linguistics terms

phonetics

the study of individual sounds in spoken languages, or handshapes in signed languages

morphology

study of internal structures of words and how they are formed from smaller units

• change meaning through inflexion (adding -ed to make a word past tense) and derivation (adding -ness to make a noun)

• relationships between words’ form and function/meaning

phonology

study of sound system and how speech sounds are organized, patterned, and used to create meaning

• how sounds interact within the larger context of words, syllables, and language’s rule to create to meaning

• specific to a language

syntax

study of rules that show how words, phrases, and clauses are combined to form meaningful sentences and larger grammatical structure

• looks at word order

semantics

study of meaning in a language, looking at how words, phrases, sentences, and texts convey meanings and how meaning is constructed, interpreted, and understood

• relationship between senses and references (to the world)

pragmatics

how context influences meaning and interpretation of a language

• looking beyond literal meanings of words/phrases to understand implied meanings, intentions, and how language is used in social settings

• “can you pass the salt?” is not about your physical ability to pass it

mental grammar

• what language is

• words are assigned meanings to try and understand the message

• a shared system

• a generative system

• governed by systematic principles

prescription

• if the word ‘should’ is used

• it can be not obvious

• not a description, it is advice

• “bad grammar” is a prescription

when is prescriptivism acceptable

• language class

• accent/dialect coach

• house style guide

• learning a particular genre

• when language does harm (ie a sports team’s name)

• being a parent

vocal fry assumptions

• airhead

• valley girl

• detached, dry, bored

• Kardashians

• low effort

• white

• female

matched-guise study

researchers present participants with the same stimuli and change the guises. if a change in rating occurs, it is because of the guises

stimuli

constant

• a set of resumes

guises

changed

• the name at the top of the resume

how L1 affects L2

• your accent in your L2 is shaped by the phonology of your L1

• your L2 grammar is shaped by your L1 experience

modality of a language

how the language is produced and perceived

vocal-auditory

modality for spoken languages

• vocal (articulated with the vocal tract)

• acoustic (transmitted by sound waves)

• auditory (received and processed by the hearing system)

manual-visual

modality for signed languages

• manual (articulated by the hands and arms)

• photic (transmitted by light waves)

• visual (received and processed by the visual system)

manual-somatic

modality for tactile signing

• feeling signs

• used by deafblind

tight vocal folds

• vibrate faster

• higher pitch

loose vocal folds

• vibrate slower

• lower pitch

whispering

holding vocal folds open and continuing to do articulation; no voicing

classification labels for vowels

• tongue backness

• tongue height

• lip rounding

• tense and lax vowels

how to know if a vowel is lax

the symbols don’t look like english letters

major diphthongs

• [aɪ]

• [aʊ]

• [ɔɪ]

minor diphthongs

• [eɪ]

• [oʊ]

joints

• shoulder

• elbow

• radioulnar

• wrist

• base knuckles

• interphalangeal knuckles

most sonorous to least sonorous

1. vowels

2. nasals

3. approximants

4. fricatives

5. flaps

6. plosives

what is likely to be nucleus of a syllable

high sonority sounds

• vowels

• nasals

• approximants

variationist sociolinguistics

a methodological and analytical approach to understanding the relationship between language and its context of use

dialect

ways of speaking that people perceive to be substandard, low status, associated with working class, non-prestigious, geographically-isolated, or some derivation or aberration from ‘standard’ version of the language

cross-linguistic variation

different ways of doing the same thing in different languages or varieties

sociolinguistic variation

two or more ways of doing the same thing within a language, variety, and individual

prosody

• sound information that is “above” the level of the segment; controlled independently from phones

• perceived relative to other parts of an utterance

• speed, pitch, loudness, length, etc

  • think of a salad

    • the lettuce is the same but the dressing (prosody) adds flavour and changes it up a bit

lexical tone

variation in pitch leads to differences in (lexical) word meaning

• english does not have this but mandarin does

intonation

variation in pitch can signal discourse-level information

distributions

the environments where certain phones appear

• complementary distribution

• contrastive distribution

complementary distribution

• two allophones of a single phoneme

  • Clark Kent and Superman, can’t occur at the same time

• one set of environments for one phone and a completely different set of environments for the other

• the occurrence of one predicts the absence of the others

• mutually exclusive

contrastive distribution

• two different phonemes

• two sounds appear in the exact same spot in a word and change the meaning

• minimal pairs are evidence of this type of distribution

allophones

variations of a single phoneme that don’t change the word meaning; its various physical realities as phones

• pronouncing the ‘t’ differently in “top” and “stop”

a phoneme is a set of allophones, with each one connected to certain specific positions

underlying representation

one allophone appears in several different environments (elsewhere)

• becomes the surface representation in a predictable environment

surface representations

one allophone appears only in a specific, predictable environment

phonological rules

oralism

belief that spoken language is better than signed language

6-8 weeks

cooing

16 weeks

laughter and vocal play

6 months

babbling; reduplicated CV syllables

easiest sounds for babies to make

• low

• voiced

• plosives

perceptual narrowing

not a loss of ability

• happens most easily between 0;6 and 1;2

declarative knowledge

• knowing about something

  • facts

  • memorized information

  • conscious

procedural knowledge

• knowing how to do something

  • physical processes or sensations

  • cognitive processes

positive transfer

when similarities between your native language and the new language help you learn faster

negative transfer

when differences between your native language and new language cause errors

ways that language acquisition of L2 can be made easier with L1

• substitution with a phone from the L1 phonetic inventory

• adaptation to L1 phonotactic constraints

bilabial

obstruct at lips

• p, b, m

labiodental

top teeth on bottom lip

• f, v

alveolar

tongue to ridge above and behind top teeth

• t, d, n, ɾ, ɹ, s, z, l

dental

tongue in between teeth

• θ, ð

post alveolar

move tongue further back from ridge

• ʃ, ʒ

velar

back of tongue up against back of alveolar palate (velum)

• k, g, ŋ

glottal

fricative made at the larynx

• h, ʔ

plosives/stops

obstruct air flow completely; pressure builds in vocal tract and is released in a burst

• p, b, t, d, k, g, ʔ

nasals

obstruct air flow in mouth but allow it through nasal cavity

• m, n, ŋ

fricatives

obstruct air flow a little bit, allow air to flow turbulently

• f, v, θ, ð, s, ʃ, ʒ, h

approximants

bring articulators close together but air flows smoothly

• ɹ, j, w

lateral approximant

l

flaps/taps

bring articulators together and vibrate them quickly

• ɾ

affricates

tongue is in the position to make a different sound but a slight adjustment (ie not letting out all the air) results in a different sound

• ch and j

  • tease vs cheese

  • dam vs jam

tongue height

moves from high to low

• ee → i → ai → e → a

tongue backness

moves from front to back

• oo → o → aw

lip rounding

only occurs in 4 back vowels for english

• boot, book, boat, bore

  • u, ʊ, o, ɔ

tenseness

tense vowels have greater muscle tension than lax ones

• look like english letter

rhotics

unusual class of phonemes named after the greek letter rho <p>; the reason why <r> is pronounced very differently

are voiced sounds on the left or right (in ipa chart)

right

manual articulators

• arms

• hands

• fingers

nonmanual articulators

• torso

• head

• facial features

shoulder articulation

• abduction → upward and outward (jumping jacks)

• adduction → downward and inward

• flexion → raising

• extension → lowering

• rotation → keep upper arm in fixed position and change position of forearm

elbow articulation

flexion → bending forearm up to upper arm

extension → bending opposite way

radioulnar articulation

radius (thumbside of forearm) and ulna (pinky side)

superior radioulnar joint at the elbow

inferior radioulnar joint at the wrist

medial radioulnar joint inside the forearm

wrist articulation

abduction → sideways toward thumb

adduction → sideways toward pinky

extension → bending backwards

flexion → bending forwards

base knuckle articulation

joints where fingers connect to palm

abduction → spreading fingers apart

adduction → putting fingers back together

flexion → bending fingers down

extension → putting fingers flat/straight

interphalangeal articulation

joints in the fingers (thumb has one, others have two)

flexion → bend finger

extension → unbend finger

4 parameters of describing signs

1. handshape: how base knuckles and interphalangeal joints are configured

2. orientation: direction the hand is facing due to the configuration of the other 4 joints (wrist, radioulnar, elbow, shoulder)

3. location: where in space or on body a sign is articulated

4. movement: how the manual articulators move

open syllable

a syllable with no coda (see and owe)

• CV or V

closed syllable

a syllable with a coda (hat and eat)

• CVC or VC

onsetless

a syllable with no onset

• V or VC

onset vs coda

ons: left of nucleus

cod: right of nucleus

phonotactics

language-specific restrictions on what combinations of physical units are allowed in which environments

natural class

a set of phones that share some phonetic properties (ie place or manner of articulation) and also share some phonological behaviour (ie being governed by the same restriction)

• must be exhaustive (including every relevant phone in the language)

executive function

the set of mental processes that govern your attention and control your impulses

• when learning two languages, you have to have your attention on the one you are intending on listen to so you inhibit attention from going to other language

lexicon

vocabulary of a person; a complete set of meaningful units in a language

abduction

articulators move apart

adduction

articulators move together

rotation

articulators rotate

flexion

angle of joint gets smaller

extension

angle of joint gets bigger

sonority

sound energy

prosody in signed languages

• speed, pauses, overall timing

• repetition of a sign

• size of signing space

• non-manual markers like facial expressions

stressed syllables

longer, louder, and higher than other syllables

deterministic

allophonic variation

• predictable depending on linguistic environment

• aka categorical alternation

probabilistic

sociolinguistic variation

• can index social information