Exam 1 Flashcards
(24 cards)
Define Linguistics.
it is the scientific study of language and its structure
What is a Writing System?
the symbolic representation of language through the use of graphic signs
List some of the first (original) writing systems.
- Chinese
- Mayan
- hieroglyphics
- Sumerian Cuneiform
Define grammar.
grammar is the process of describing the structure of phrases and sentences in such a way that we account for all grammatical sequences in a language and rule out all the ungrammatical sequences
What is a logogram writing system and give an example of a language that uses this.
this type of language uses written symbols representing an entire spoken word w/o expressing its pronunciation (an example of this is Chinese)
Explain what type of language uses a syllabary writing system and give an example of a language that uses this.
this type of language uses a set of written symbols, each of represents a SYLLABLE, used to write a given language (an example of this is Hawaiian)
What is rebus writing?
it is a way of using existing symbols to represent the sounds of language; in this process, the symbol for one entity is taken over as the symbol for the sound of the spoken word used to refer to the entity
Define phonology.
it is the study of the parts and order of sounds in a language
Define morphology.
(the term itself means the study of forms) basically investigates or studies the basic forms of language
What is a syllable?
the beat/rhythm in a word
What is a phoneme?
a mental representation of a sound (where one sound starts and stops)
What is the difference between a fricative and a stop?
a fricative only partially blocks the air flow and a stop completely blocks it
Phonetics looks at..
how sounds are made
What does IPA stand for and what is this chart used for?
the International Phonetic Alphabet and we use it for a description of the sounds of all languages
What is an agglutinating language and give an example of one.
it is a language in which words are made up of a linear sequence of distinct morphemes and each component of meaning is represented by its own morpheme (example of this is Turkish)
What is a minimal pair?
the two words such as BAT and PAT are identical in form except for a contrast in one phoneme occurring in the same position and this makes them a minimal pair
What is an isolating language and give an example of one.
it is a language with a low morpheme to word ratio (an example of this is Chinese)
What is a free morpheme?
it is a single morpheme that can stand by itself as a single word. An example is Running. “Run” can stand by itself as a word but “ning” cannot. Run is the free morpheme.
What is a bound morpheme?
these are forms that cannot normally stand alone and are usually attached to another form such as a free morpheme. This would be forms like “re”, “ist” and “ing”
What is a pitch accent?
this is a feature used in certain languages where variations in pitch are used to differentiate words
What is vowel height?
it is the vertical position of the tongue relative to either the roof of the mouth or the aperture of the jaw. low and high vowels just mean that the tongue is low or high
List some places of articulation…
- bilabials
- alveolars
- labiodentals
List some manners of articulation..
- fricatives
- stops
- nasals
What is an allomorph?
it is a variant form of a morpheme such as the different versions of morphemes like the plural and singular forms
