What Is Language Flashcards
Language
Very significant part of what males us human and allows us to communicate as social beings
Non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by humans by means of voluntarily produced symbols
Linguistics
Scientific discipline concerned with the study of language
Vocal-auditory channel
Sounds are emitted from the mouth and perceived by the auditory system
Broadcast transmission and directional reception
The recipient can tell the direction that the signal comes from and thus can identify the originator of the signal
Transitoriness of signal
The signal lasts a short time
Speech waveforms fade rapidly
Interchangebility
All utterances that are understood can be produced
Total feedback
The sender of a message also perceives the message. You can monitor and correct your speech while uttering it
Specialisation
The signal produced is especially produced for communication and is not the side effect of some other behavior
Animal communication is stimulus bound
Semanticity
There is a fixed relationship between a signal and its meaning
Arbitrariness
There is an arbitrary relationship between a signal and its meaning. That is, the signal is related to the meaning by convention or by instinct but has no inherent relationship with the meaning
Discreteness
Language can be said to be built up from discrete units
Displacement
Communicating about things or events that are distant in time or space
Productivity
Human language is an open system. We can produce potentially an infinite number of different messages by combining the element differently
Traditional transmission
Each generation needs to learn the system of communication from the preceding generation. General ability to acquire language bit not born with the ability to produce utterances in a specific language
Duality of patterning
Large numbers of meaningful signals are produced from a small number of meaningless units
Signifier
The form being used as the sign
Signified
The meaning represented by the sign
Iconic sign
Involve a direct representation of imitation of the meaning of the sign. Some key characteristics of the signified are present in the sign
Indexical sign
Have a direct physical or causal connection to their meaning that can be inferred by the observer
Symbolic sign
Signs in which there is no resemblance between the signifier and the signified. The relation is based solely on convention
Diachronic linguistics
Languages are studied from the point of view of their historical development
Synchronic linguistics
Languages are studied at a theoretical point in time: one describes a state of the language, disregarding whatever changes might be taking place
