Linguistics Midterm Review

Pares minimo

Two words that have all the same phonemes except one and have different meanings are called minimal pairs.

ej. ahora y hora

¿Es posible formar un par mínimo con hola y

hooola?

No

la letra mas usado

E

la letra menos usado

K

diagrafos

groupo de dos letras que representa una sola sonida

- ch

- rr

- ll

- gu

-qu

Doble articulación

the sounds of a language have no intrinsic meaning, but combine with each other in different ways to form elements (words, for example) that have meaning

- We assemble infinite sentences with a small number of discrete units

grafemas

a letter that you don't pronounce like the h in "hola"

why do we use an "e" at the end of words? (paragoica)

changing the sound of the vowel

- din vs dine

- hop vs hope

porque usamos dos ? o ! en espanol

- it is a signal to stress certain words and changes "el rhythmo"

- es una signal que una oracion es una pregunta

Lingustica como una cienca

we can make observations, run tests, see results and have hypothesis about language

Linguistica como una ciencia cognitiva

language is a system that is part of the mental or psychological structure of the human being

- the knowledge itself, not the use

diferencias entre lengaje humano y animal

1) Arbitrario

2) Desplazamiento

3) Articulación dual

4) Productividad

5) Prevaricación

6) Reflexividad o metalingüística,

7) Unidades discretas

8)Creatividad

Creatividad

The use of human language is not conditioned by external or internal stimuli in the production of an utterance

- AKA: humans can make invent new words

Unidades discretas

The units of a communication system are clearly separable into distinct elements, and we say that the system is discrete. The sounds of the language are perceptible by the listener as distinct units. (but /dog/ girl /pineapple/quarrel....In animals they are analog signals (tone, intensity)

- we perceive sounds separately to mean different things

Reflexividad o metalingüística

i.e., a is an indeterminate article/ children (masculine and plural inflectional morpheme)

Prevaricación

(emitting messages that are not true, in the possibility of lying)

Productividad

ability to form an unlimited number of sentences

Articulación dual

minimal elements without meaning, but grouped together (sounds>syllables>words>sentences>texts)

Desplazamiento

(here, there, past, present and future)

metalenguaje

language referring to language

Gramatica desprictiva (y un ejemplo)

The language we use varies depending on the communicative situation (diafásicas), the different sociocultural levels of the person communicating (diastratica) and the geographical areas where a language is spoken (diatopica)

- different regions of the US use different words/ structures to communicate

Gramatica prescriptiva (y un ejemplo)

- Priority of the written language

- Idea of perfection and corruption today

- Parallelism between categories of logical thought and those of language

- Main objective: to teach how to speak and write correctly

Ej. gramatica correctiva -> la palabra "finde" no es corecto porque necesita ser "fin de semana"

ej. No quiero más nada.

Linguista Moderna

- the idea of language as a system of signals

- Behaviorist model

- Language appears as a reaction to stimuli

- Learned by imitation

- However: we produce and understand completely new sentences all the time, sentences that we have never heard before.

variedad diafasica

formal vs informal based on situation

variedad diastratica

different sociocultural levels

variedad diatopica

geographical areas where a language is spoken

Lengua

The ability of the human being to express himself and communicate with others through articulate sound or other sign systems

Lengauje

Verbal and written communication system typical of a human community. Endowed with conventions and grammatical rules, used by human communities for communicative purposes

Jerga

A special and familiar way that individuals in certain professions use with each other

Dialecto

A linguistic system derived from another, usually with a specific geographical limitation, but without sufficient differentiation from other linguistic systems of common origin.

- think geographic region

Habla

An individual act of speech produced by the choice of certain signs.

Idioma

Language of a people or nation or common to several.

Teorias de adquisicion del lengauje

- Innatismo(Chomsky): we are born with innate knowledge

- Conductismo/ Behaviorismo (Skinner)

- Interaccionista

- Cognitivo

- Conexionista

- Emergentista

Innatismo (Nativismo)

Human beings are born with an innate ability to acquire language.

- "Universal grammar" is a set of rules common to all languages, which allows children to learn any language with ease.

Consuctismo (Behaviorismo)

Language is acquired through conditioning, imitation, and reinforcement.

Interaccionista (Sociocultural)

Language is acquired through social interaction and cultural context.

- Language develops in the "zone of proximal development" (ZPD) with the help of more competent speakers.

Cognitivo

Language is part of general cognitive development.

- As children develop cognitive skills (such as memory and categorization), they naturally acquire language.

Conexionista

Language learning occurs through neural networks and repeated connection patterns.

- Through continuous exposure to language, the brain recognizes patterns and structures.

Emergentista

It is a theory that holds that language arises (or "emerges") from the interaction between various general cognitive abilities and exposure to the linguistic environment, without the need for an innate mechanism specific to language (such as Chomsky's "universal grammar").

- Key Difference: Unlike innatism, emergentism rejects the idea that we are born with specific linguistic knowledge and suggests that language is a byproduct of broader cognitive abilities.

- Practical example: A child learns to form plurals in his mother tongue not because he has an innate grammatical rule, but because, when he hears many words in the plural, he detects patterns and applies them inductively.

funcciones del lenguaje

-referencial

- fatica

-poesia

- metalinguistica

- emotiva

- conativa

5 evidencias a innatismo

1) Universality of language

2) Lack of stimuli

3) Creole languages

4) Stages of acquisition

5) Critical period

Nuerolinguistica

- Study of the brain structures necessary to process and understand a language.

- Language capacity is an autonomous cognitive capacity.

Área de Broca

control in speech production

Área de Wernicke

Difficulties in understanding statements but not in producing them.

Afasia anómica

- Patients have difficulty finding the words they need to express their ideas.

- They replace these words with complex phrases or gestures.

Funcion referencial

The referential function focuses on the context. It is denotative, which means that it seeks to affirm data or facts.

- "the earth revolves around the sun"

- Sales are up 3% this quarter.

It is the most "obvious" function of language.

Funcion fatica

This function focuses on maintaining or ensuring that the channel through which communication is carried out is functioning.

- Hola, me escuches

- How are you?

Funcion metalinguistica

talking about language itself

- "¿Qué significa onomatopeya?"

- "What do you mean by generous"

Funcion poesia

the message itself and its aesthetic or emotional construction without the need to express something special.

- "you are my moon and stars"

- "the moon was shining in her eyes"

Funcion emotiva

This function focuses on the sender by expressing feelings, moods or emotions without necessarily expressing concrete information.

- "Wow!"

- "This is great!"

- "Ouch!"

Funcion conativa

the receiver does something concrete. Within this function are orders, prayers or instructions

-"Study for your exam." or "Turn right. Can you show me the documents?

Hay un acento mayor de un otro

no

Sintaxis

the order of words

Morfologica

study of structure

Fonologia

the sounds of a language

Semantica

the meaning of words

Pragmatica

meaning in context

Sincronía

the evolution of words

Chomsky

-

- conocimiento tactico (innate/implicit knowledge)

Skinner

Behaviorismo /Conductismo

Fonema

Contrastive sounds. We change one, the meaning changes. These contrastive sounds are called phonemes.

- tea --> pea --> sea

significante

signifier (just the word or image)

significado

the concept

Declarativo

refers to knowing that something is the case (e.g., explicit knowledge of grammar rules).

- language learners knowing how to structure a sentence, but have to think about it

Procedimental

involves knowing how to do something (e.g., speaking a language fluently, applying grammar rules unconsciously).

- native speakers not thinking of forming sentences

Apocope

shortening words

Motivado

the concept and the form are the same

- example the symbol for a girl looking like a girl

Arbitrario

there is no relation between the form (like a word) and the concept (the actual thing)

- example a-r-b-o-l meaning tree

Pinker

linguistica cognitiva; a human instinct similar to that of birds to fly

Gramtica Universal

A set of rules that are shared by all languages.

Pro drop language

Espanol

Non drop language

Ingles

Fonetica

It studies sound from a physical and physiological point of view; that is, its material aspect regardless of its linguistic function.

It studies sounds from their acoustic production, perception, etc. Study the different ways in which the same sound is pronounced (e.g.s] from Córdoba vs. [s] from Madrid.

(sounds of speaking, real level)

Alófonos

different forms of the same phoneme and are written in square brackets [ ].

ej. pronunciacion of t in "butter" and "stop"

Fono

La unidad mínima de un alafono

Fonología

sounds of a language, abstract level

Science that studies the linguistic function of certain sounds, their role in languages in general or a specific language (accent, distinctive features of each sound that make them different in a language. Study phonic units in relation to meaning (e.g., weight vs. kiss).

Fonemas

Phonemes are units studied by phonology and are written between slashes //

para - cara// cara - mara//