English 211 Vocab

Question 1

linguistic competence

Answer 1

The unconscious knowledge of grammar that allows a speaker to use and understand a language.

Question 2

linguistic performance

Answer 2

An individual’s use of a language, i.e. what a speaker actually says, including hesitations, false starts, and errors.

Question 3

Performance Error

Answer 3

An unintended deviation from the immanent rules of a language variety made by a second language learner.

Question 4

Speech communication chain

Answer 4

The stages in speech communication whereby a message moves between the mind of the speaker and the mind of the listener.

Question 5

Speech communication chain steps

Answer 5

1. Linguistic level
2. Physiological level
3. Acoustic level
4. Physiological level
5. Linguistic level

Question 6

Noise

Answer 6

When grammar or technical language is used that the receiver (the decoder) cannot understand, or cannot understand it clearly.

Question 7

Lexicon

Answer 7

The complete set of meaningful units in a language.

Question 8

Mental grammer

Answer 8

The generative grammar stored in the brain that allows a speaker to produce language that other speakers can understand.

Question 9

Language variation

Answer 9

Regional, social, or contextual differences in the ways that a particular language is used.

Question 10

descriptive grammar

Answer 10

A set of rules about language based on how it is actually used.

Question 11

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

Answer 11

1. Majority of the world uses language.
2. Language is older than writing.
3. Language changes at a faster rate over time.
4. Language is learned before writing.

Question 12

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

Answer 12

1. Writing is easier to lear.
2. Speech requires performance.
3. Writing is self-contained.

Question 13

mode of communication

Answer 13

Delivery of written or spoken text, the organization of words into sentences and paragraphs and the development and coherence of words and ideas.

Question 14

semanticity

Answer 14

The quality that a linguistic system has of being able to convey meanings, in particular by reference to the world of physical reality.

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. Pragmatic Function.
3. Interchangeability.
4. Cultural Transmission.
5. Arbitrariness.
6. Discreteness.
7. Displacement.
8. Productivity.

Question 16

interchangeability

Answer 16

The idea that humans can give and receive identical linguistic signals; humans are not limited in the types of messages they can say/hear.

Question 17

cultural transmission

Answer 17

Generally regarded as one of the key characteristics distinguishing human language from animal communication.

Question 18

arbitrariness

Answer 18

The absence of any natural or necessary connection between a word’s meaning and its sound or form.

Question 19

linguistic sign

Answer 19

Any unit of language (morpheme, word, phrase, or sentence) used to designate objects or phenomena of reality.

Question 20

convention

Answer 20

A principle or norm that has been adopted by a person or linguistic community about how to use, and therefore what the meaning is of, a specific term.Jul 4, 2014

Question 21

nonarbitrariness

Answer 21

Subject to individual will or judgment without restriction; contingent solely upon one’s discretion.

Question 22

iconic

Answer 22

One whose form resembles its meaning in some way.

Question 23

onomatopoeia

Answer 23

The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named.

Question 24

conventionalized

Answer 24

Cause to become conventional.

Question 25

sound symbolism

Answer 25

The partial representation of the sense of a word by its sound, as in bang, fizz, and slide.

Question 26

discreteness

Answer 26

A concept going back (at least) to the structuralists.

Question 27

displacement

Answer 27

The capability of language to communicate about things that are not immediately present; i.e., things that are either not here or are not here now.

Question 28

productivity

Answer 28

The degree to which native speakers use a particular grammatical process, especially in word formation.

Question 29

modality

Answer 29

A system of linguistic options that allows for expressing a speaker’s general intentions (or illocutionary point) as well as the speaker’s belief as to whether the proposition expressed is true, obligatory, desirable, or actual.

Question 30

myths about signed languages (list 4)

Answer 30

1. Sign language is used universally
2. ASL and British sign language are similar
   3 A child will be confused if taught sign language and spoken language.
3. Sign language is not a real language.

Question 31

differences between codes and languages (list 4)

Answer 31

1. Code is text.
2. Code is a computer program in machine language.
3. Has a set of standard instructions.
   4.

Question 32

differences between codes and languages (list 4)

Answer 32

1. Code is text.
2. Code is a computer program in machine language.
3. Language has a set of standard instructions.
4. Code depends on it OS.