Language Exam Notes

Intro / Meaning in Language

  • Symbols in Language
    • Symbols are arbitrary signs (words, sounds) representing ideas or things.
    • Example: "dog" symbolizes an animal; the sound has no natural connection.
  • Types of Meaning
    • Semantic: literal, dictionary meaning.
    • Pragmatic: meaning depends on context and speaker intention.
    • Social/Indexical: indicates social identity (age, region).
    • Metaphorical: meaning via analogy (e.g., "time is money").
    • Cultural: meaning influenced by shared beliefs and values.
  • Meaning as Interface
    • Language links symbols (words) to a conceptual system (ideas, experiences).
    • Connection shaped by cognitive and cultural frameworks.
  • Metaphor and Pragmatics Across Cultures
    • Cultures differ using metaphors and inferring meaning.
    • Example: metaphors about time: "time flows" vs. "time stands still."
  • Cross-Cultural Terminology
    • Some terms have no direct equivalents across languages due to cultural concepts.
    • Example: Kinship terms vary (English "uncle" vs. specific terms).
  • Phonemes and Words as Symbols
    • Phonemes: smallest sound units distinguishing meaning (e.g., /p/ vs /b/).
    • Words: combinations of phonemes with assigned meaning.

Conventions and Norms

  • Phoneme Inventories and Distributions
    • Languages vary in phoneme number and types.
    • Distribution: rules about where phonemes occur in words.
  • Language Patterns as Norms
    • Patterns are shared conventions—not biologically fixed—shaped by culture.
  • 3 Levels of Symbolic Organization
    • Phonemes: sound units.
    • Words: meaning units.
    • Grammar: rules for combining words.
  • Basic Phonemic Analysis
    • Identifying minimal pairs (e.g., bat vs. pat) to find phonemes.
  • Linking Analysis to Hypothesis Testing
    • Observe patterns → form hypothesis about rules → test with more data.
  • Cultural Focus in Lexicon
    • What a language has many words for reflects cultural importance.
    • Example: many terms for snow in Inuit languages.
  • Semantic vs. Grammatical Categorization
    • Semantic: based on meaning (e.g., animate vs. inanimate).
    • Grammatical: structural roles (e.g., subject vs. object).
  • Identifying Verbs and Participants
    • Verbs = actions/states.
    • Participants = noun phrases playing roles (e.g., agent, patient).
  • Grammatical Rules as Cultural Traits
    • Grammar varies across cultures; some languages mark politeness grammatically.

Animal Communication

  • Properties in Communication Systems
    • Discreteness: distinct units.
    • Duality of Patterning: units combine to form meaning.
    • Arbitrariness: no natural connection between signal and meaning.
    • Remoteness: ability to discuss non-present things.
    • Combinatoriality: smaller units form larger messages.
  • Calls vs. Songs
    • Calls: short, fixed (e.g., alarm calls).
    • Songs: complex, learned (e.g., mating songs).
  • Display, Context, Response
    • Displays (signals) occur in specific contexts, eliciting responses (e.g., predator alarm).
  • Bee Communication
    • Waggle dance encodes direction and distance to food—uses symbolic elements.
  • Symbolic Skills in Primates
    • Apes can learn signs or symbols (e.g., lexigrams).
    • Limitations: limited syntax, require human training.
  • Traits Unique to Human Language
    • True syntax, open-ended expression, creativity, dual patterning.

Typology and Diversity

  • Numeral Systems and Bases
    • Some use base-10 (decimal), others base-20 (vigesimal), base-5 (quinary), etc.
    • Lexicalized numerals: have their own word (e.g., “ten”).
  • Gender Systems
    • Sex-based: male/female.
    • Animacy-based: animate/inanimate.
    • Non-gendered: no noun gender categories.
  • Grammaticization
    • Process by which content words become grammatical (e.g., “going to” → “gonna”).
  • Morphosyntactic Synthesis
    • Isolating: few/no affixes (e.g., Chinese).
    • Agglutinative: clear morpheme boundaries (e.g., Turkish).
    • Fusional: morphemes combine several meanings (e.g., Spanish).
  • Constituent Order
    • Common orders: SVO (e.g., English), SOV (e.g., Japanese), VSO, etc.
  • Ergativity
    • Ergative languages treat the subject of a transitive verb differently than intransitive subjects—opposite of nominative-accusative.

Language History and Culture

  • Etyma, Polysemy, Shift, Synecdoche
    • Etyma: original word form.
    • Polysemy: multiple meanings (e.g., head of a person, head of a company).
    • Semantic shift: meaning changes over time.
    • Synecdoche: part stands for whole (e.g., "wheels" for car).
  • Cognates and Sound Correspondence
    • Cognates: words in different languages from the same origin.
    • Sound correspondence: systematic sound changes (e.g., Latin pater, English father).
  • Comparative Method
    • Reconstruct ancestral languages using cognates and sound changes.
  • Language Families and Isolates
    • Families: languages with a shared ancestor.
    • Isolates: no known relatives (e.g., Basque).
  • Inherited vs. Acquired Traits
    • Inherited: from ancestral language.
    • Acquired: through contact or innovation.
  • Language Contact and Areas
    • Languages in close contact may share features due to borrowing or convergence.