Linguistics: Creativity

Creative aspect of language

Chomsky: the ability to produce and understand new appropriate sentences

Ambiguity judgements

Speakers ability to detect multiple meanings for the same phrase

Infinite expressions

language rules allow unlimited new sentences from finite words

Recursion

A rule where a unit can contain another of the same type (e.g., sentences within sentences)

Recursive sentences

a sentence inside a sentence (e.g. “Esmerelda thinks [it snowed]”)

Universal Recursion Debate

Some linguists claim all languages have recursion; others (e.g., Pirahã debate) disagree

Nominal Compound

A noun formed by combining two nouns (e.g., “dog house”)

Distribution Test for Nouns

Nouns fit in frames like “my ___” or “the ___.”

Morphological Test for Nouns

Nouns often take plural “-s” (e.g., dogs)

Right-Hand Head Rule

In English compounds, the rightmost noun gives the compound’s basic meaning

Mental Lexicon

A speaker’s stored knowledge of words and their properties

Lexical Rule

Selects a noun directly from the mental lexicon (e.g., N → dog)

Nominal Compounding Rule

Combines two nouns into one new noun (N → N N).

Recursive Property of Compounding

The compounding rule can apply repeatedly, creating long noun strings

Hierarchical Structure

Language builds in layers, not just word order

Tree Diagram

A visual tool showing hierarchical structure of phrases

Root

The top node of a tree diagram representing the entire structure

Branches

Lines in a tree diagram showing how symbols split into parts

Nodes

Points in the tree that represent words or categories

Structural Ambiguity

When one phrase has multiple meanings due to different groupings

Example of Structural Ambiguity

“Student film series” can mean a series of student films or a film series for students