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LING 1100 > What is linguistics? > Flashcards

What is linguistics? Flashcards

test 1

1
Q

What is linguistics?

A

the scientific study of language

-studies structure, variation, acquisition, biology, psychology, development

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2
Q

What is the devine source theory?

A

the theory that language is nothing more than a gift from God.

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3
Q

What is the natural sound source theory?

A

the theory that language was acquired through hearing sounds and associating them with the entities that created them (thousands of years ago)

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4
Q

What is the genetic source theory?

A

the theory that theres something unique in human genetics that helps us learn language (innateness hypothesis)

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5
Q

What are design features of language?

A

properties of human language that are not found in other forms of communication

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6
Q

mode of communication (design feature)

A

language serves as a means by which messages can be sent/received

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7
Q

semanticity (design feature)

A

all words or signs have a meaning or function

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8
Q

pragmatic function (design feature)

A

language serves some useful purpose (to question, influence, direct, etc)

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9
Q

interchangeability (design feature)

A

individuals can both receive and transmit messages

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10
Q

cultural transmission (design feature)

A

acquired through interaction with other uses of the system

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11
Q

arbitrariness (design feature)

A

the connection between form and meaning is typically unpredictable

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12
Q

discreetness (design feature)

A

language can be broken down into smaller units
-exceptions: onomatopoeias, sound symbolism

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13
Q

What is prescriptive grammar?

A

what we usually think of when we talk about grammar; list of rules; tells you how you should/shouldn’t speak; doesn’t always reflect how native speakers talk

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14
Q

What is descriptive grammar?

A

describes what we are doing when talking to other natives; describes how we actually do speak; describes the linguistic competence of native speakers

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15
Q

Mental grammar

A

unconscious linguistic competence of speakers

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16
Q

grammaticality does not have to mean…

A
  1. that sentence conforms to prescriptive rules 2. that it’s meaningful 3. that it’s truthful 4. that it’s understandable
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17
Q

What is the goal of a field linguist?

A

to describe the language system of a speaker/group of speakers by observing linguistic performance

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18
Q

What is linguistic competence?

A

competence/knowledge=what you know
-other factors can affect comprehension: physiological factors, psychological factors
-competence does not equal knowledge

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19
Q

What is linguistic performance?

A

how you use what you know
-includes hearing, perception, speech, cognitive proccesses
-some speakers/writers perform better than others but all of us “know” the system governing our language even if most is unconscious
-competence does not equal performance

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20
Q

What is morphology?

A

the study of word formation and word structure

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21
Q

What are signs?

A

discreet unit of meaning; words are signs

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22
Q

What is a conventional sign?

A

a sign that all members of a language community agree to use with a certain meaning

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23
Q

What does it mean for words to be “free form”?

A

they can occur in isolation
ex. cat, cats, purr, purred
NOT words: -s, -ed

24
Q

What is a noun?

A

traditionally: person, place, or thing
-often the subject of a sentence
-can be replaced with other nouns

25
Q

What is a verb?

A

traditionally: action or state
-can be replaced with “do so”
ex. i eat > i do so
i ate > i did so

26
Q

What is an adjective?

A

traditionally: describes a noun
- a word or phrase naming “a property or attribute of an entity
-can be replaced by other adjectives

27
Q

What is an adverb?

A

traditionally: describes a verb
-word that modifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or word group
-often describes the how/when/where
-add -ly to an adjective to make it an adverb

28
Q

What is a morpheme?

A

smallest meaningful unit; cannot be further divided

29
Q

What is a morph?

A

the phonetic representation of a morpheme (how its said)
-cats is /s/
-dogs is /z/
-houses is /ɪz/
all diff sounds of the same morpheme

30
Q

What is a free morpheme?

A

a morpheme that can stand alone with the specific meaning
ex. book, table, stand, bag

31
Q

What is a bound morpheme?

A

doesn’t have meaning when standing alone
ex. re-, -ly, -en, un-

32
Q

What is a lexical morpheme?

A

carries most of the real-world meaning of a word (its the root)
ex. /alex/ /sing/s the /cool/est /songs/

33
Q

What is a grammatical morpheme?

A

no real-world meaning on its own, used to construct a words grammatical meaning
ex. alex sing/s/ the cool/est/ song/s/

34
Q

Simple words

A

contain one morpheme

35
Q

Complex words

A

contain more than one morpheme

36
Q

Compounding

A

putting two lexical morphemes/roots together
ex. bluebird, birdbrain

37
Q

Affixing

A

sticking a grammatical morpheme to a root
ex. portable, redo

38
Q

Derivational affixes

A

add onto existing words to make new ones

39
Q

Inflectional affixes

A

do a lot of grammar work; predictable meaning; doesn’t change the grammatical category of the word

40
Q

Roots

A

break down into lexical categories

41
Q

Affixes

A

describe roots based on where they attach and how they function

42
Q

Content/Lexical roots (lexical categories)

A

gives most of the information and meaning
-nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs

43
Q

Functional Roots (lexical categories)

A

needed for grammatical reasons; often hard to translate between languages
-pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, prepositions

44
Q

Prefix

A

added at beginning of a word

45
Q

Infixes

A

added in the middle of a word
-not very common in english

46
Q

Suffix

A

added at the end of a word

47
Q

N + al = ? (derivation)

A

ADJ

48
Q

ADJ + ity = ? (derivation)

A

Noun

49
Q

ADJ + -ize = ? (derivation)

A

Verb

50
Q

V + -ation = ? (derivation)

A

Noun

51
Q

un + ADJ = ? (derivation)

A

ADJ

52
Q

ADJ + ness = ? (derivation)

A

Noun

53
Q

Homomorphy

A

sometimes one sound of a morpheme can have more than one meaning
ex. “un”: reverse action OR “not”
unlock vs unhappy

54
Q

Allomorphy

A

sometimes one meaning can have more than one form
ex. irresponsible, illegal, inadequate

55
Q

Suppletion

A

one or more inflected forms that are phonetically dissimilar (don’t sound the same)
ex. I am, you are, he is

56
Q

Alternation

A

internal modification to a morpheme
ex. man/men, give/gave, sink/sank

57
Q

Backformation

A

creating new words by removing real or supposed affixes

LING 1100 (11 decks)

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