Linguistics Exam 3

innateness hypothesis

proposes that children have an inborn capacity to differentiate phonemes, extract words from the stream of language, and process grammar.

Universal grammar

the system involving phonemic differences, word order, and phrase recognition that is the basis for the theory of innateness of language acquisition.

critical period hypothesis

proposes that the language acquisition device ceases to function and the ability to acquire language with native fluency declines as childhood progresses.

imitation hypothesis

children acquire language by imitating the people around them.

poverty of stimulus theory

proposed by Chomsky, accounts for the ability of children to acquire patterns of language for which they have not heard examples. Supports the innateness hypothesis and universal grammar abilities.

reinforcement hypothesis

children acquire language by positive reinforcement when they produce a grammatical utterance and by being corrected when they don’t

interactionist hypothesis

children acquire language by their innate language abilities to extract the rules of the language from their environment and apply it when creating their own utterances.

cognitive-functional lingustics

proposes that language acquisition is not a separate process of the child’s development, but is rather a result of the child’s natural cognitive and intellectual development. (NO LAD)

holophrases

one word utterances with which a toddler expresses an entire sentence

two-word stage

after 18 months when children begin combining two words into sentences. The beginnings of grammar can be seen here.

telegraphic speech

children begin adding more words to their two word sentences

overgenrealization

when children apply a morphological rule too broadly

productive vocabulary

consists of the words a person is able to use

receptive vocabulary

consists of the words a person is able to understand

overextension

when a child acquires the definition of a word and applies it too broadly

underextension

occurs when a child acquires the definition of a word and applies it too narrowly

unitary system hypothesis

proposes that infants exposes to two or more languages begin by constructing one lexicon and one set of semantic rules to encompass both languages. Later they divide the rules according to their lexicons, but continue using one set as their basis.

separate systems hypothesis

proposes that infants exposed to two or more languages differentiate these systems from the very beginning.

true writing

visually represents some element of speech

logographic writing

symbols stand for whole words or morphemes

syllabic writing

each symbol represents one syllable

alphabetic writing

each symbol ideally, represents one specific phoneme.

logograms

written symbols that represent a concept or word without indicating its pronunciation

pictogram

a logographic symbol that is a simplified picture-like representation of the thing it represents.

logophonetic

refers to a writing system that uses predominantly logographic symbols but also includes symbols that represent sound.

logosyllabic

a logo phonetic system that includes both logographic and syllabic representations

phonetization

the process whereby logographic symbols come to represent sounds

rebus principle

the process by which symbols that once stood for whole one-syllable words become symbols for those syllables, not the words they once represented

noninflecting language

a language with no (or few) inflectional morphemes

Kana

two systems of characters that represent syllables.

hiragana: native Japanese words and inflectional grammatical functions

katakana: used for loanwords, and emphasis

Romaji

used for international words and foreign words and phrases

graphemes

alphabetic symbols

homographs

words that different in meaning but are spelled the same

homonyms

words that differ in meaning but are pronounced the same

heteronyms

homographs that are not pronounced the same but spelled the same

images that are descriptive-representative

depiction has a lifelike relationship to what it represents, not a logographic representation.

identifying-mnemonic

a visual aid used to make calculations or to function in daily life

Northern Semitic Syllabary

a group of primarily syllabic writing systems developed by Semitic peoples from earlier logophonetic systems.

Diffusion

the process by which a cultural item moves from one geographic area to another

Stimulus diffusion

the process by which an idea but not a physical item spreads from one geographic area to another.

Japanese writing systems

romaji (roman-type characters), kana (syllables), kanji (Chinese-type logograms)

language family

a group of languages derived from the same ancestral language

family tree model of language

assumes a ‘genetic’ relationship among languages in a language family. All derived from the same protolanguage.

protolanguage

an ancestral language from which it is assumed that many languages were derived.

regularity hypothesis

the idea that numerous similarities in languages indicate that the languages derive from a mother language

cognates

words in different languages that are related to each other because they derive from a common mother language.

Grimm’s law (First sound shift)

proposed by Jacob Grimm, describes a systematic phonological change from certain Proto-Indo-European consonants to different consonants in daughter languages.

comparative method

involves looking at similarities in languages to determine the degree of relationship among those languages and to reconstruct ancestral languages

wave model

attempts to resolve some weaknesses of the family tree model. languages are grouped together based on what characteristics they share as defined by the circle.

unconditioned sound change

a sound change that appears to have happened spontaneously and everywhere in the language.

Great Vowel Shift

an unconditioned sound change that altered all Middle English long vowels

conditioned sound change

takes place only in certain phonological environments

Lexicostatistics

a technique of developing hypotheses about the historical relationship between languages and dialects. created by Morris Swadesh

core vocabulary

made up of 100-200 words that represent concepts thought to be universal to all or most languages.

Glottochronology

the amount of time that sister languages have been separated from their mother languages.