Linguistics Midterm Preperation

Flashcards are based on lecture slides

Human Language

The communication system characteristics of the human species as compared to the communication system of other animal species

A Language (French Langue)

The historically developed system of signs that the members of a social group use to communicate with each other

Semiotic Capacity

The ability to use a given signal to convey information to other members of their own species. 

What are the three things that makes the human communication system different than an animal’s?

1.) Referential Freedom

2.) Duality of Patterning (Language as a discrete combinatorial system)

3.) Recursivity

Referential Freedom

The ability to refer to mental representations disconnected from the present context

The expanded working memory system in Humans

The working memory system has progressively increased in capacity through a series of genetic mutations. This memory system can keep multiple mental representations active simultaneously, making them interact and integrate with each other. 

The development of consciousness

 the capacity to reflect on inner mind states and inner mental representations

To Reflect:

to maintain and pay attention to an inner state in working memory

Intelligence

The ability to attain goals in the face of obstacles. This means, by definition, that human beings are intelligent. 

Discrete combinatorial system

a finite number of discrete elements are sampled, combined, and permuted to create larger structures with properties that are quite distinct from those of their elements. Being separate from their elements means that, unlike blending systems which, like cooking, blend but rely on its elements, language is separate.

Idiolect

The individual variety of a language, a language as spoken by an individual human being. Note that this is the only reality of language we can actually observe.

Language Variation

languages are continuously changing and as a result, new languages form from the changed ones. 

Language vs. Dialects

If languages are entirely different from one-another, (German vs. English), those are different languages. If we have something like British and American English, we consider those different dialects of the same languages as the differences between them do not affect mutual understanding, with some exceptions.

Mutual Intelligibility

When speakers of different languages can understand each other without prior knowledge or effort

Continuum

adjacent elements, in this case, languages, not being drastically different from each other. 

What are the three parameters of linguistics diversity?

1. Lexical Differences

2. Phonological Differences

3. Structural Differences

The Lexion: Lexical Differences

Vocabulary differences for the same words in different languages

Phonological Differences: Speech Sounds

Accents!

Phonological Differences

languages differing in what speech sounds they use and how speech sounds are organized. Note that all languages have vowels and all languages have consona

The Grammar: Structural Differences

Language differences are not simply differences in vocabularies. Languages have structural properties such as word order. 

SVO, SOV, etc.

What are the two ways to classify languages?

Typological property of languages (word order), Genetically

What is language Genealogy?

A language family tree. Ex. Old English —> Middle English —> Modern English

Knowledge of Language

Underlying all linguistic events is the knowledge that speakers and hearers have of a language. To elucidate the nature of this knowledge is the central aim of all linguistic research.

What is the main problem of linguistics?

Determining what sorts of information speakers memorize from previous linguistic experience and what sort of principles permit this finite body of memorized information to serve as the basis for so many sentences.

Prescriptive Grammar

prescribes language behaviors (what people “should” say) Bad grammar decisions are prescriptively bad. 

Descriptive Grammar

describes language behaviors (What people do say)

What are the four things we know when we know a language?

1. Phonetics and phonology (Sounds)

2. Morphology (words)

3. Syntax (sentences and phrases)

4. Semantics (meaning)

Phonetics and Phonology

The study of speech sounds. This consists of how they are produced and perceived, which means how they are physically produced and the acoustics behind the sound coming out. 

Morphology

The structure of words. This consists of how words are constructed of component parts and what order certain combinations must follow. (Help-less-ness, not help-ness-less)

Syntax

The structure of sentences. This consists of how words combine to make sentences and how to understand sentences we have never heard. 

Four basics findings of linguistics

1. Generality: all languages have a grammar

2. Parity: all grammars are equal

3. Universality: grammars share certain basic features

4. Mutability: grammars change over time. 

Generality of Languages

All languages have a grammar!

All languages are systematic and the grammar of a language is the system or rules that establish what possible forms (sounds, words) it has, and how they relate to meaning.

Parity

All grammars are equal!

No language is more evolved than another. All languages are made to express human thought and any child can learn any language they are exposed to.

Universality

Grammars are alike in basic ways.

Word meaning is arbitrary (symbolic), not iconic. All languages consist of several levels of discrete pieces (e.g. sounds, words).

All grammars can produce an infinite number of sentences. 

Mutability

Grammars change over time

Morphemes

The smaller pieces that compose words

Morphology

Concerned with the elements that compose words and the organization of these elements into hierarchical structures

Simple words vs. Complex Words

Simple Words have one morphological piece, Complex Words have more than one morphological pieces

Synthetic Languages

 Complex words; three types: (Agglutinative, Fusional, Polysynthetic)

3 Steps of Morphological Analysis

1. Collect a group of words with a similar meaning 

2. Compare them 

3. Extract/segment the recurring parts 

Jensens Basic Principle in Morphological Analysis

1. A word must be exhaustively divided into morphemes. There must not be any unanalyzed residue. 

Free vs. Bound Morphemes

Free Morphemes: can form a word on their own; their use does not depend on the presence of another morpheme. (ex. Dog, toxify, create, berry)

Bound Morphemes: cannot occur on their own; their use does depend on the presence of another morpheme. (ex. Dogs, detoxify, creation, cranberry)

Roots and Affixes

Roots are morphemes which determine the basic meaning of the larger word

Affixes are morphemes which get their meaning changed depending on the root. Affixes that precede the root are prefixes, and affixes that follow the root are suffixes.

Circumfixes

• Circumfixes are attached on both ends of a root. (ex. enlighten)

Infixes

• Affixes sometimes occur within another morpheme. This is known as infixation. (ex. Bili means buy, but b-in-ili means bought. “In” is the infix). 

  • Infix cannot just appear anywhere inside the root. The infix has to appear after the first consonant. 

Reduplication

• Things like blah blah, pee pee, poo poo

Compounds (briefly discuss trees)

• Compounds combine the meaning of two free morphemes For example, we have firetruck (fire and truck), bus lane (bus and lane), etc. 

Derivational Affixation

alters the meaning and/or grammatical category of whatever they combine with. (ex. Happy vs happiness vs unhappy. Happiness is a noun when the others are adjectives so the affix of “ness” makes happy a noun.)

Inflectional Affixes

 Inflectional morphemes don’t change the basic category or meaning of the element they combine with. Inflectional morphemes realize functional categories. (like tenses)

Evidence for the nature of segmented languages

1. Phonological Changes: 

   1. In every language, basic words are enriched by means of affixation

2. Constraints on Word Structure: 

   1. Words can’t be made without certain rules

3. Speech Errors:

   1. When speaking,you choose to not put certain sounds before others as that is “wrong.” 

Contrastive/Non-Contrastive Sounds

Although a sentence is a stream of sound, contrastive sound units are capable of distinguishing words of different meanings. 

Ex. Pill, Bill, Kill, Gill, etc. 

Voiceless Stops

English: ex. Aspirated [p^h, t^h, k^h] and Unaspirated [p, t, k]

• In english, these voiceless stops are non-contrastive units as they do not distinguish words of different meanings. 

• However, in Thai, those same voiceless stops are contrastive units and can be used to distinguish two otherwise identical words. 

Minimal Pair

 Identical words with different meaning due to contrastive sound units

Phonemes

Contrastive sound units

Allophones

Non-contrastive sound units

Phonetics vs. Phonology

Phonetics studies sound as a physical object with physical properties of sounds and perception of sounds

• Phonetic production involves lips and airflow from the lungs

Phonology studies sound as an abstract object and the grammar of speech sounds. 

• Some contexts, phonology is pronounced with aspiration. 

Articulatory Phonetics

How sounds are produced physiologically

Basic Mechanics of Sound Production

• Lungs send air up through vocal tract

• The air is then modulated by the vocal cords and various constrictions

Articulators

The active components of the vocal tract (the larynx, the soft palate, the lips, the tongue blade, the tongue body, and the tongue root)

Passive Components of the Vocal Tract

Makes little or no movement during the speech gesture. These passive components are the upper lip, the upper teeth, and the various parts of the upper surface of the oral cavity. 

Constriction Degree

 refers to how close the active articulator gets to a passive component of the vocal tract. 

• The main constriction degrees

  • Stop: active articulator touches passive component and completely cuts off airflow

  • Fricative: active articulator doesn’t touch passive components, but gets quite close and causes turbulent airflow

  • Affricate: Sequence of stop and fricative. 

  • Sonorant: Same as fricative, but causes turbulent airflow

Articulators

Articulation involved an active articulator and a passive vocal tract component coming together to form an obstruction

Vowels

Vowels are quite different from consonants and they are louder and typically the nucleus of a syllable. 

Vowel Articulation

As with consonants, we classify vowels by where they are articulated. Height and backness of the tongue body are the two dimensions we pay attention to. 

Phonemic Inventory

sounds that a language use and what distinctions among these sounds are contrastive

Allophony

Allophones do not occur randomly and usage is based on context. Which allophones are used when is another aspect of language that a child learns. 

Phonemes vs. Allophones

Phonemes are distinctive: their distribution is unpredictable. The base phenome of a letter. For example, a letter that can appear anywhere in the word and does not follow after or before vowel rules.  (Contrastive Distribution)

Allophones are not distinctive: their distribution is predictable. Allophones of the base phenome that do follow after vowel and before vowel rules. 

(Complementary Distribution)

The distinction here is between contrastive and complementary distribution

Minimal Pairs

Definition: Two words that differ by only one sound

Ex. bit vs bat and seat vs seed

Minimal Pair Test

To see whether “n” “m’ are different sounds, you simply replace them and swap them with each other to see. Ex. poop vs hoop. Phonemes are SEPERATE, changing definition and allophones are NOT SEPARATE and do not change definitions.

Contrastive Distribution

• These are phonemes and they have minimal pairs and are unpredictable

Complementary Distribution

• Allophones of the same phoneme and have no minimal pairs and are predictable and systematic 

Rule Notation

“X becomes Y between A and B”

Ex. “[l] becomes [l^h] after [p^h]

The theory of Distinctive Features

Universal, relatively small, set of phonological features and that each sound is simply a complex of phonological features. Each feature corresponds to a phonetic property. Language also utilizes exactly two polar configurations. 

• Ex. the difference between oral and nasal is thought of in term of the two configurations that the velum may take: lowered/raised. 

Major Features

• Consonantal

• Sonorant

Stricture Features

• Suction

• Continuant

• Strident

• Lateral

Phonological Alterations

In most languages, the same morpheme can appear in various phonetic shapes in different words. Morphemes may have more than one phonetic realization. 

Vowel Harmony

• Vowel harmony is a key phonological process, where vowels in a word must harmonize in terms of frontness/backness and rounding. 

  • Ex. Turkish Vowel Harmony

  • ev(house) + ler(plural) = evler ( see how the e in ev went to ler)

  • kapi(door) + lar(plural) = kapilar (see how u didn’t go kapiLAHR). Note how the a in kapi went to the lar)

Syllable Structure + Components

occurs between a phoneme and morpheme

Components: 

• Onset: Consonant(s) before vowel

• Nucleus: Central Vowel

• Rime: Nucleus _ Coda (the rime is what makes the beat in a song)

• Coda: Consonant(s) after vowel

Most common syllable

• CV(consonant plus vowel) and it’s known as an open syllable. No human language lacks this structure. 

What is syllabification?

• 1. Write in sense of sound

• 2. Find how many vowels in each section

• 3. Mark presence of consonants

What are tones

• ones are the relative pitch of the voice

How are tones indicated in languages?

Inverse ‘ = low tone, ‘ - high tone, ^ =falling tone