Vocabulary and Terminology

Question 1

Linguistic competence

Answer 1

The unconscious knowledge that allows someone to know a language

Question 2

Linguistic Performance

Answer 2

The ability to produce and comprehend sentences in a language

Question 2

Performance error

Answer 2

Errors in speech production and perception

Question 3

Speech Communication Chain

Answer 3

The exchange of information through auditory and oral methods of communication

Question 4

Speech Communication Chain Steps

Answer 4

Speaker- Person initiates communication process
Message- What the speaker is intending to say
Channel- Medium in which the message was sent
Listener- The person receiving the intended message
Feedback- The listener’s response
Interference- Anything that impedes the communication of the message
Situation- The time and place in which the communication takes place

Question 5

Lexicon

Answer 5

The knowledge a native speaker has about a language including the form and meanings of words and phrases, lexical categorization, the appropriate usage of words and phrases, relationships between words and phrases, and categories of words and phrases

Question 6

Noise

Answer 6

Unwanted sound, often can interrupt the communication process

Question 7

Mental Grammer

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Language Variation

Answer 8

The way speakers of any language variate in their use of the lanuage, demonstrated by differences in phonetics and grammer

Question 9

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

Answer 9

1) Writing must be taught, whereas spoken laanguage is aquired naturally
2) Archeological evidence indicated that writing is a later historical development than spoken language
3) Writing is more physically stable than spoken language which consists of nothing more than sound waves traveling through the air and is therfore ephemeral and transient if it is not captured by audio or video or video recording
4) Writing is much more standardized, moving towards a single written

Question 10

Descriptive Grammer

Answer 10

Describing the language the way that it is used, not how it should be used

Question 11

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

Answer 11

1) There is a misconeption that writing is more perfect than speech. This is due to the fact that written language is the focus of many language classes throughout elementary, primary, and secondary education
2) People also believe that writing can seem more correct and more stable, in contrast with speech while speech is the spontaneous and simultaneous
3) Writing systems must be taught explicitly and spoken languages can develop in societies

Question 12

Prescriptive Grammer

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Prescribe

Answer 13

To establish rules on defining preferred or correct use of language

Question 14

Charles Hockett’s nine design features

Answer 14

1) Vocal Auditory Channel
2) Broadcast transmission and directional reception
3) Rapid Fading
4) Interchangeability
5) Total Feedback
6) Specialization
7) Semanticity
8) Arbitrariness
9) Discreteness

Question 15

Mode of communication

Answer 15

Means by which messages are transmitted and received

Question 16

Semanticity

Answer 16

The use of arbitrary or nonabitrary signals to transmit meaningful messages

Question 17

Pragmatic Function

Answer 17

Communication systems must serve some useful purpose

Question 18

Interchangeability

Answer 18

The ability of individuals to both transmit and receive messages

Question 19

Cultural Transmission

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Arbitariness

Answer 20

No inherent connection between the units (sounds, words) used in a language and their meanings

Question 21

Linguistic Sign

Answer 21

Combination of form and meaning

Question 22

Convention

Answer 22

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 23

Non-Arbitariness

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Iconic

Answer 24

The conceived similarity or analogy between the form of a sign and its meaning

Question 25

Onomatopoeia

Answer 25

A word that imitates the sound it represents

Question 26

Conventionalized

Answer 26

Something that is established, commonly agreed upon, or operation in a certain way according to common practice. When an arbitrary relationship of a linguistics 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 27

Sound Symbolism

Answer 27

The process by which the way a word sounds influences our assumptions about what it desscribes and attributes such as size

Question 28

Discreteness

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Displacement

Answer 29

The capability of language to communicate about things that are not immediately present

Question 30

Productivity

Answer 30

Productivity is the degree to which native speakers use a particular grammatical process, especially in word formation

Question 31

Modality

Answer 31

System of linguistic options that allows for expressing a speakers general intentions as well as the speaker’s belief as to whether the proposition expressed is true, obligatory, desirable, or actual

Question 32

Myths about signed languages (4)

Answer 32

1) Signed languages only use their hands
2) American Sign Language is based on English
3) Sign language is universal
4) Sign language was developed by hearing people

Question 33

Differences between codes and languages (4)

Answer 33

1) Codes have no structure of its own, where language has structure
2) Languages confrom to rules like semantics and syntax
3) Specification of a coding language, is usually much stricter and clearer than that of a natural language
4) Codes never have native speakers because they are atrificial systems and languages do have native speakers