Week 1, Introduction Part 1 Flashcards
(20 cards)
Linguistics
the scientific study of language
Five components of studying and testing linguistics
- Make obersvations
- Form hypotheses
- Test hypotheses
- Revise hypotheses
- Develop theory matching results
Two approaches to language
- Language is a kind of tool for communication
- Language is a kind of knowledge
Language is a kind of tool for communication
-speakers encode meaning into sounds or hand shapes
-listeners decode spech into meaning
Language is a kind of knowledge
-focuses on what you know when you know a language
-this is a type of unconsious knowledge
Expletive infixation
an expletive is inserted in the middle of another word
e.g.: What a fan-fuckin’tastic day!
What are the building blocks of language? (4)
- Phonetics
- Phonology
- Morphology
- Lexicon
What does expletive infixation reveal about the unconsious knowledge
Although we were never taught how to do expletive infixation, we all share the same judgement of how to do expletive infixation
Phonetics
you understand the inventory of sounds in your language
McGurk Effect
-auditory input is influenced by visual information
-we know the way a person’s mouth looks when they make a particular sound
illustrates concept of phonetics
Phonology
understanding the sound patterns that are possible in your language
e.g. In English, you can’t begin a sound with [rt] but in Russian this is fine
e.g. the -s in ‘eels’ is pronounced liek a z, not an s
Wug test
children presented with novel words can apply the rules of their language to make the new word plural
illustrates concept of phonology
Morphology
you know the:
-variety of words in your language
-the potential words in your language
-how to form more complex words from less complex words
Lexicon
your mental dictionary of the words you know
-we know that there are constraints on how a word can be built
your lexicon lets you build more complex words – e.g differ/different/differntiate
Syntax
the rules of building phrases and sentences
e.g. white dogs versus dogs white
Semantics
we know how to assign meanings to words in a given sentence
E.g. “the bear promised the monkeys to dance” versus “the bear persuaded the monkeys to dances”
What is not knowledge of a language?
-nothing changes if a person can’t read or write (many languages don’t have writing system and for most of history most people could not read or write)
-linguistics focuses on spoken language
-word history
-being a full native speakers is independent of our education
Two types of linguistic knowledge
- Linguistic competence
- Linguistic performance
Linguistic competence
-what you know in your mind
-what you can do
-systematic knowledge of building blocks
Linguistic performance
-wjat you actually do/say
-subject to physical limitations (e.g. breath, fatigue, nerves)
