What is linguistics? Flashcards
test 1
What is linguistics?
the scientific study of language
-studies structure, variation, acquisition, biology, psychology, development
What is the devine source theory?
the theory that language is nothing more than a gift from God.
What is the natural sound source theory?
the theory that language was acquired through hearing sounds and associating them with the entities that created them (thousands of years ago)
What is the genetic source theory?
the theory that theres something unique in human genetics that helps us learn language (innateness hypothesis)
What are design features of language?
properties of human language that are not found in other forms of communication
mode of communication (design feature)
language serves as a means by which messages can be sent/received
semanticity (design feature)
all words or signs have a meaning or function
pragmatic function (design feature)
language serves some useful purpose (to question, influence, direct, etc)
interchangeability (design feature)
individuals can both receive and transmit messages
cultural transmission (design feature)
acquired through interaction with other uses of the system
arbitrariness (design feature)
the connection between form and meaning is typically unpredictable
discreetness (design feature)
language can be broken down into smaller units
-exceptions: onomatopoeias, sound symbolism
What is prescriptive grammar?
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
What is descriptive grammar?
describes what we are doing when talking to other natives; describes how we actually do speak; describes the linguistic competence of native speakers
Mental grammar
unconscious linguistic competence of speakers
grammaticality does not have to mean…
- that sentence conforms to prescriptive rules 2. that it’s meaningful 3. that it’s truthful 4. that it’s understandable
What is the goal of a field linguist?
to describe the language system of a speaker/group of speakers by observing linguistic performance
What is linguistic competence?
competence/knowledge=what you know
-other factors can affect comprehension: physiological factors, psychological factors
-competence does not equal knowledge
What is linguistic performance?
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
What is morphology?
the study of word formation and word structure
What are signs?
discreet unit of meaning; words are signs
What is a conventional sign?
a sign that all members of a language community agree to use with a certain meaning
What does it mean for words to be “free form”?
they can occur in isolation
ex. cat, cats, purr, purred
NOT words: -s, -ed
What is a noun?
traditionally: person, place, or thing
-often the subject of a sentence
-can be replaced with other nouns
What is a verb?
traditionally: action or state
-can be replaced with “do so”
ex. i eat > i do so
i ate > i did so
What is an adjective?
traditionally: describes a noun
- a word or phrase naming “a property or attribute of an entity
-can be replaced by other adjectives
What is an adverb?
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
What is a morpheme?
smallest meaningful unit; cannot be further divided
What is a morph?
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
What is a free morpheme?
a morpheme that can stand alone with the specific meaning
ex. book, table, stand, bag
What is a bound morpheme?
doesn’t have meaning when standing alone
ex. re-, -ly, -en, un-
What is a lexical morpheme?
carries most of the real-world meaning of a word (its the root)
ex. /alex/ /sing/s the /cool/est /songs/
What is a grammatical morpheme?
no real-world meaning on its own, used to construct a words grammatical meaning
ex. alex sing/s/ the cool/est/ song/s/
Simple words
contain one morpheme
Complex words
contain more than one morpheme
Compounding
putting two lexical morphemes/roots together
ex. bluebird, birdbrain
Affixing
sticking a grammatical morpheme to a root
ex. portable, redo
Derivational affixes
add onto existing words to make new ones
Inflectional affixes
do a lot of grammar work; predictable meaning; doesn’t change the grammatical category of the word
Roots
break down into lexical categories
Affixes
describe roots based on where they attach and how they function
Content/Lexical roots (lexical categories)
gives most of the information and meaning
-nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs
Functional Roots (lexical categories)
needed for grammatical reasons; often hard to translate between languages
-pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, prepositions
Prefix
added at beginning of a word
Infixes
added in the middle of a word
-not very common in english
Suffix
added at the end of a word
N + al = ? (derivation)
ADJ
ADJ + ity = ? (derivation)
Noun
ADJ + -ize = ? (derivation)
Verb
V + -ation = ? (derivation)
Noun
un + ADJ = ? (derivation)
ADJ
ADJ + ness = ? (derivation)
Noun
Homomorphy
sometimes one sound of a morpheme can have more than one meaning
ex. “un”: reverse action OR “not”
unlock vs unhappy
Allomorphy
sometimes one meaning can have more than one form
ex. irresponsible, illegal, inadequate
Suppletion
one or more inflected forms that are phonetically dissimilar (don’t sound the same)
ex. I am, you are, he is
Alternation
internal modification to a morpheme
ex. man/men, give/gave, sink/sank
Backformation
creating new words by removing real or supposed affixes
