linguistics exam 1

what is linguistics and what can we learn from it

the scientific study of the rules (or grammar) of human language

rules of language and how they differ across cultures

language is patterned

phonetics and phonology

what is the difference between descriptive and prescriptive approaches to grammar

descriptive grammar: linguistic rules compiled from observation of the way language is actually used by speakers

descriptive rules do not limit what is grammatical; they faithfully describe the way that actual people speak in particular contexts

prescriptive grammar: rules about how language should work (according to Them)

prescriptive rules often do not reflect how people actually use language in their daily lives

what are the Design Features of human language

mode of communication: means by which messages are sent (i.e. speaking or signing)

meaning: what we want to communicate (agreed upon by social convention)

pragmatic function: what we want to do with language (goal in mind) i.e. scolding, thanking, etc.

interchangeability: users can both transmit and receive messages

cultural transmission: details learned through experience

arbitrariness: there is nothing about the forms of linguistic symbols that predicts their meaning

iconic: symbolic meaning of something (picture depicts it directly)

ambiguous: one symbol is associated with more than one meaning (mole)

discreteness: utterances are built up of discrete units that combine to form larger units

displacement: language can be used to talk about things that are not present in space and/or time

productivity: rules of language allow us to create and understand an infinite set of utterances that have never been spoken before

what does it mean to say language is innate in humans 

innate- we are born with the capability to acquire language and eventually be able to produce it as well

animal communication

our innate communication is language and that is what makes humans unique

how is animal communication different from human language 

in order to be a language, something must adhere to all 9 design features

productivity is where animal communication falls apart

most animal communication has mode, meaning, pragmatic function, interchangeability

some types have cultural transmission and arbitrariness

it is very rare to have discreteness, displacement, productivity

what is phonetics 

the study of the minimal units that make up a language

phone: a speech sound

articulatory phonetics: how speakers produce sound

acoustic phonetics: physical properties of sound waves

auditory phonetics: how sound is perceived

how does the vocal tract work (what is happening in the articulatory system when you produce sounds) 

places of articulation: bilabial (lips), labiodental (lip and teeth), inter-dental (tongue between teeth), alveolar (top of your mouth), post-alveolar, palatal (hard palate), velar (soft palate), glottal

stop: active articulator presses directly against passive articulator to form a complete closure

fricatives: slightly less closure then stops, very small constriction (can say forever, stops cannot)

affricate: stop + fricative (calling a cat over)

flap- tongue makes a very quick and light contact with another part of the mouth

nasal: airflow passes through the nose rather than the mouth

lateral liquid: tongue blocks airflow in the center and air flows around it

retroflex liquid: tongue tip is curled backwards toward the hard palate

glide: some sort of movement

interpret mid-sagittal views of the vocal tract 

divide words into syllables, make a syllable tree, recognize syllable types, and find stressed syllables 

syllable (S): the unit of language that is relevant for rhyme in English

nucleus (N): the core of the syllable, almost always a vowel

onset (O): any consonants before the nucleus

coda (C): any consonants after the nucleus

rhyme (R): nucleus + coda

what is phonology and how does it differ from phonetics

phonology is the study of the mental organization of a language’s sound system

core questions: how can sounds be sequenced?

what are the sounds in a language that are meaningfully distinctive?

how do those sounds change as a function of their vocal context?

phonetics sounds and phonology is sound structures (how sounds change when they interact with other sounds)

what are the core issues that phonologists study

phonotactics

phonemes

predictable distributions of sounds 

how does a minimal pair relate to phonemes

minimal pair is present: contrastive distribution and separate phonemes

minimal pair is not present: complementary distribution and allophones of the same phoneme

how do you tell if sounds are in contrastive or complementary distribution (what evidence is needed)

contrastive: minimal pair (pair of words with distinct meanings that differ only by 1 sound)

complementary: environments chart, generalization, formal rule ( /never / → [always] / environment )

under what circumstances are sounds allophones of the same phoneme or separate phonemes

sounds are allophones of the same phoneme when: they are in complementary distribution, do not have minimal pairs, and have a predictable pattern

sounds are separate phonemes when: they are in contrastive distribution, and they have minimal pairs

what are universal phonological processes

types of phonological processes that recur cross-linguistically

what is assimilation 

rules that cause a sound to become more like a neighboring sound with respect to some phonetic property

voicing assimilation (Burmese nasals)

nasal place assimilation (unclear)

nasalization

what is dissimilation

rules that cause a sound to become LESS like a neighboring sound with respect to some phonetic property

what is deletion

a segment present at the word level gets deleted during production

what is epenthesis

a segment not present at the word level gets inserted during production

[hæmpstr̩]

what is metathesis

segments get rearranged

how can language and dialect vary systematically in sound, both synchronically and diachronically 

synchronic variation: variation across speakers existing at the same point in time (dialect variation)

diachronically: language variation over time (the Great Vowel Shift)

what is the difference between tone and intonation

tone: the pitch (or sequence of pitches) at which a single word is produced; signals a literal distinction in word meaning

intonation: optional pitch changes across phrases or sentences that signal meaning (I never said she stole my money) Can change sentence without changing any of the words

we do not have tone in English

in other languages different tones of sounds can have different meaning (word level)