Vocab and Terms Chapter 1 Flashcards
(34 cards)
linguistic competence
What we know when we know a language, the unconscious knowledge that a speaker has about their language.
linguistic performance
The observable use of language. The actualization of one’s linguistic competence.
performance error
Errors in language production or comprehension, including hesitations and slips of the tongue.
speech communication chain
The process through which information is communicated, consisting of an information source, transmitter, signal, receiver, and destination.
speech communication chain steps
- Think of what you want to communicate
- Pick out words to express the idea
- Put these words together in a certain order following rules.
- Figure out how to pronounce these words
- Send those pronunciations to your vocal anatomy
- Speak: send the sounds through the air
- Perceive: Listener hears the sounds
- Decode: Listener interprets sounds as language
- Connect: Listener receives communication idea.
noise
Interference in the communication chain
lexicon
A mental repository of linguistic information about words and other lexical expressions, including their form and meaning and their morphological and syntactic properties. As a part of a descriptive, not mental, grammar, the lexicon is the representation of the mental lexicon, consisting of lexical entries that capture the relevant properties of lexical expressions.
mental grammar
The mental representation of grammar. The knowledge that a speaker has about the linguistic units and rules of his native language.
language variation
The property of languages having different ways to express the same meanings in different context according to factors such as geography, social class, gender, etc.
descriptive grammar
Objective description of a speaker’s or group of speaker’s knowledge of a language (competence) based on their use of the language (performance).
evidence that writing and language are not the same (list 4 reasons)
- Writing must be taught
- Writing does not exist everywhere
- Writing can be edited
- Archaeological evidence
reasons some people believe writing to be superior to speech (list 3 reasons)
- Writing can be edited
- Writing must be taught
- Writing is more physically stable
prescriptive grammar
A set of rules designed to give instructions regarding the socially embedded notion of the “correct” or “proper” way to speak or write.
prescribe
The practice of promoting one kind of language use over another. … Sometimes informed by linguistic purism, these normative practices may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, grammar, semantics, pronunciation, and syntax.
Charles Hockett’s nine design features (necessary for a communication system to be considered a language) (list)
- Mode of communication
- Semanticity
- Pragmatic Function
- Interchangeability
- Cultural Transmission
- Arbitrariness
- Discreteness
- Displacement
- Productivity
mode of communication
Means through which a message is transmitted for any given communication system.
semanticity
Property of having signals that convey a meaning, shared by all communication systems.
pragmatic function
The useful purpose of any given communication system.
interchangeability
The property of a communication system by which all individuals have the ability to both transmit and review messages (as opposed to systems where some individuals can only send messages and others can only receive messages).
cultural transmission
Property of a communication system referring to the fact that at least some aspects of it are learning through interaction with other users of the system.
arbitrariness
In relation to language, refers to the fact that a word’s meaning is not predictable from its linguist form, nor is its form dictated by its meaning.
linguistic sign
The combination of a linguistic form and meaning
convention
Something that is established, commonly agreed upon, or operating in a certain way according to common practice. When an arbitrary relationship of a linguistic sign and its meaning is conventionalized, the linguistic sign bears a constant relationship only because people consistently use the linguistic sign to convey that meaning.
nonarbitrariness
Direct correspondence between the physical properties of a form and the meaning that the form refers to.
