Week 1 (Introduction) Flashcards
Understand Week 1 content (30 cards)
acquisition
the development of language in children.
arbitrariness
Meanings are not predictable from forms and forms are not predictable from meaning
contraction
Any process by which units etc. that are separate at one level of representation are realized by a form in which there is no corresponding boundary.
descriptive approach
which aims to ‘describe’ what is actually said rather than to ‘prescribe’ usage judged to be correct.
dialect
Any distinct variety of a language, especially one spoken in a specific part of a country or other geographical area.
discreteness
We process language into discrete temporally sequential units (words in sentences and sounds in words).
displacement
The ability to convey a message about things that are remote in space and/or time
double negatives
Construction in which a single negation is marked by two elements each of which, in the same or another construction, can indicate it independently.
duality of patterning
Two or more elements without meaning combine into meaningful units
explicit knowledge
Knowledge which people have and of which they are aware and able to supply an explanation.
involuntary vocalisations
non-linguistic vocalisations which may be produced without voluntary control, such as screams and laughter
language
A language in the ordinary sense: e.g. English or Japanese
morphology
The study of the grammatical structure of words and the categories realized by them
phonetics
The study of the nature, production, and perception of sounds of speech
phonology
The study of the sound systems of individual languages and of the nature of such systems generally.
pragmatics
A branch of linguistics conceived as dealing, separately from others, with the meanings that a sentence has in a particular context in which it is uttered
prescriptive approach
which aims to ‘prescribe’ what is judged to be correct rather than to ‘describe’ actual usage. Tells people how they should speak
sociolinguistics
Any study of language in relation to society
split infinitives
A form in English in which to and an uninflected verb, together seen as constituting an infinitive, are separated by e.g. an adverb.
syntax
The study of grammatical relations between words and other units within the sentence
semantics
The study of meaning
tradition
The disposition to acquire language is inherited but particular languages are learned
tacit knowledge
Knowledge which people have but of which they are unable to give any account
is linguistics descriptive or prescriptive?
descriptive
