What is Language?

Question 1

linguistic competence

Answer 1

a speakers subconscious, intuitive knowledge of the rules of their language

Question 2

linguistic performance

Answer 2

an individual’s use of a language (what a speaker actually says, including hesitations, false starts, and errors)

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 through which information is communicated, consisting of an information source, transmitter, signal, receiver, and destination

Question 5

speech communication chain steps

Answer 5

1. think of what you want to communicate
2. pick out words to express the idea
3. put these words together in a certain order following rules
4. figure out how to pronounce these words
5. send those pronunciations to your vocal anatomy
6. speak: send the sounds through the air
7. perceive: listener hears the sounds
8. decode: listener interprets sounds as language
9. connect: listener receives communicated idea

Question 6

noise

Answer 6

interference in the communication chain

Question 7

lexicon

Answer 7

a collection of all the words you know

Question 8

mental grammar

Answer 8

the knowledge that a speaker has about the linguistic units and rules of his native language

Question 9

language variation

Answer 9

the property of languages having different ways to express the same meanings in different contexts according to factors such as geography, social class, gender, etc

Question 10

descriptive grammar

Answer 10

objective description of a speaker’s knowledge of a language based on their use of the language

Question 11

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

Answer 11

1. writing must be taught, whereas spoken language is acquired naturally
2. writing does not exist everywhere, whereas spoken language does
3. writing uses more areas of the brain than spoken language
4. writing can be edited, whereas speech is much more spontaneous.

Question 12

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

Answer 12

1. writing can be edited, and therefore is usually more perfected than speech.
2. writing must be taught and is therefore associated with education, and the educated.
3. writing appears physically more stable than spoken language which consists of nothing more than sound waves. Writing lasts (on paper)

Question 13

prescriptive grammar

Answer 13

a set of rules designed to give instructions regarding the socially embedded notion of the “correct” or “proper” way to speak or write

Question 14

prescribe

Answer 14

to lay down rules in which grammar should be used in language

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
5. arbitrariness
6. discreteness
7. displacement
8. productivity

Question 16

mode of communication

Answer 16

part of hockett’s design features for a language: means by which messages are transmitted

Question 17

semanticity

Answer 17

part of hockett’s design features for a language: all signals in a language convey a meaning or have a function

Question 18

pragmatic function

Answer 18

part of hockett’s design features for a language: useful purpose of any given communication system

Question 19

interchangeability

Answer 19

part of hockett’s design features for a language: ability of individuals to both transmit and receive messages

Question 20

cultural transmission

Answer 20

part of hockett’s design features for a language: aspects of the language that we can only acquire culturally, interacting with others that use the same language, we learn it, even if not hereditary

Question 21

arbitrariness

Answer 21

part of hockett’s design features for a language: property of language describing the fact that there is no natural connection between a linguistic form and its meaning

Question 22

linguistic sign

Answer 22

the combination of a linguistic form and meaning

Question 23

convention

Answer 23

a generally agreed-upon practice or attitude

Question 24

non-arbitrariness

Answer 24

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

Question 25

iconic

Answer 25

relationship between form and meaning such that the form of a word bears a resemblance to its meaning

Question 26

onomatopoeia

Answer 26

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

Question 27

conventionalized

Answer 27

following accepted standards

Question 28

sound symbolism

Answer 28

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

Question 29

discreteness

Answer 29

part of hockett’s design features for a language: property of communication systems by which complex messages may be built up out of smaller parts

Question 30

displacement

Answer 30

part of hockett’s design features for a language: property of some communication systems that allows them to be used to communicate about thins, actions and ideas that are not present at the place or time where communication is taking place

Question 31

productivity

Answer 31

part of hockett’s design features for a language: capacity of a communication system (unique to human language) for novel messages built out of discrete units to be produced and understood

Question 32

modality

Answer 32

type of communication i.e. auditory-vocal vs visual-gestural

Question 33

myths about signed languages (list 4)

Answer 33

1. signed language is derived from spoken language.
2. signed languages are codes
3. there is only one signed language
4. deaf people will use sign language to communicate

Question 34

differences between codes and languages (list 4)

Answer 34

1. code is an artificially constructed system for representing a natural language.
2. code has no structure of its own languages have structure.
3. language borrows its structure from the natural language it represents they are distinct from each other and from spoken languages.
4. codes never have native speakers because they are artificial systems. Signed languages are learned natively.