Intro to Ling II - mixed stuff

biner

Definition of semantics

Description of how speech sounds are articulated and heard.

Historical linguistics

Study of language change and evolution.

Pragmatics

Study of the strategies people use to carry out communicative business in specific contexts into systems.

Psycholinguistics

Investigation of language as cognitively-based behavior

Locution

The act of SAYING something.

Illocution

What the speaker is DOING by saying it.

Perlocution

The EFFECT that an utterance has on the listener.

Searle’s classification of illocutionary acts ACRONYM

ADCED

Assertives

They commit the speaker to the truth of a statement.

Directives

They try to get the listener to do something.

Commissives

They commit the speaker to a future action.

Expressives

They express the speaker’s feelings about the situation.

Declarations

They change the state of affairs of the world (authority)

Indirect speech acts

The form does not match the intended function.

Example of an indirect speech act: “The Blue Nile is on High Street”

Literal act: stating a fact; intended act: suggestion/answer

Compositional

The meaning can be understood by its separated parts.

Non-compositional

Terms learned as a unit. The meaning cannot be understood by its separate parts.

Felicity conditions

General, propositional content, preparatory, sincerity, essential

General

Speaker and hearer understand the language, are conscious, and serious. EX: A sentence said to someone in Spanish who does not speak it.

Propositional content

What is said does not make sense/it does not suit the act. EX: Give me that book or I will Saturn. ts does not make sense.

Preparatory

The circumstances needed for the act must hold: the speaker has authority, the hearer wants it, it isn’t already going to happen anyways. EX: Help me destroy this army. (said to a few ppl you just met)

Sincerity

The speaker genuinely means it; sarcasm for example. EX: Susan will explode when she hears the news.

Essential

The utterance counts as an attempt to perform that act. EX: I promise… maybe… I’ll try, I guess. Also misunderstandings.

Inferrence

Going from a semantic meaning to a pragmatic meaning.

Linguistic knowledge

Vocabulary, grammar, ambiguity, conventional formulas.

Situational knowledge

What is happening here and now, the physical setting, and what both people can see or hear.

Interpersonal knowledge

The relationship between the speaker and the hearer, their shared history, and what thy know about each other.

World knowledge

General knowledge of how things work and of culture and institutions.

Co-textual knowledge

What was said before (and after) in the same conversation.

Gricean Maxims

Conversational rules that establish conversational cooperation.

What are the maxims?

Quantity, Quality, Relevance and Manner.

Maxim of Quantity

Provide the right amount of information. 

Maxim of Quality

Say what you think is true.  

Maxim of Relation (Relevance)

Provide information relevant to the conversation. 

Maxim of Manner

Be concise, clear, and orderly.

Violating vs flouting of maxims

Violating = breaking the maxims without the other party knowing. Flouting: the speaker blatantly breaks the maxims. So basically not letting the other person know vs. letting the other person know.

Metonymy

A word is used to stand for something closely connected to it. EX: Scrambled eggs left without paying, broken ankle in room 5 needs an IV.

Positive face

The need to be liked, approved of, admired, and treated as part of the group.

Negative face

The need for freedom; to act without being imposed on, to have one’s time, space, and choices respected.

Face Threatening Act (FTA)

An utterance that damages one of these (positive or negative face).

THREATS TO THE POSITIVE FACE

criticisms, complaints, disagreements and the liking

THREATS TO NEGATIVE FACE

orders, requests, suggestions

Threat’s to one’s own positive/negative face

Apologies, confessions, admitting mistakes.

Negative politeness

Shows respect for the hearer’s freedom. It is indirect, hedged, apologetic, and basically hints “you’re free to say no.”

Positive politeness

Aims at building closeness with the hearer. It is friendly, shows interest, tries to find a common ground, uses in-group terms or makes promises.

Bald-on-record

This strategy is direct + unsoftened.

Off record

Off record indicates a hint with no specific request.

Hyperonymy

The general includes the more specific one. EX: Animal is a hyperonym of dog.

Hyponymy

The specific term belongs to a more general class. EX: dog is a hyponym of animal.

Connotation

The emotional, cultural, or associative meaning beyond the literal (denotative) meaning. EX: home = warmth and safety, domicile = neutral

Oppositeness (antonymy)

Words with opposite meanings. Types:

1. Gradable (a scale; hot/cold)

2. Complementary (either/or; alive/dead)

3. Relational/converse (two sides of a relation; buy/sell)

4. Directional (up/down)

HomoNYMY

SAME: spelling + pronunciation

DIFFERENT: meaning

EX: bank (river) and bank (money)

HomoPHONY

SAME: pronunciation

DIFFERENT: meaning + spelling

EX: to/two/too

HomoGRAPHY

SAME: spelling

DIFFERENT: meaning + pronunciation

EX: lead (to guide) vs. lead (metal)

Polysemy

One word with several related meanings. EX: mouth or a person vs. mouth of a river.

Synonymy

Different words with nearly the same meaning.

Polysemy vs. Homonymy

These are both cases of words that are spelled the same. If the meanings are related → polysemy. “Mouth” of a river and “mouth” of a person, for example. If the words are not related, it’s homonymy (same both + different meaning) or homography (different pronunciation + meaning, same spelling.)

Lexical field

Groups of words related in meaning, all belonging to the same area/subject.

Non-compositional vs. compositional AGAIN

Separation = make no sense: non-compositional

Separation = make sense: compositional