Midterm Flashcards
(97 cards)
linguistics is
scientific study of language (uses scientific methods like observation, hypothesis, testing, revision, and development of analysis/theory)
what is language (2 answers)
language is subconscious and has been thought of as both a tool for communication and a kind of knowledge
what do you know when you know a language (6 specific)
a set of building blocks and rules. the building blocks are phonetics (sounds), phonology (sound patterns), lexicon (mental dictionary), morphology (word structure), syntax (sentence structure), and semantics (word meanings)
what is not knowledge of language
education, word history, and reading/writing
what is linguistic competence and what is linguistic performance? do they correlate?
linguistic competence is your internal knowledge of language (what you CAN do, systematic knowledge of building blocks) while linguistic performance is what you actually do (subject to physical limitations)
they are not the same
what are four features of language
- arbitrariness (meaning== word pronunciation)
- creativity
- basic building blocks
- universal grammar
during development of grammar, all children: (4)
- acquire the language of their environment
- acquire language spontaneously
- exhibit “linguistic creativity”
- stages (???)
what are the stages of language development in children? (5)
babbling babbling in specific sounds single word utterances two word utterances overgeneralization (most will acquire by 5)
what are the two types of grammar and how would you describe them?
prescriptive: rules of grammar used by teaches (what speakers “should” say)
descriptive: linguistics’ descriptions of language as it is used/ model of the mental grammar (what speakers actually say)
t/f: all naturally occurring dialects have rules
true
Language is a collection of ______, and ….
dialects
one dialect is typically adopted as standard
“standard” dialect is typically …
the dialect of the ruling class. it acquires written form and spelling, pronunciations, lexicon, and grammar are standardized
language varies according to … (8)
geography, class, political ideology, age, gender, orientation, situation, time period
what are examples of traits in some dialects of non “standard” english
different subject-verb agreement third singular “s” in verbs regularized verbs negative concord “be” deletion
what did the Eckert study show
found strong correlation between social status and “non standard” forms of english (jocks vs. burnouts, jock girls= super standard)
h-deletion in english declines as ___ rises
class
what are traits of “good english” according to the government of singapore ? (3)
verbs have tense
nouns are marked as singular or plural
words don’t have “lah” “lay” or “loh”
what do discourse particles do in spoken english and other languages
they have no semantic meaning. they change tone but not grammatical/prepositional meaning
what is diglossia
functionally determined language choices/ knowledge of language. it occurs in situations of longstanding societal bi/multi lingualism
what is linguistic profiling and what study can be used as evidence to support its existence?
using the characteristics of a person’s speech to identify them as part of a group
Pernell, Isardi, and Baugh study (examined housing discrimination using AAVE, SAE, and ChE)
language can vary in (2)
dialect register (level of formality)
what are the functions of “like” outside of a descriptor? (4)
quotative complementizer
signal approximation
sentence initial position (functions as a discourse marker and signals exemplification)
focus marker (emphasizes phrase that follows)
people often perceive innovation in language as …
deterioration of language
language changes over time as well as
in a speaker’s own lifetime
