Lingustics 2 part 2 terminology

Reference

Definition:  How language points to or identifies things in the world (real or imagined).

Example: “That dog is huge.” → that dog refers to a specific animal in context.

Inference

Definition:  Information the listener concludes even though it wasn’t explicitly said.

Example:“John’s lights are off and his car is gone.”  

• → You infer that John is probably not home.

Presupposition

Definition:  Background assumptions that must be true for an utterance to make sense.

Example: “Maria stopped smoking.”  

• → Presupposes that Maria used to smoke.

Context

Definition:  All the surrounding factors (physical, social, linguistic) that shape meaning.

Example: Saying “It’s cold in here” could be a complaint, a request to close a window, or just a statement—context decides.

Deixis

Definition:  Words whose meaning depends on the speaker’s time, place, or identity.

Types & Examples:

• Person deixis: I, you, they 

• Spatial (place) deixis: here, there

• Temporal (time) deixis: now, then, tomorrow

Cohesion

The linguistic glue—grammatical and lexical links that connect sentences.

Example: Pronouns, conjunctions, repeated words, synonyms.

Coherence

The conceptual sense or logical flow of ideas.

Example:  A text can be cohesive but incoherent if the ideas don’t logically connect.

Anaphora

Referring back to something already mentioned.

• “Lisa arrived late. She was tired.”

Cataphora

Referring forward to something not yet mentioned.

• “When she arrived, Lisa was tired.”

Speech Acts

Definition:  

Actions performed through language. The idea that we are doing things with words, 1950/60s, whenever we say something = doing something. E.g: I hereby pronounce you man and wife / I deny the charges. Teaching /explaining/stating, e.g when teacher speaks = them asking for comprehension. E.g can you in the back of the room read the text?

• Indirect: “can you stop that noise?” = ask to stop, not actually stop the noise

• Direct: requests, questions, “Do you understand?”, 

Face

A person’s public self-image.

• Positive face: desire to be liked.

Negative face: desire for freedom from imposition.

Face-threatening acts

Acts that challenge someone’s face.

• “Give me your notes.” (threatens negative face)

Face-Saving Acts

Strategies to reduce threat.

• “Could I maybe borrow your notes if you don’t mind?”

Politeness

Turns

Units of talk in conversation.

Turn-Taking

How speakers manage who talks when.

Related aspects to turns & turn-taking

• Overlap (talking at same time)

• Pauses

Adjacency Pairs

Definition:  

Paired utterances where the first creates an expectation for the second.

Examples:

• Question → Answer

• Greeting → Greeting

• Offer → Acceptance/Refusal

• Complaint → Apology

Repairs

Definition:  

Fixing problems in speaking, hearing, or understanding.

Types:

• Self-initiated self-repair: “I went to—uh—we went to the store.”

• Other-initiated repair: “Who?” “John.”

• Self-initiated other-repair: “I met… what’s his name… oh, Peter.”

• Other-initiated other-repair: a conversational sequence where a listener both signals a problem in a speaker’s utterance and provides the correction or resolution.

The Cooperative Principle

(Grice):  

People generally try to be helpful and meaningful in conversation.

Maxims

• Quantity: Give the right amount of information.

• Quality: Be truthful.

• Relation: Be relevant.

• Manner: Be clear.

Implicatures (maxims)

Meaning implied but not said.

Example:

• A: “How was the exam?”

B: “Well, the questions were fair.”

• → Implicature: B didn’t do very well.

Hedges

Definition:  

Words that soften or weaken the force of an utterance.

Examples:

• kind of, maybe, I guess, somewhat, apparently

Schemas

Mental frameworks for general knowledge (e.g., “school schema”).

Scripts

Schemas for events with typical sequences.

Example:  

Restaurant script: enter → sit → order → eat → pay.

Linguistic Structures

Grammar, syntax, vocabulary—how language is built. e.g knowing what “bank” means.

Knowledge Structures

World knowledge that helps interpret meaning. knowing whether the context refers to a river bank or financial bank.

Factors That Affect the Meanings of Utterances

• Context (physical, social, linguistic)

• Speaker intentions

• Shared knowledge

• Tone, prosody

• Cultural norms

• Deixis

• Politeness strategies

• Assumptions and presuppositions

Making Sense

Definition:  

The process by which listeners integrate linguistic cues, context, world knowledge, and inference to interpret meaning.

Example:  

Understanding “Can you pass the salt?” as a request, not a question about ability.

🗣️ Second

• Second language (L2) — a language learned in a context where it is widely used in the surrounding community (e.g., learning Swedish while living in Sweden)

Foreign Language

• Foreign language (FL) — a language learned in a context where it is not used for daily communication (e.g., learning French in Japan).

Acquisition

• Acquisition — subconscious, natural development of language through meaningful exposure (similar to how children learn their first language).

Learning

• Learning — conscious study of rules, grammar, and forms, often in classroom settings.

 Critical Period

A hypothesized window in childhood during which the brain is especially receptive to language. After this period, achieving native‑like proficiency—especially in pronunciation—becomes more difficult.

 Affective & Other Learner‑Related Factors; Motivation

Input

• Input — language the learner hears or reads; must be comprehensible to support acquisition.

Output

• Output — language the learner produces; helps develop accuracy, fluency, and deeper processing.

Positive

Positive transfer — when similarities between L1 and L2 help learning (e.g., cognates).

Negative Transfer

• Negative transfer (interference) — when L1 patterns cause errors in L2 (e.g., word order differences).

Errors

Feedback

If feedback is too positive = hard to develop. Critic = a developing factor. 

Interlanguage

• Interlanguage — the evolving, rule‑based linguistic system learners create as they progress toward the target language.

Fossilization

• Fossilization — when certain incorrect forms become stable and resistant to change, even with exposure or instruction.

 Teaching & Learning Methods

Major approaches include:

• Grammar‑Translation

• Audiolingual Method

• Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

• Task‑Based Language Teaching (TBLT)

Communicative Competence

A learner’s ability to use language appropriately and effectively in real contexts. Includes:

• Grammatical competence (forms, rules)

• Sociolinguistic competence (appropriateness)

• Discourse competence (cohesion, coherence)

• Strategic competence

Integrative motivation

A learner's desire to learn a second language to connect with, understand, and potentially join the culture and community of its speakers. Rooted in personal and emotional identification, it is a key driver for long-term language acquisition, often resulting in higher proficiency than practical

Instrumental motivation

The drive to achieve a goal for practical, external reasons rather than personal interest, such as learning a language to get a promotion, passing a test, or earning a reward. It focuses on tangible outcomes or utility value