Intro: Language Study final

What is historical linguistics?

the study of how languages change over time and how they are related to each other

What is comparative linguistics?

the study of relationships between languages to determine their common origin and historical development

What is a proto language?

a reconstructed ancestor language from which a family of modern languages is descended

Does language change result in better or worse ability to communicate?

The change is not inherently "better" or "worse" but is simply a part of a language's continuous evolution. 

What are the two models of Pragmatics?

near-side and far-side

What are the suprasegmentals?

stress, pitch, tone, and intonation

Which pragmatic model works well for individuals with autism?

The Developmental Social-Pragmatic (DSP) model

What defines Discourse?

the use of language beyond the sentence level, analyzing how coherent stretches of written or spoken language create meaning in a social and situational context

What defines Conversation?

the informal exchange of ideas, thoughts, or feelings through speech or other interactive language between two or more people

The influences on language acquisition are what two forces?

nature and nurture

At about what age do children begin to focus on the sounds of their home language?

between 6 and 12 months of age

When does the ear finish developing in utero? Is that during the embryonic phase or the fetal phase?

23 weeks, fetal phase

List the pre-linguistic and early linguistic stages. There are 7 of them.

pre-linguistic (birth to 12 months), first words (12-18 months), two-word phrases (18-24 months), early sentences (2-3 years), complex sentences (3-5 years), refinement (5-7 years), and advanced communication (7+ years)

Write two early developing sounds and two late developing sounds in IPA

/p/ and /m/; /r/ and /s/

What are 3 of the common errors in phonological development for young children?

cluster reduction, fronting, and final consonant deletion

At roughly 2 years of age, children should have how many words and be what % intelligible?

50 to 300 words; 50% intelligible

When is the critical period of language development?

from infancy until puberty

From what culture do the earliest linguistic texts come?

the Sumerian culture of ancient Mesopotamia

What part of speech was the focus of the Sumerian lists?

nouns and verbs

What was the next culture to write linguistic rules?

the Akkadians

what culture came after akkadians?

the Gutians

The Roman culture focused on what aspect of linguistics in Latin?

morphology

What was the dominant language of the Middle Ages?

Latin

During European colonialism, there were people in a specific profession that recorded a LOT of information about other languages. What was this profession?

missionaries

Scholars began to use significant language comparisons and what did they discover?

languages show a genetic relationship

The idea that a language can be viewed as a self-contained and structured system situated at a particular point in time is called what?

structuralism

what is applied linguistics?

field that uses linguistic theories to solve real-world language-related problems

What is descriptive linguistics?

the scientific study of language structure as it is actually used by speakers

What is psycholinguistics?

field that studies the psychological and neurobiological factors of how humans acquire, use, and comprehend language

What is sociolinguistics?

the study of the relationship between language and society