
• Auditory feedback to the speaker
• Speech transmission (through air or over an electronic communication system (to the listener)
• Speech perception and understanding by the listener.

Question 6

Noise

Answer 6

An unwanted or unpleasant sound that causes a disturbance.

Question 7

Lexicon

Answer 7

The vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge.

Question 8

Mental Grammar

Answer 8

Generative grammar stored in the brain that allows a speaker to produce language that other speakers can understand. It is also known as competence grammar and linguistic competence.

Question 9

Language Variation

Answer 9

Also known as linguistic variation, it refers to regional, social, or contextual differences in the ways that a particular language is used.

Question 10

Descriptive Grammar

Answer 10

A set of rules about language based on how it is actually used - there’s no right or wrong language.

Question 11

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

Answer 11

1. Writers can make use of punctuation, headings, layout, colours and other graphical effects in their written texts. Language uses timing, tone, volume, and timbre to add emotional context.
2. Writing is usually permanent and written texts cannot usually be changed once they have been printed/written out. Language is usually transient, unless recorded, and speakers can correct themselves and change their utterances as they go along.
3. A written text can communicate across time and space for as long as the particular language and writing system is still understood. language is usually used for immediate interactions.
4. Written language tends to be more complex and intricate than speech with longer sentences and many subordinate clauses. Languages tends to be full of repetitions, incomplete sentences, corrections and interruptions

Question 12

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

Answer 12

1. When you write, you can make anything happen.
2. You’re going to sound more organized when you put something in writing.
3. Writing is a great permanent way to remember things.

Question 13

Mode of communication

Answer 13

The way communication is expressed.

Question 14

Semanticity

Answer 14

The quality that a linguistic system has of being able to convey meanings, in particular by reference to the world of physical reality.

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

Interchangeability

Answer 16

Able to be used in place of one another. An example of interchangeable are the words dinner and supper.

Question 17

Cultural Transmission

Answer 17

The process through which cultural elements, in the form of attitudes, values, beliefs, and behavioral scripts, are passed onto and taught to individuals and groups.

Question 18

Arbitrariness

Answer 18

The quality of being determined by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity, reason, or principle. It is also used to refer to a choice made without any specific criterion or restraint.

Question 19

Linguistic Sign

Answer 19

Any unit of language (morpheme, word, phrase, or sentence) used to designate objects or phenomena of reality. Linguistic signs are bilateral; they consist of a signifier, made up of speech sounds (more precisely, phonemes), and a signified, created by the linguistic sign’s sense content.

Question 20

Convention

Answer 20

A common way of showing something in art or writing:

Question 21

Non-arbitrariness

Answer 21

Not based on or subject to individual discretion or preference

Question 22

Iconic

Answer 22

Widely recognized and well-established

Question 23

Onomatopoeia

Answer 23

The formation of a word, such as cuckoo, meow, honk, or boom, by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent. Also, the use of imitative and naturally suggestive words for rhetorical, dramatic, or poetic effect.

Question 24

Conventionalized

Answer 24

Using artistic forms and conventions to create effects; not natural or spontaneous

Question 25

Sound Symbolism

Answer 25

The apparent association between particular sound sequences and particular meanings in speech. Also known as sound-meaningfulness and phonetic symbolism.

Question 26

Discreteness

Answer 26

The state or quality of being discrete, separated or distinct.

Question 27

Displacement

Answer 27

The change in position of an object - implied that an object has been moved.

Question 28

Productivity

Answer 28

The state of being able to create at high quality and quick speed.

Question 29

Modality

Answer 29

A particular way of doing or experiencing something:

Question 30

Myths about signed languages (list 4)

Answer 30

1. There is only one sign language
2. Sign languages are not real languages
3. All deaf people sign
4. Signing hinders learning speech

Question 31

Differences between codes and languages (list 4)

Answer 31

1. With languages, you can communicate your ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs - you cannot do this with codes.
2. Codes are artificial creations, while languages are developed naturally.
3. Codes can’t evolve and develop the same way human languages can.
4. While languages are much defined by the physical attributes of human bodies, codes are not.

Question 32

Prescriptive Grammar

Answer 32

The traditional approach of grammar that tells people how to use the English language, what forms they should utilize, and what functions they should serve.

Question 33

Prescribe

Answer 33

To tell someone what they must have or do, or to make a rule of something.

Question 34

Pragmatic function

Answer 34

The study of how context contributes to meaning.