Vocabulary & Terminology

Question 1

Linguistic Competence

Answer 1

The innate (unconscious) knowledge of a language that allows a speaker to use and understand that language.

Question 2

Linguistic Performance

Answer 2

The ability to produce and understand sentences in a language.

Question 3

Performance Error

Answer 3

Mistakes made by a speaker or heard by a listener, including mispronunciations, uncommonly long pauses during speech, syntax errors, semantic errors, phonological errors, or “slips of the tongue.”

Question 4

Speech Communication Chain

Answer 4

The path language follows from thought to speech to auditory reception to mental processing.

Question 5

Speech Communication Chain Steps

Answer 5

1. Speaker has a thought.
2. Speaker chooses how to express the thought using their existing knowledge of words and phrases (lexicon).
3. Speaker uses syntax (rules) to put the words and phrases into proper order.
4. Speaker makes speech sounds using their vocal system (articulation).
5. Speech sounds are transmitted to the listener.
6. Speech sounds become neural activity in the listener’s auditory system.
7. The listener’s auditory system transcribes the sounds into recognizable words and sentences.
8. The listener uses their own lexicon to assign meaning to the words.
9. The listener understands the speaker’s intention.

Question 6

Noise

Answer 6

a sound, especially one that is loud or unpleasant or that causes disturbance.

Question 7

Lexicon

Answer 7

the vocabulary of a language, an individual speaker or group of speakers, or a subject

Question 8

myths about signed languages (list 4)

Answer 8

1. There is only one sign language.
2. Sign languages are not real languages.
3. All deaf/hard of hearing people know sign language.
4. Sign language hinders the learning of speech.

Question 9

differences between codes and languages (list 4)

Answer 9

1. Code is defined by rules. Language is not.
2. Language is ambiguous. Code is not.
3. Meanings of words change over time. Code remains the same.
4. Language has gendered nouns and pronouns. Code is non-binary.

Question 10

Semanticity

Answer 10

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

Question 11

interchangeability

Answer 11

Refers to the idea that humans can give and receive identical linguistic signals; humans are not limited in the types of messages they can say/hear.

Question 12

Cultural transmission

Answer 12

the idea that while humans are born with innate language capabilities, language is more learned after birth through a social setting.

Question 13

arbitrariness

Answer 13

Spoken words are really nothing like the objects they represent.

Question 14

discreteness

Answer 14

Linguistic representations can be broken down into small discrete units which combine with each other in rule-governed ways. They are perceived categorically, not continuously.

Question 15

displacement

Answer 15

Refers to the idea that humans can talk about things that are not physically present or that do not even exist.

Question 16

productivity

Answer 16

Refers to the idea that language-users can create and understand novel utterances. Humans are able to produce an unlimited amount of utterances.

Question 17

modality

Answer 17

refers to linguistic devices that indicate the degree to which an observation is possible, probable, likely, certain, permitted, or prohibited.

Question 18

mental grammar

Answer 18

the 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 19

language variation

Answer 19

there is more than one way of saying the same thing

Question 20

descriptive grammar

Answer 20

refers to an objective, nonjudgmental description of the grammatical constructions in a language. It’s an examination of how a language is actually being used, in writing and in speech. Linguists who specialize in descriptive grammar examine the principles and patterns that underlie the use of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences.

Question 21

prescriptive grammar

Answer 21

refers to a 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 22

prescribe

Answer 22

attempt to assign rules to an established language.

Question 23

Charles Hockett’s nine design features

Answer 23

1. Vocal-auditory channel
2. Broadcast transmission and directional reception
3. Transitoriness
4. Interchangeability
5. Total feedback
6. Specialization
7. Semanticity
8. Arbitrariness
9. Discreteness

Question 24

mode of communication

Answer 24

a way of communicating

Question 25

pragmatic function

Answer 25

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

Question 26

linguistic sign

Answer 26

“sound-image” a signifier and the meaning of the signifier

Question 27

convention

Answer 27

a 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 28

non-arbitrariness

Answer 28

1. some feature of the language directly imitates the referent, as in onomatopoeia.
2. statistical regularities can be detected between similar sounds and similar meanings

Question 29

iconic

Answer 29

well-established, widely recognized

Question 30

onomatopoeia

Answer 30

the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named

Question 31

conventionalized

Answer 31

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

Question 32

sound symbolism

Answer 32

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

Question 33

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

Answer 33

1. Writing is more suitable to recording long and complex pieces of information.
2. Speech is transient, whereas the written word is more stable.
3. Readers absorb and retain information better than listeners do.

Question 34

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

Answer 34

1. Speech is significantly older and has been used much longer by humans than the written word.
2. Humans are inherently capable of speech; writing must be learned.
3. Speech is flexible and changes over time; writing is more rigid and stable.
4. Speech, via tone, conveys more explicit information than writing does.