Vocabulary and Terminology

Question 1

LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE

Answer 1

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

Question 2

LINGUISTIC PERFORMANCE

Answer 2

The ability to produce and comprehend sentences in a language.

Question 3

PERFORMANCE ERROR

Answer 3

Errors made by learners when they are tired or rushed.

Question 4

SPEECH COMMUNICATION CHAIN

Answer 4

Process of transmission of information from a speaker to listener.

Question 5

SPEECH COMMUNICATION CHAIN STEPS

Answer 5

speakers brain>motor neurons> sound generation> listeners ear> listeners brain

Question 6

NOISE

Answer 6

Linguistic noise is the variation among users of language. This can take place through shifts in spelling, grammar, or other aspects of language.

Ex:
people in one area may have a different way of saying a phrase that has the same sense as a phrase that people in another area use

Question 7

LEXICON

Answer 7

Book containing an alphabetical arrangement of the words in a language and their definitions

Question 8

MENTAL GRAMMAR

Answer 8

Generative grammar stored in the brain that allows a speaker to produce language that other speakers can understand.

Question 9

LANGUAGE VARIATION

Answer 9

Regional, social, or contextual differences in the ways that a particular language used.

Question 10

DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR

Answer 10

Objective, non-judgmental description of the grammatical constructions in a language.

Question 11

EVIDENCE THAT WRITING AND LANGUAGE ARE NOT THE SAME (LIST 4 REASONS)

Answer 11

-Written language is more complex and formal than the spoken language
-Spoken language is more impromptu. Because of that, it often includes repetitions, interruptions, and incomplete sentences. Writing is more polished.
-Writing communicates across time and space for as long as the medium exists and that particular language is understood. Speech is more immediate.
-Spoken language uses tone and pitch to improve understanding; written language can only use layout and punctuation.

Question 12

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

Answer 12

-Written Language preserves language and reaches more people at a time and over a period of time.
-Can display linguistical changes throughout time.
-Metaphorical Language (better for visualization)

Question 13

PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR

Answer 13

set of norms or rules governing how a language should or should not be used rather than describing the ways in which a language is actually used.

Question 14

PRESCRIBE

Answer 14

to be grammatically correct when choosing what forms or English words and phases to utilize.

Question 15

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

Answer 15

duality, productivity, arbitrariness, interchangeability, specialization, displacement, cultural transmission, semantic. and discreteness

Question 16

MODE OF COMMUNICATION

Answer 16

interpersonal communication involving conversational speaking and listening or signed exchanges

Question 17

SEMANTICITY

Answer 17

the property of language that allows it to represent events, ideas, actions, and objects symbolically, thereby endowing it with the capacity to communicate meaning

Question 18

PRAGMATIC FUNCTION

Answer 18

meaning a speaker wishes to convey to the person they are speaking to

Question 19

INTERCHANGEABILITY

Answer 19

the idea that humans can give and receive identical linguistic signals

Question 20

CULTURAL TRANSMISSION

Answer 20

process whereby a language is passed on from one generation to the next in a community

Question 21

ARBITRARINESS

Answer 21

The relationship between speech sounds and meaning
If you do not know a language, the sounds spoken to you will be incomprehensible.

Question 22

LINGUISTIC SIGN

Answer 22

holistic combination of two structural elements: a form that signifies (signifier) and a concept to which the form refers (signified)

Question 23

CONVENTION

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

NON-ARBITRARINESS

Answer 24

relation between form and meaning such that aspects of a word’s meaning or grammatical function can be predicted from aspects of its form.

Question 25

ICONIC

Answer 25

relationship of resemblance or similarity between the two aspects of a sign: its form and its meaning

Question 26

ONOMATOPOEIA

Answer 26

the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (such as buzz or hiss)

Question 27

CONVENTIONALIZED

Answer 27

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

Question 28

SOUND SYMBOLISM

Answer 28

non-arbitrary mappings that exist between phonetic properties of speech sounds and their meaning

Question 29

DISCRETENESS

Answer 29

boundary between linguistic symbols is clear. Since the linguistic symbols are discrete, the chain of linguistic symbols can be segmented part by part until the smallest linguistic symbols are assigned ex: tin: t/i/n

Question 30

DISPLACEMENT

Answer 30

capability of language to communicate about things that are not immediately present (spatially or temporally)

Question 31

PRODUCTIVITY

Answer 31

degree to which speakers of a language use a particular grammatical process, especially in word formation

Question 32

MODALITY

Answer 32

category of linguistic meaning having to do with the expression of possibility and necessity

Question 33

myths about signed languages (list 4)

Answer 33

• sign language is universal
• the deaf can understand your spoken language by lip reading
  -its effective to write notes to communicate with the deaf
  -always speak directly to the interpreter

Question 34

differences between codes and languages (list 4)

Answer 34

Language requires a shared code, but a code in itself does not constitute a language.
codes can make up a language
grammar rules
codes can be created by the public; much harder to establish a language