Brain Fart Random Linguistics Flashcards

what is the objective of the speech acts theory?

to understand the process of interpreting utterances in a communicative act

what is the first of three acts of the speech acts theory (in reference to the sentence: "can you close the door?”)

locutionary - the literal meaning; assessing my physical capability to close the door

what is the second of three acts of the speech acts theory (in reference to the sentence: "can you close the door?”)

illocutionary - intended meaning; requesting that I close the door

what is the third of three acts of the speech acts theory (in reference to the sentence: "can you close the door?”)

perlocutionary - effect on the hearer; I close the door

how is the speech acts theory valid?

it provides a systematic account for indirect communication and acknowledges a difference between implicature and literal meaning

how is the speech acts theory NOT valid?

does not account for the speed in which indirect speech is said and assumes that humans always interpret literal meaning first

when did the great vowel shift occur?

1500 A.D.

what changes occurred in the great vowel shift?

low vowels became high vowels, high vowels became dipthongs; teeth /tɛθ/ to /tiθ/, goose /gos/ to /gus/, mice /mis/ to maIs/, and mouse /mus/ to maʊs/

what is the most likely reason for the great vowel shift?

an explanation for the great vowel shift is the black plague, which killed many british farmers or forced them to migrate

what is the other, less likely reason for the great vowel shift?

an explanation for the great vowel shift is that people started using french loaner words, but there is no historical evidence for this

what is the reason for the disparity between spelling and pronunciation in English?

a rapid change in pronunciation/the printing press invented by william caxton in the 1440

what is stage 1 of the language acquisition theory?

babbling - intent to speak

what is stage 2 of the language acquisition theory?

holophrastic - nouns and verbs

what is stage 3 of the language acquisition theory?

telegraphic - creative sentences; distinguishes us from other animals

how do humans differ from animals according to the language acquisition theory?

humans differ from animals in that we are able to combine multiple words to create a sentence and express a variety of illocutionary acts

what is the objective of the audiolingual method?

to attain language skills in all areas

what does the audiolingual method emphasize?

speech as the basis of language

how is instruction given in the audiolingual method?

in the target language

what is a strength of the audiolingual method?

provides oral proficiency

what is a weakness of the audiolingual method?

lacks grammar instruction

what does the grammar-translation method emphasize?

grammar instruction and reading literature

which languages are alphabetical?

english, korean, etc.

which languages are syllabic?

cherokee, japanese, etc.

which languages are alphasyllabic?

hindi, etc.

which languages are consonantal?

arabic, hebrew, etc.

which languages are logographic?

chinese, japanese, etc.

what is a functional characteristic of the alphabetical writing system?

1 character = 1 sound (consonant or vowel)

what is a functional characteristic of the syllabic writing system?

1 character = 1 syllable

what is a functional characteristic of the alphasyllabic writing system?

1 character = 1 sound (no vowel diacritics)

what is a functional characteristic of the consonantal writing system?

1 character = 1 consonantal sound

what is a functional characteristic of the logographic writing system?

1 character = 1 meaning

which types of languages would the alphabetical writing system be most suitable for?

languages with consonant clusters

which types of languages would the syllabic writing system be most suitable for?

languages with no consonant clusters

which types of languages would the alphasyllabic writing system be most suitable for?

languages with no consonant clusters

which types of languages would the consonantal writing system be most suitable for?

languages with consonantal writing systems

which types of languages would the logographic writing system be most suitable for?

N/A; does not transcribe sounds

what was the objective of coleman & kay (1981)?

to validate the prototype theory, which was first introduced by eleanor rush

what was the premise of coleman & kay (1981)?

each word consists of a set of semantic features and some features are more important than others

how did participants rate the importance of features for the word, lie (from most important to least important)?

C. speaker intends to deceive recipient, B. speaker believes proposition to be false, A. proposition is false

which language family is chinese a part of?

sino-tibetan

what is the sentence structure of the chinese language?

SOV/SVO

what is the morphological typology of the chinese language?

isolating

where is chinese spoken?

china, taiwan, singapore (it is also an official language of the UN)

what is a structural characteristic of chinese?

aspect markers such as le, zhe, and zai

which language family is mongolian a part of?

mongolic

what is the sentence structure of the mongolian language?

SOV

what is the morphological typology of the mongolian language?

agglutinating

where is mongolian spoken?

mongolia and the inner mongolia autonomous region of china

what is a structural characteristic of mongolian?

vowels are gendered and match suffixes with the position of the tongue in the mouth (front = feminine, back = masculine)

which language family is vietnamese a part of?

austroasiatic

what is the sentence structure of the vietnamese language?

SVO

what is the morphological typology of the vietnamese language?

isolating

where is vietnamese spoken?

vietnam

what is a structural characteristic of vietnamese?

it does not have plural endings or articles, but rather fixed numerals, classifiers, and noun sequences