Foundations of Human Communication Final

Phonetics

Study of linguistic speech sounds. Articulatory, auditory, acoustic

Phonology

Study of the sound system of language

Syntax

Rules of a language that govern the order of word and how words are put together

Syntax

Rules of a language that govern the order of word and how word are put together

Semantics

Study of linguistic meaning of morphemes, word, phrases, and sentences; vocabulary

Linguistic Competence

What we know about a language. Mostly unconscious knowledge about sounds, structures, meanings, words, and rules for combining linguistic elements

Grammar

The knowledge speakers have about the unites and rules of their language

Descriptive Grammar

True model of the mental grammar of language speakers, linguistic rules

Prescriptive Grammar

Linguistic rules that are taught or enforced

Mental Dictionary

Holds pronunciation, meaning, orthography, grammatical category

Content Words

Convey conceptual meaning; open class (nouns, verbs, adjectives)

Function Words

Convey grammatical meaning; closed class (articles, prepositions, conjunctions)

Mophology

Study of the structure of word and rules for word formation

Morpheme

Smallest unit of meaning

Free Morphemes

Can stand alone

Bound Morphemes

Cannot stand alone, must be attached to other morphemes

Root

Morpheme base upon which other morphemes are attached to create complex words

Stem

Once an affix has been attached to a root, it becomes a stem to which more morphemes may be attached

Prefix

Bound morpheme attached to the beginning of a root

Suffix

Bound morpheme attached to the end of a root

Infix

Morphemes inside a root

Circumfix

Attach to both ends of a root

Derivational Morphemes

Change the meaning and/or part of speech of a root. Carry meaning

Inflectional Morphemes

Have only grammatical function and cannot change the part of speech and the root

Back formation

A word that is formed from an already existing word, often by removal of a suffix editor>edit

Surface structure

Aspects of language that change from language to language

Deep structure

Aspects of language that are invariant and universal, shared by all languages of the world. Most languages use S-V-O or S-O-V word structure

Where are word meanings found?

In the head and the world

Definite Description

A characterization that describes a single specific individual

Constituents

Natural groupings of words that function as a single unit within a hierarchical structure. All the words and phrases that make up a clause

Test for constituency

Stand alone, replacement by a pronoun, move as a unit

Head of phrase

core of every phrase

Complement

Phrasal category next to a head, which elaborates on the meaning

Universal Grammar

All languages have structures that conform, all phrases consist of specifiers, heads, and complements, all sentences are headed by tense, all languages seem to have movement/transformation rules

Semantics

Study of the meaning of morphemes, words, phrases, and sentences

Lexical semantics

meaning of words and the relationship among words

Phrasal or Sentential Semantics

Meaning of syntactic units larger than one word

Compositional Semantics

Formulating semantic rules that build the meaning of a sentence based on the meaning of the words and how they combine. Truth

Entailement

If whenever the first sentence is true, the second one must also be true

Ambiguity-Syntactic

Multiple syntactic structures correspond to the same string of words

Ambiguity-Lexical

Multiple meanings corresponding to the same word or phrase

Compositionality

Meaning of an expression is composed of the meaning of its parts and how the parts are combined structurally

Idiomatic phrases

Meanings cannot be predicted based on the meanings of the individual words. Usual semantic rules do not apply.

Sense

An element of meaning separate from reference

Complementary Antonym

Meaning is the complement of the other. Opposite, but not on a continuous spectrum.

Gradable pair

Word pairs whose opposite meanings fall on a continuous spectrum

Relational Antonyms

Display symmetry. Refer to a relationshup from opposie points of view

Acoustic Pheontics

Focuses on the physical properties of the sounds of language

Auditory phonetics

Focuses on how listeners perceive the sounds of language

Articulatory Phonetics

focuses on how the vocal tract produces the sounds of language

Phonetics

Study of speech sounds

Parts required for making speech sounds

Glottis = the opening between the vocal folds

Pharynx= tubular part of the throat above the larynx

Oral cavity = mouth

Nasal cavity = nose and the passages connecting it to the throat and sinuses

Consonants place of articulation

Bilabials = produced by bringing both lips together

Labiodentals = produced by touching the bottom lip to the upper teeth

Interdentals = produced by putting the tip of the tongue between the teeth

Alveolars

= produced by raising the tongue to the alveolar ridge in some way

Palatals

Produced by raising the front part of the tongue to the palate

Velars

produced by raising the back of the tongue to the uvula

Glottals

Produced by restricting the airflow through the open glottis or by stopping the air completely at the glottis

Manner of Articulation

the way the airstream is affected as it flows from the lungs and out of the mouth and nose

Vowels can be…

Combined into dipthongs, can be nasalized, can be tense/lax, can be rounded, can have different tongue height: high, mid, low

Stress

Stressed syllables are louder, higher in pitch, and somewhat longer than unstressed syllables.

Intonation

May affect the meaning of a whole sentence

Signs are formed by three major features

Configuration of the hand, movement of the hand and arm towards or away from the body, the location of the hand in signing space