Module 9 Vocabulary & Terms Flashcards
(40 cards)
Linguistic Inferiority Principle
refers to the tendency of speakers of the socially dominant group in a society to interpret speech of a subordinate group as linguistically inferior to that of their own.
Grammaticality Myth
holds that any structure not in conformity with standard English is not grammatical.
phonetics
The sounds of a language
phonology
The sound patterns of a language
morphology
Rules of word-formation
syntax
How words combine into phrases/sentences
semantics
How to derive meaning from a sentence
pragmatics
How to properly use language in context
Lexical items
Words, morphemes, idioms, etc
Innateness Hypothesis
argues that our ability to acquire (human) language is innate (genetically encoded).
Universal Grammar (UG)
refers to the “set of structural characteristics shared by all languages”
Connectionist Theories
Claims that exposure to language develops and strengthens neural connections.
Critical Period Hypothesis
Claims there is a critical period in development during which a language can be acquired like a native speaker
Skinner Behaviorist Theory (not currently relevant)
argued that children learn language based on behaviorist reinforcement principles by associating words with meanings. Correct utterances are positively reinforced.
Noam Chomsky UG
Universal Grammar is considered to contain all the grammatical information needed to combine these categories, e.g. noun and verb, into phrases. The child’s task is just to learn the words of her language (Ambridge & Lieven).
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
a hypothetical module of the human mind posited to account for children’s innate predisposition for language acquisition
Economy of derivation.
a principle stating that movements (i.e. transformations) only occur in order to match interpretable features with uninterpretable features.
Economy of representation
the principle that grammatical structures must exist for a purpose, i.e. the structure of a sentence should be no larger or more complex than required to satisfy constraints on grammaticality
Cognitive Theory
Language Acquisition must be viewed within the context of a child’s intellectual development
Input Theory (Motherese theory)
Main Argument: Parents do not talk to their children in the same way as they talk to other adults and seem to be capable of adapting their language to give the child maximum opportunity to interact and learn
Interlanguage
a language or form of language having features of two others, typically a pidgin or a version produced by a foreign learner.
Language transfer
the application of linguistic features from one language to another by a bilingual or multilingual speaker.
Interaction hypothesis
a theory of second-language acquisition which states that the development of language proficiency is promoted by face-to-face interaction and communication
comprehensible output (CO) hypothesis
comprehensible output (CO) hypothesis states that learning takes place when a learner encounters a gap in his or her linguistic knowledge of the second language (L2).
