Vocabulary and Terminology

Question 1

Linguistic Competence

Answer 1

what we know when we know a language; the unconscious knowledge that a speaker has about her or his native language.

Question 2

Linguistic Performance

Answer 2

The obsevable use of language. The actualization of one’s LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE

Question 3

Performance Errors

Answer 3

Errors in language production or comprehension, including hesitations and slips of the tongue.

Question 4

Speech Communication Chain

Answer 4

The process through which the information is communicated, consisting of an information source, transmitter, signal, receiver, and destination.

Question 5

Speech Communication Chain steps

Answer 5

1) Info source
2) transmitter
3) signal
4) receiver
5) designation

Question 6

noise

Answer 6

interference in the chain of communication

Question 7

Lexicon

Answer 7

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 the 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.

Question 8

mental grammar

Answer 8

the mental representation of GRAMMAR. The knowledge that a speaker has about the linguistic units and rules of his native language.

Question 9

Language Variation

Answer 9

The property of languages having different ways to express the same meanings in different contexts according to factors such as geography, social class, gender, etc.

Question 10

Descriptive Grammar

Answer 10

Objective description of a speaker’s or a group of speakers’ knowledge of a language (competence) based on their use of the language (performance)

Question 11

Evidence that writing and language are not the same

Answer 11

1) Neurolinguistic evidence: Writing uses the same brain areas as speaking and more
2) Writing does not exist everywhere that spoken language does
3) Archeological evidence
4) Writing is more physically stable: sounds are waves

Question 12

Reasons some people believe writing is superior to speech:

Answer 12

1) Writing can be edited
2) Writing must be taught
3) Writing is more physically stable

Question 13

Prescriptive grammar

Answer 13

a set of rules designed to give instructions regarding the socially embedded notion of the “correct” or “proper” way to speak or write

Question 14

Prescribe

Answer 14

assign and authorize the use of

Question 15

Charles Hockett’s nine design features

Answer 15

1) mode of communication
2) semanticity
3) pragmatic function
4) interchangeability
5) cultural transmission
6) arbitrariness
7) discreteness
8) displacement
9) Productivity

Question 16

Mode of communication

Answer 16

means by which messages are transmitted and received

Question 17

semanticity

Answer 17

all signals in a communication system have a meaning or function

Question 18

pragmatic function

Answer 18

systems must serve some useful purpose

Question 19

interchangeability

Answer 19

ability of individuals to both transmit and receive messages

Question 20

cultural transmission

Answer 20

specific signals of language must be learned through interaction with other speakers

Question 21

arbitrariness

Answer 21

meaning is not predictable from the form, nor is form dicated by meaning

Question 22

linguistic sign

Answer 22

FORM + Meaning = Linguistic sign

the combination of a form and meaning

Question 23

convention

Answer 23

a way in which something is usually done

Question 24

nonarbitrariness

Answer 24

form represents the meaning directly

opposite of arbitrary

Question 25

iconic

Answer 25

form represents the meaning directly and is more specifically picture-like

Question 26

Onomatopoeia

Answer 26

words that are imitative of natural sounds or have meanings that are associated with such sounds of nature.

Question 27

conventionalized

Answer 27

to make conventional

Question 28

sound symbolism

Answer 28

certain sounds occur in words not by virtue of being directly imitative of some sound, but by being evocative of a particular meaning
(high pitched i sounds in small things)

Question 29

discreteness

Answer 29

property of language that allows us to combine together discrete units in order to create larger communicative units.

Question 30

displacement

Answer 30

ability of a language to communicate about things, actions, and ideas that are not present in space or time while speakers are communicating

Question 31

productivity

Answer 31

a language’s capacity for novel messages to be built up out of discrete units

Question 32

modality

Answer 32

a mode of communication

Question 33

Myths about signed languages

Answer 33

1) signed languages are derived from spoken languages
2) singed languages are manual codes
3) signed languages are not only used by those who are deaf
4) there is only one signed language used all over the world

Question 34

differences between codes and languages

Answer 34

1) a code borrows its structure from the language it is representing while languages evolve naturally and independently
2) codes will never have native speakers
3) a true language is more efficient means of communicating than signed codes