Linguistical Devices Flashcards
(19 cards)
Morphology (Word Formation & Structure)
These deal with how words are formed and structured.
Inflectional Morphology (Changes within the same word)
Tense Markers (walk → walked)
Aspect Markers (eat → eating → has eaten)
Pluralization (cat → cats)
Case Marking (he → him, they → their)
Comparatives & Superlatives (big → bigger → biggest)
Derivational Morphology (Creates new words)
Prefixation (happy → unhappy)
Suffixation (run → runner)
Compounding (sun + flower = sunflower)
Reduplication (bye-bye, chit-chat)
Back-Formation (editor → edit, donation → donate)
Conversion (Zero Derivation) (Google (noun) → to Google (verb))
Syntax (Sentence Structure & Grammar Rules)
These determine how words and phrases combine into sentences.
Syntax: Sentence Types
Declarative (She likes coffee.)
Interrogative (Does she like coffee?)
Imperative (Drink your coffee!)
Exclamatory (What a great coffee!)
Syntax: Clause & Phrase Structures
Subordinate Clauses (I know [that she likes coffee].)
Relative Clauses (The book [that I read] was amazing.)
Noun Phrases (The big brown dog)
Verb Phrases (is running quickly)
Prepositional Phrases (under the table)
Syntax: Sentence Complexity
Simple Sentences (She runs.)
Compound Sentences (She runs, and he walks.)
Complex Sentences (Because she runs, he walks.)
Compound-Complex Sentences (She runs because she loves it, and he walks.)
Syntax: Word Order & Agreement
SVO Structure (Subject-Verb-Object) (She eats cake.)
Subject-Verb Agreement (He likes / They like)
Head-Dependent Marking (Head-initial vs. head-final languages)
Semantics (Meaning in Language)
These relate to how meaning is conveyed in words and sentences.
Semantics: Types of Meaning
Denotation vs. Connotation (snake = reptile vs. danger)
Polysemy (bank = financial institution OR riverbank)
Homophones (write / right)
Synonymy (big = large)
Antonymy (hot ≠ cold)
Hyponymy (rose is a type of flower)
Hyponymy is a relation to a more generic word.
Meronymy (wheel is part of a car)
meronymy describes the semantic relationship between a part (meronym) and its whole (holonym)
Logical Semantics
Presupposition (She stopped smoking → assumes she used to smoke.)
Entailment (He killed the man → The man is dead.)
Implicature (Can you pass the salt? → Indirect request.)
Pragmatics (Contextual Meaning & Use)
These determine how meaning depends on context.
Pragmatics: Speech Acts (Doing Things with Words)
Locutionary Act (Literal meaning)
Illocutionary Act (Intended meaning)
Perlocutionary Act (Effect on listener)
Direct vs. Indirect Speech Acts (Close the door! / Can you close the door?)
Pragmatics: Deixis (Context-Based Words)
Personal Deixis (I, you, they)
Spatial Deixis (here, there, near, far)
Temporal Deixis (now, yesterday, in the future)
Pragmatics: Grice’s Maxims (Cooperative Principle)
Maxim of Quantity (Be informative but not too much!)
Maxim of Quality (Don’t lie!)
Maxim of Relation (Be relevant!)
Maxim of Manner (Be clear!)
Pragmatics: Politeness Strategies
Positive Face (You’re great at this!)
Negative Face (I’m sorry to bother you…)
Hedging (Maybe, sort of, I think…)
Prosody (Rhythm & Melody)
Pitch & Tone (Tone languages like Chinese)
Sentence Stress (I didn’t say she stole the money. – changes meaning)
Rhoticity (car → [ka] vs. [kar])
Phonology & Phonetics (Sound Systems & Pronunciation)
These relate to how sounds function in language.
Phonology & Phonetics: Phonological Features
Phonemes & Allophones (pat / bat → minimal pairs)
Assimilation (input → imput)
Elision (friendship → frenship)
Flapping (butter → budder (in American English))
Intonation & Stress (record (noun) vs. record (verb))
