Linguistics 101 End of Sem Test

Langue

A specific language spoken by a particular group

Langage

The human capacity for language. The way language is used.

Language

The spoken or signed form of communication unique to humans. All languages, spoken or signed, are equally complex and equally capable of articulating the same ideas.

Key properties of human language - Displacement

The ability to talk about events and things happening in the present, to recall the past events, and anticipate the future.

Key properties of human language - Arbitrariness

There is usually no actual connection between the sounds a language chooses to create a word and the thing the word labels or describes in the language.

Key properties of human language - Structure

Human language has structured layers — meaningless sounds (phonemes) combine into meaningful units (morphemes, words), which then combine into larger grammatical structures (phrases, sentences).

Key properties of human language - Creativity

The ability to generate endlessly longer, more complex, and completely new utterances.

Overextension

Semantic error – applying a word too broadly to objects outside its category. Example: dog = any furry, four-legged animal.

Overgeneralisation

Grammar error – applying a grammatical rule too broadly. Example: foot → foots instead of feet.

Behaviourist Theory (Skinner)

Language is learned through imitation and reinforcement rather than innate ability. Children copy what they hear and are rewarded for correct use.

Behaviourist Theory Limitations

• Can’t explain novel utterances.

• They overgeneralise rules, showing internal rule formation, not copying.

• Caregivers rarely correct grammar — they respond to what children mean, not how accurately they say it.

• Doesn't explain why all children develop language at the same pace, even with very different input.

Nativist Theory (Chomsky)

• Language not learned solely via behaviourism; argues that humans are born with an innate capacity for language. Proposes that children are born with an innate ability to acquire language.

• The brain contains a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) — a mental mechanism with universal grammar rules shared across all languages.

Nativist Theory Evidence

• Same acquisition order across all languages (spoken and signed).

• Poverty of the Stimulus (APS) - Linguistic input is always impoverished but children still correctly acquire complex structures and quickly.

• Children understand complex grammatical concepts before they can produce them.

Universal Grammar

A deep, underlying grammatical structure universal across all human languages.

APS

The idea that linguistic input is always impoverished, yet children still acquire complex structures quickly.

Nativist Theory vs. Language Models (LLMs)

• Humans are born with an innate ability to learn language (the LAD), so they don’t need much input.

• LLMs don’t have this — they learn only from massive amounts of data.

• So yes, LLMs can learn language patterns because their input is so rich, but no, they don’t truly acquire language like humans do — they lack real understanding or innate grammar ability.

Pre-linguistic stage

Early infancy stage, roughly birth to 3 months, involving non-verbal communication related to needs and comfort.

Babbling stage

Covers roughly 3 - 9 months of age, where infants begin to produce sounds that resemble speech.

One word stage (holophrastic)

Covers roughly 9 - 18 months of age where infants have acquired words generally syllabically simple which they literally use one at a time. Using one word to express complex ideas.

Two-word stage

A stage in language development characterized by the use mostly of open classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) and omitting function words.

Early multi-word stage (Telegraphic speech)

The child is building vocabulary but using short, simplified phrases that convey core meaning which omit grammatical words like articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.

Multi-word stage

The child is building vocabulary and begins to combine two or more words to form simple sentences and express more complex ideas.

Later multi-word stage

By 36 months, acquiring adult-like grammar - sentences include plurals and past tenses.

Discontinuity Theory

Language appeared suddenly via a genetic mutation unique to humans, that 'wired' the brain for language production.

Continuity Theory

The complexity of language suggests it developed gradually and continuously from earlier pre-linguistic communication systems.

Polygenesis Theory

Humans evolved in multiple regions and languages evolved independently alongside them. Supported by extreme language diversity, no proof of a single origin, and major human achievements emerging in different regions simultaneously.

Monogenesis Theory

All human languages stem from one ancestral language. As humans spread from Africa (2000 generations ago), this language diversified. Evidence: language family links, reconstructed protolanguages, and phoneme patterns (phoneme inventories tend to simplify further from Africa). Khoisan languages have click sounds no other language has developed.

Pidgin

A simplified language formed from close and repeated contact between groups of people with no language in common.

Pidgin Characteristics

• Has no native speakers.

• Limited to its specific use.

• Small vocabulary, simplified syllable structure and set of sounds.

• Grammatically impoverished.

Creole

A nativized pidgin that has become the native language for a community, grammatically complete and capable of expressing any idea.

Creole Genesis - Language Bioprogram Hypothesis

Creole grammar develops according to the principles of UG (our innate linguistic endowment). Children have an innate capacity for language that lets them turn simplified pidgins into fully structured creole languages.

Creole Genesis - Substrate Hypothesis

Creole grammar develops according to the grammars of their substrate language(s).

Creole Genesis - Superstrate Hypothesis

Creoles grammar develops according to the grammar of their superstrate language

Sign Languages

Real, natural languages that simply make use of a different modality than spoken languages do.

Evidence for sign language being a real language

• Reducible signs: signs can be broken down into smaller parts like words

• Evidence from acquisition: Deaf children exposed to sign language go through the same stages of acquisition, including babbling.

What is Nicaraguan Sign Language?

A sign language that emerged naturally in Nicaragua between the late 1970s and early 1990s.

What did younger children exposed to NSL later in its development show?

They demonstrated the greatest level of grammatical complexity, showing that early exposure is crucial for full grammatical development.

What did older children exposed to NSL early in its development show?

They demonstrated a very limited level of grammatical complexity

What do the findings from NSL support about the nature of language?

They support the Critical Age Hypothesis and the idea from Creole Genesis that children are the primary innovators of language genesis.

Critical Age Hypothesis

The idea that there is a limited period in early life during which humans can acquire language naturally and fully.

After this “critical period” (often thought to end around puberty), language learning becomes much harder and is less likely to result in native-like fluency.

Multilingualism

The ability to use more than one language by a speaker or speakers

Multilingual societies

Communities with two or more shared languages

Linguistic domain

Any social or situational context in which a specific language or variety is used (home, work, school, church)

Code-switching

Alternating between two or more languages/varieties within a single conversation.

Not random, requires high level of fluency in both languages.

Factors motivating code-switching

• Domain – the situation or topic (e.g. home vs. workplace).

• Status – to show authority or respect.

• Prestige – to sound formal, educated, or high-status.

• Solidarity – to show closeness or shared background.

• Competence – switching when lacking words in one language.

• Identity – to express cultural or group belonging.

Situational (domain-based) code-switching

Switching languages in response to social factors like status, class, or setting, to suit the context or situation.

Conversational code-switching

Alternation between languages within a single interaction or conversation.

INTERsentential code-switching

Switching languages between sentences/natural breaks in language (mostly done by more fluent speakers, as it requires a high level of syntactic awareness in both languages)

INTRAsentential code-switching

Switching languages within a sentence. Mid-phrase switching, or single word switching.

Diglossia

The use of two distinct language varieties for different purposes in a community. Clear functional division between the two.

Diglossia - Low variety

Used in informal, everyday speech; adaptive; acquired naturally through early social interaction.

Diglossia - High variety

Used in formal, institutional settings; standardised/fixed; learned through formal education; fluency may lag; grammar learned explicitly.

Diglossia - Threats

• Increased communication across regions and social groups.

• Social levelling → overlap of H and L domains.

• May lead to formal adoption of a “national” language (often H or a standardised L)

Diglossia vs. Bilingualism

Diglossia - community-dictated bilingualism (clear social functions)

Bilingualism - individual level (ability to speak two languages)

Social factors influencing language choices

Socioeconomic status (SES), ethnicity, gender, age, social class, and occupation.

Social variation

Language change across social groups, reflects social standing.

Socioeconomic status (SES)

Social standing/class of an individual or group in relation to others, often based on occupation, education, and income.

Example: social factor influencing language use - Labov

• Workers in higher-end stores used post-vocalic /r/ more often (a prestige feature).

• All speakers were more careful to pronounce /r/ when paying attention to their speech.

• → Demonstrates a change from above (conscious adoption of prestige forms).

Change from Above

A conscious, prestige-driven language change that people are aware of, often influenced by higher social groups.

Example: people consciously adjust their speech to sound more educated, formal, or socially upward.

Change from Below

An unconscious, everyday language change that spreads naturally, often spreading upward through the community.
Example: English - there’s/there’re and less/fewer

Hypercorrection

When speakers of less prestigious varieties overuse prestige features

Situational variation

• Variation in speech according to the situation.

• Can include phonological, syntactic, and lexical variation, etc.

• Influenced by participants, topic, setting, and purpose.

Overt prestige

Prestige linked to standard, “correct” language that people are consciously aware of.

Covert prestige

The positive value attached to using non-standard or local language varieties that signal solidarity, authenticity, or group identity, rather than social status.

Ethnosemantics

The study of how cultures categorise meaning.

What are kinship systems and what did studies find about their variation?

Kinship systems are the ways languages classify family relationships.

• All societies use a limited set of basic systems.

• Range from Sudanese system (many distinctions) to Hawaiian system (few distinctions).

• No link between the complexity of kinship terms and the complexity of the society.

What did Berlin & Kay’s (1969) study on colour terms find?

That all languages have up to 11 basic colour terms (or a subset of them), and these develop in a universal order —

If a language has a term for a colour further to the right (e.g. blue), it must also have words for all colours to the left (e.g. black, white, red, yellow, green).

Ethnosemantics - Visual discontinuity

Bodies are universal, but languages divide their parts differently.

Ethnosemantics - Folk taxonomy

How different languages group different things together.

Ethnosemantics - Cultural importance

Languages have better articulated vocabulary for more important, culturally significant concepts to them.

Animal communication

The transfer of information between animals through various signals, both vocal and non-vocal.

Human vs. Animal - Arbitrariness

Human: Words have no natural link between sound and meaning (e.g. dog doesn’t sound like a dog).

Animal: Signals are directly tied to meaning (e.g. alarm calls for specific predators).

Human vs. Animal - Displacement

Human: Can refer to things not present in time or space (past, future, imagined).

Animal: Usually restricted to the here and now; messages only about immediate context.

Human vs. Animal - Creativity/Productivity

Human: Can combine words in endless new ways to create new meanings.

Animal: Signals are fixed and limited; cannot create or adapt new combinations (e.g., bees couldn’t adapt their waggle dance to express location).

Human vs. Animal - Structure

Human: Language has structured layers — meaningless sounds (phonemes) combine into meaningful units (morphemes, words), which then combine into larger grammatical structures (phrases, sentences).

Animal: Communication systems lack complex structure — signals are typically fixed and do not combine to create new meanings.

What is the Clever Hans effect, and why is it important in animal language studies?

Occurs when animals appear to understand or communicate but are actually responding to unintentional cues from humans (e.g. body language or tone).

Supposed “language use” in animals may be imitation or cue-following, not genuine linguistic understanding.

What technologies do the terms AI and generative AI include?

Many different technologies, not just Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT.

How do Large Language Models (LLMs) generate text?

LLMs generate text based on probability — predicting the most likely next word from patterns in large datasets.

Why are linguists interested in studying LLMs?

• LLMs learn only from linguistic input (no innate grammar).

• Useful for testing if input alone can explain language learning.

• Relates to the idea of Universal Grammar (UG) in humans and if it’s real/needed.

Why are LLMs an imperfect comparison to human learners?

LLMs show some surface-level similarities to human linguistic behaviour, but they lack the innate, social, and cognitive foundations that make human language possible.
They are also trained on extreme amounts of data, giving them an unrealistic learning advantage.

Language death

When no one speaks a language anymore

Language death - Threats

• Natural catastrophes – famine, disease, environmental collapse.

• War and genocide – destruction of speaker communities.

• Political repression – banning or punishing language use.

• Dominance of another language – social or economic pressure to shift.

• Internal resistance – younger speakers stop learning or using the language.

What are common features of a dying language?

• Mostly older speakers remain.

• Younger speakers show reduced fluency or stop learning it.

• Grammar becomes simplified or erodes.

• No new words or borrowing — the language stops adapting, goes into stasis.

Language Vitality

Health and strength of a language; its capacity to survive.

High vitality → used by all generations, in and outside the home, for most topics

What is the UNESCO Language Vitality and Endangerment (LVE) Framework?

• A global model for measuring how healthy a language is.

• Uses 9 factors to assess vitality

• Designed to apply to all languages, regardless of region or culture.

What is He Pā Tūwatawata?

• A Māori-specific framework for assessing language vitality in Aotearoa New Zealand.

• Has 5 key levels.

• Reflects Māori values and context, focusing on community strength and cultural connection.

How do language vitality frameworks develop and adapt to reflect new pressures or factors?

• Frameworks change as society and the environment change.

• New factors added: migration, globalisation, technology, and climate change.

• Keeps language assessment relevant to current realities.

How can climate change affect the health of a language?

• Forces migration → loss of homeland → diaspora speakers.

• Diaspora → weaker intergenerational transmission.

• Daily use drops, can lead to a language shift to the dominant language, or loss over time.

What is an advantage of adopting a language vitality model that is specific to a particular language?

It fits the language’s unique context and focuses on the language’s specific culture and needs, making revitalization more effective.

What can we learn about the origins of human language from observing animal communication?

• Understanding the evolutionary roots of communication.

• Identifying the shared features like cultural transmission & complex signalling.

• See what unique abilities humans have developed (e.g., displacement) 

Why does documentation matter?

• Preserves linguistic diversity.

• Supports linguistic theories/predictions/research.

• Prevents entire language families from disappearing unrecorded.

• Broader understanding of child language acquisition and language typology.

How do languages change?

Through:

• Contact (borrowing, code-switching)

• Social pressures (prestige, identity)

• Internal evolution (phonological or grammatical shifts)

• Innovation by younger speakers