Video Notes: Language Classification and Language Acquisition — 100 Vocabulary Flashcards

100 vocabulary flashcards based on the lecture notes.

Dialect

A variety of speech within a language; classification as dialect or language depends on mutual intelligibility and non linguistic factors.

Language

A system of communication with phonology, morphology, and syntax; classification as language or dialect can depend on political or cultural factors.

Mutual intelligibility

The ability of speakers of different varieties to understand each other.

Mutually intelligible

Describes language varieties that can be understood by each other’s speakers.

Max Weinreich quote

A famous remark: a language is a dialect with an army and a navy.

Language death

The extinction of a language as it stops being transmitted to new generations.

Linguistic diversity

The variety of languages spoken worldwide and the information lost when languages die.

Areal classification

Grouping languages by geographic area.

Genetic classification

Grouping languages by historical descent from common ancestors.

Linguistic typology

Classification based on structural features such as syntax, morphology, and phonology.

Absolute universals

Linguistic features found in every language.

Universal tendencies

Features common to most languages, though not universal.

Implicational universals

If a language has one trait, it tends to have another related trait.

Unmarked features

Basic, simpler structures that are common across languages.

Marked features

Less common or more complex linguistic structures.

Phonology

The study of the sound systems of languages.

Vowel inventory

The set of vowel phonemes a language uses.

Vowel phoneme

A distinct vowel sound that can change meaning.

Front vowels

Vowels produced with the tongue towards the front of the mouth.

Back vowels

Vowels produced with the tongue towards the back of the mouth.

Nasal vowels

Vowels produced with nasal resonance.

Long vowels

Vowels that are phonemically longer in duration.

Short vowels

Vowels without a phonemic length distinction.

Most common vowels

Vowels like /a/, /i/, and /u/ are among the most widespread.

Nasal vowel implication

If a language has nasal vowels, it typically also has oral vowels.

Long vowel implication

Presence of long vowels often implies presence of short vowels as well.

Consonant system

The complete set of consonant phonemes in a language.

Stops

Consonants produced with complete closure and release (plosives).

Fricatives

Consonants produced with a narrow constriction causing turbulence.

Nasal consonant

Consonants produced with air flowing through the nose.

Liquid consonant

Lateral and rhotic sounds like l and r.

Voiced obstruents

Obstruents produced with vocal fold vibration.

Voiceless obstruents

Obstruents produced without vocal fold vibration.

Onset

The initial consonant or consonant cluster of a syllable.

Coda

The final consonant or consonant cluster of a syllable.

Suprasegmental

Prosodic features such as stress, tone, and rhythm across multiple segments.

Syllable

A unit of pronunciation with a nucleus (usually a vowel) and optional onset and coda.

Unmarked CV syllable

A simple syllable type consisting of a consonant followed by a vowel.

V syllable

A syllable made up of a vowel only.

Multiple onset

Onsets that contain more than one consonant.

Prepositions

Relational words that come before a noun or noun phrase.

Postpositions

Relational words that come after a noun or noun phrase.

OV languages

Object–Verb languages; often use postpositions.

VO languages

Verb–Object languages; often use prepositions.

SOV order

Subject–Object–Verb word order, common across languages.

SVO order

Subject–Verb–Object word order (as in English).

VSO order

Verb–Subject–Object word order.

Subject before object universal

In about 95% of languages, the subject precedes the object.

Prepositional phrase order OV

In OV languages, prepositional phrases tend to come before the verb.

Possessor + noun OV

In OV languages, possessors usually precede the noun they modify.

Noun + possessor VO

In VO languages, the possessed noun usually precedes the possessor.

Germanic

A branch of Indo-European including English and related languages.

Celtic

A branch of Indo-European including Irish and Welsh.

Italic (Romance)

Romance languages like Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian.

Hellenic

Greek language family.

Albanian

Indo-European language spoken in Albania.

Armenian

Indo-European language spoken in the Caucasus.

Baltic

Language group including Latvian and Lithuanian.

Indo-European

A major language family including most languages of Europe and many in Asia.

Slavic

East, West, and South Slavic language group.

Indo-Iranian

Branch including Iranian and Indic languages.

Uralic

Language family including Finnish and Hungarian.

Altaic

Hypothesized group including Turkish; sometimes extended to Japanese and Korean.

Austronesian

Language family including Malay, Indonesian, Filipino.

Austro-Asiatic

Language family including Vietnamese and Khmer.

Afro-Asiatic

Language family including Arabic and Hebrew.

Niger-Congo

Large African language family.

Nostratic

Controversial macro-family proposal linking several language families.

Proto-World

Hypothetical single ancestor of all languages; not widely accepted.

First language acquisition

How children acquire their L1, often quickly and with innate tendencies.

Interlanguage

Learner's evolving grammar between L1 and L2.

Transfer

L1 influence on L2 grammar and vocabulary.

Fossilized interlanguage

IL grammar stops changing and remains non-native.

Interlanguage grammar

The growing, learner specific grammar between L1 and L2.

Segmental phonology

Study of individual sounds (phonemes) in a language.

Accent

Differences in pronunciation due to influence from one’s first language.

Markedness differential hypothesis

Learners struggle more with marked features than unmarked ones.

Similarity differential rate hypothesis

Learning is faster for features that are dissimilar to L1.

Loanwords

Words borrowed from another language and adapted phonologically.

Syllabification

Process of dividing a word into syllables.

Deletion

Omission of sounds in a word or syllable during L2 learning.

Epenthesis

Insertion of extra sounds to fit phonotactic rules in L2.

Second language syntax

Grammar of the second language and how it compares to L1.

Telegraphic stage

Early speech stage with three or more words but lacking function words.

One-word stage

Early stage where children speak single words (holophrases).

Holophrase

A single word conveying a broader idea or sentence.

Vertical constructions

Sequential single words linked by context with a pause.

Multiword phase learned as wholes

Two or three word utterances learned as fixed phrases.

Word plus jargon

A real word combined with babble or nonword sounds in speech.

Two-word stage

Stage where children combine two words to form simple utterances.

Bound morphemes

Affixes attached to words that modify meaning or grammar.

Non-lexical categories

Function words like determiners and auxiliary verbs, not content words.

Present progressive

The -ing verb form signaling ongoing action.

In

Preposition or particle indicating location or relation.

On

Preposition indicating surface contact or position.

Plural -s

Suffix marking plural in many languages.

Past irregular

Past tense forms that do not follow a regular -ed pattern.

Canonical sentence strategy

Interpreting active sentences with agent before verb by typical order.

Reflexives

Pronouns referring back to the subject (myself, yourself).

Pronominals

Pronouns used to replace nouns.