Week 2 Vocab

Question 1

lexicon

Answer 1

individual dictionary of each person containing words and underlying concepts of each. Is dynamic and changing with experience

Question 2

linguistic competence

Answer 2

native speaker’s underlying knowledge of the rules for generating and understanding conventional linguistic forms

Question 3

linguistic performance

Answer 3

actual language use, reflecting linguistic competence and communication constraints

Question 4

pragmatic function

Answer 4

the ability to use language within a communication context

Question 5

semanticity

Answer 5

ability to use and understand the rules governing the meaning or content of words or grammatical units

Question 6

arbitrariness

Answer 6

the absence of any natural or necessary connection between a word’s meaning and its sound or form.

Question 7

Charles Hockett’s 9 features of language

Answer 7

1. Mode of communication: How a message is transmitted
2. Semanticity: Signals in all communication systems have meaning
3. Pragmatic Function: All communication systems serve some useful purpose
4. Interchangeability: Ability to both send and receive messages
5. Cultural Transmission: At least some part of a communication system is learned through interaction with other users
6. Arbitrariness: Form of a symbol is not inherently or directly related to its meaning or function (ex. a dog barring his teeth)
7. Discreteness: Property of being able to construct complex messages that are built up out of smaller discrete parts
8. Displacement: Ability to communicate about things that are not present in space or time (not found in animal communication systems)
9. Productivity: Property of a language that allows for rule-based expression of an infinite number of messages, including the expression of novel ideas (not found in animal communication systems)

Question 8

convention

Answer 8

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 9

conventionalized

Answer 9

something that is established, commonly agreed upon, or operating in a certain way according to common practice

Question 10

cultural transmission

Answer 10

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

Question 11

descriptive grammar

Answer 11

a set of rules about language based on how it is actually used.

Question 12

prescriptive grammar

Answer 12

a set of rules based on how people think language should be used.

Question 13

discreteness

Answer 13

describes the fact that human language is composed of sets of distinct sounds. One sound on its own may convey one meaning, multiple sounds combined in a particular order convey a different meaning.

Question 14

displacement

Answer 14

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

Question 15

iconic

Answer 15

a relationship of resemblance or similarity between the two aspects of a sign: its form and it’s meaning. A sign whose form resembles its meaning in some way. The opposite arbitrariness.

Question 16

interchangeability

Answer 16

the idea that humans can give and receive identical linguistic signals; the speaker can both receive and broadcast the same signal.

Question 17

language variation

Answer 17

there is more than one way of saying the same thing; regional, social, or contextual differences in the ways that a particular language is used. Speakers may vary pronunciation (accent), word choice (lexicon), or morphology and syntax (sometimes called “grammar”)

Question 18

linguistic sign

Answer 18

anything that communicates a meaning that is not the sign itself to the interpreter of the sign. The meaning can be intentional such as a word uttered with a specific meaning, or unintentional, such as a symptom is a sign of a particular medical condition.

Question 19

mental grammar

Answer 19

the generative grammar stored in the brain that allows a speaker to produce language that other speakers can understand; linguistic competence

Question 20

modality

Answer 20

linguistic devices that indicate the degree to which an observation is possible, probable, likely, certain, permitted, or prohibited. In English, these notions are commonly (though not exclusively) expressed by: can, might, should, and will.

Question 21

mode of communication

Answer 21

one way of communicating with people. Cell phones, email, face-to-face conversations, and writing

Question 22

noise

Answer 22

occurs when grammar or technical language is used that the receiver (the decoder) cannot understand, or cannot understand it clearly. It occurs when the sender of the message uses a word or a phrase that we don’t know the meaning of, or which we use in a different way from the speakers.

Question 23

nonarbitrariness

Answer 23

not subject to individual determination; set down as a rule or guide

Question 24

onomatopoeia

Answer 24

the connection, or symbolism, of a sound that is interpreted and reproduced within the context of a language, usually out of mimicry of a sound.

Question 25

performance error

Answer 25

mistakes; errors only from the perspective of teachers and others who are aware that the learner has deviated from a grammatical norm.

Question 26

prescribe

Answer 26

the attempt to establish rules defining preferred or “correct” use of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics.

Question 27

productivity

Answer 27

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

Question 28

sound symbolism

Answer 28

phonesthesia or phonosemantics is the idea that vocal sounds or phonemes carry meaning in and of themselves.

Question 29

speech communication chain

Answer 29

a simple model of spoken communication that highlights the transformation of an intention in the mind of the speaker to an understanding of that intention in the mind of the listener through processes that involve the grammatical code, the phonological code, articulation, sound, hearing, and perception.

Question 30

speech communication chain steps

Answer 30

1. Intention - Meaning
2. Meaning - Utterance
3. Utterance - Articulatory Plan
4. Articulatory Plan - Articulation
5. Articulation - Sound
6. Sound - Auditory Response
7. Auditory Response - Word Sequence
8. Word Sequence - Meaning
9. Meaning - Understanding

Question 31

evidence that writing and language are not the same

Answer 31

1. -writing is usually permanent and written text can not be changed once it has been printed/written out.
   - speech is usually impermanent unless recorded, and speakers can correct themself and change their utterances as they go along.
2. -written text can communicate across time and space for as long as the particular language and writing system is still understood.
   - speech is usually used for immediate interactions.
3. -written language tends to be more complex and intricate than speech with longer sentences and many subordinate clauses.
   - spoken language tends to have repetitions, incomplete sentences, corrections, and interruptions
4. -writers receive no immediate feedback from their readers except in computer-based communication
   - speech is usually a dynamic interaction between two or more people. Context and shared knowledge play a major role, so it is possible to leave much unsaid or indirectly implied.

Question 32

differences between codes and languages

Answer 32

1. Code is not language and language is not code, even though informally it is incorrectly called “computer language”
2. Programming languages are artificial creations. All rules and definitions were designed beforehand, which allows them to be fully described and studied
3. Code has no room for errors or improvisation. While the human language is full of imperfections. (dialects, slang, jargon, accents, irregular punctuation, don’t disrupt the message being communicated)
4. There are no synonyms in code (computer language) because of this, they don’t have morphology, at least not in the way human languages do.

Question 33

myths about signed languages

Answer 33

1. Sign language is universal
2. Sign language only uses your hands
3. Sign language was invented by hearing people
4. American sign language is based on English

Question 34

reasons some people believe writing to be superior to speech

Answer 34

1. Having good ideas is most of writing well. In speaking it is the opposite, having good ideas is a surprisingly small part of being a good speaker.
2. Speaking is harder in many ways than writing because it is performance. You have to do it live. Performance means there is no undo and no revision.
3. Writing is harder than speaking in some ways because it must be self-contained. There is nobody language or vocal emphasis as everything must be in the words themselves.