Language as a system

Language

the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually-used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols

Linguistic knowledge

you can speak and be understood by others who know that language -> you are able to produce strings of sounds that signify certain meanings and to interpret sounds produced by others

Knowledge of sound system

knowing what sounds (or signs) are in the language and what sounds are not

Knowledge of words

we know that certain sequence of sounds signify certain concepts or meanings

The creativity of LK

knowledge of language enables you to combine sounds to form words -> phrases -> sentences

Knowledge of (Non) sentences

our knowledge permits us to distinguish well-formed (grammatical) from ill-formed (ungrammatical) sentences

Linguistic competence

our knowledge of words and grammar

Linguistic performance

how we use this knowledge in actual speech production and comprehension

Descriptive grammar

the grammar is the knowledge speakers have about the units and rules of their language

Prescriptive grammar

the type of grammar specifies which forms and constructions are considered correct

Teaching grammar

used to learn another language/dialect

Gloss

the parallel word in one's native language (apple-яблоко)

Universal grammar

the set of grammatical principles & categories that are common to all human languages, representing the innate, biologically endowed capability for language that humans possess, providing a blueprint for how languages are structured

Discreetness

the fundamental property that languages are not simply made up of a fixed set of invariant signs

Displacement

the capacity to talk (or sign) messages that are unrelated to here & now

Linguistic determinism

the language we speak determines how we perceive and think about the world

Linguistic relativism

different languages encode different categories and speakers of different languages therefore think about the world in different ways

Semantics

studies the literal meaning of words, phrases, and sentences, independent of context

Pragmatics

studies how context, speaker intention, and situation influence meaning in actual communication

Language (Saussure)

the abstract, systematic rules and conventions of a language, the social, shared SYSTEM

Parole (Saussure)

the individual, concrete act of speaking/writing, the individual, physical USE

Minimalistic paradigm

a theoretical framework introduced by Noam Chomsky that aims to explain language using the simplest and most economical principles

The nature

provides the pre-wired framework that makes learning any human languages possible

The nurture

is necessary to trigger and set the parameters for specific language

Syntagmatic relations (linear, horizontal)

relations of capability and sequence between linguistic units that co-occur in a sentence or text -> the order, arrangement, syntax

Paradigmatic relations (vertical, substitutional)

relations of substitution, opposite functional identity, where units can replace each other in the same slot