What is Language?

Question 1

Linguistic Competence

Answer 1

The linguistic environment in which an utterance is uttered: specifically, the discourse that has immediately preceded the utterance in question

Question 2

Linguistic Performance

Answer 2

The observable use of language. The actualization of one’s linguistic competence.

Question 3

Performance Error

Answer 3

Errors in language production or comprehension, including hesitations and slips of the tongue.

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

Think of what you want to communicate > Pick the words to express the idea > Put these words together in a certain order following rules > Figure out how to pronounce these words > Send those pronunciations to your vocal anatomy > Speak: Send the sounds through the air > Perceive: Listener hears the sounds > Decode: Listener interprets sounds as language > Connect: Listener receives communicated idea

Question 6

Noise

Answer 6

Interference in the communication chain

Question 7

Lexicon

Answer 7

A mental repository of linguistic information about words and other lexical expressions, including their form, meaning, morphological, and syntactic properties

Question 8

Mental Grammar

Answer 8

The mental representation of grammar. 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 (competence) based on their use of language (performance)

Question 11

Evidence that writing and language are not the same

Answer 11

1. Writing does not exist everywhere
2. Writing must be taught
3. Writing can be edited
4. Language is represented in a physical medium such as sound

Question 12

Reasons some people believe writing to be superior to speech

Answer 12

list 3 reasons

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

prescribe rules about the use of language

Question 15

Charles Hockett’s nine design features (necessary for a communication system to be considered a language)

Answer 15

1. Mode of Communication
2. Semanticity
3. Pragmatic Function
4. Interchangeability
5. Cultural Transmission
6. Arbitrariness
7. Discreteness
8. Displacement
9. Productivity

Question 16

Mode of Communication

Answer 16

Means through which a message is transmitted for any given communication system.

Question 17

Semanticity

Answer 17

Property of having signals that convey a meaning, shared by all communication systems

Question 18

Pragmatic Function

Answer 18

The useful purpose of any given communication systems

Question 19

Interchangeability

Answer 19

The property of a communication system by which all individuals have the ability to both transmit and review messages

Question 20

Cultural Transmission

Answer 20

Property of a communication system referring to the fact that at least some aspects of it are learned through interaction with other users of the system

Question 21

Arbitrariness

Answer 21

Refers to the fact that a word’s meaning is not predicable from its linguistic form, not is its form dictated by its meaning

Question 22

Linguistic Sign

Answer 22

The combination of a linguistic form and meaning.

Question 23

Convention

Answer 23

Tells you that a certain group of sounds goes with a particular meaning

Question 24

Nonarbitrariness

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Iconic

Answer 25

A linguistic sign whose signifier actually resembles or imitates its referent in some direct way

Question 26

Onomatopoeia

Answer 26

Iconic use of words that are imitative of sounds occurring in nature or that have meanings that are associated with such sounds

Question 27

Conventionalized

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Sound Symbolism

Answer 28

Phenomenon by which certain sounds are evocative of a particular meaning

Question 29

Discreteness

Answer 29

The property of communication systems by which complex messages may be built up out of smaller parts

Question 30

Displacement

Answer 30

The property of some communication systems that allows them to be used to communicate about things, actions, and ideas that are not present at the place or time where communication is taking place

Question 31

Productivity

Answer 31

The 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

mode of communication: means through which a message is transmitted for any given communication system

Question 33

Myths about signed languages

Answer 33

1. Derived from spoken languages
2. British Sign Language and American Sign Language are related
3. Manual codes for spoken languages do not exist
4. Signed languages are merely codes for the languages spoken in the surrounding area

Question 34

Difference between codes and languages

Answer 34

1. A code is an artificially constructed system for representing a natural language
2. Code has not structure of its own
3. Code borrows its structure from the natural language it represents
4. Manual codes use certain gestures to represent letters, morphemes, and words of a spoken language and follow the grammar of that spoken language