Applied Linguistics 2: Comprehensive Notes

Anatomy and Functions of Language in the Brain

• Posterior speech cortex is the main region associated with language comprehension, typically identified with Wernicke's area (option 2 in the provided set).
• Broca’s area is the frontal region implicated in language production (speech motor planning) and is usually contrasted with Wernicke’s area in classic aphasia theories.
• Arcuate fasciculus connects Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area, forming a neural pathway for language processing between comprehension and production.
• The primary motor cortex (precentral gyrus) controls voluntary movements, including those needed for speech articulation.
• The right hemisphere primarily handles non-linguistic signals and paralinguistic aspects, while the left hemisphere is typically more involved in language processing for most right-handed individuals.
• A key finding from dichotic listening and neuroimaging studies is that language functions are distributed and can be lateralized, but not exclusively confined to a single region.

Language Acquisition Stages in Children

• One-Word Stage (holophrastic stage): occurs roughly between $12 ext{ months} ext{ and } 18 ext{ months}$. A single word often functions as a whole sentence.
• Two-Word Stage: children begin to combine words into simple utterances (e.g., “give ball”). This precedes Telegraphic Speech.
• Telegraphic Speech: strings of content words with minimal function words; e.g., “go park” rather than “I am going to the park.”
• Holophrastic stage refers to the idea that a single word can convey a larger meaning or whole utterance.
• Lexical strings in early utterances include noun phrases like “milk,” “daddy go bye-bye” and this reflects early telegraphic patterns.
• The first inflectional morpheme in English typically appears later; common early forms include plurals and at least some tense marking via -ed or irregular forms, depending on exposure.
• Tip of the tongue (TOT) phenomenon: knowing a word is stored but having trouble retrieving it; some words are more retrievable than others due to phonological and semantic factors.
• Slips of the tongue include anticipation, exchange, preservation, and spoonerisms (sound or segment swaps) as language production errors.
• Overgeneralization and overextension: children extend a word’s meaning beyond its adult usage (e.g., “dog” for all four-legged animals) before narrowing.
• Interlanguage and fossilization: learners may stabilize a non-native form that becomes a fixed feature of their interlanguage, sometimes persisting without progress.
• Affective factors (e.g., motivation, anxiety, self-confidence) influence learning; some factors are barriers (e.g., dull textbooks, exhausting schedules) whereas others are less fixed (e.g., self-confidence can be protective against affective barriers).

Language Learning vs Acquisition; Methods in Language Teaching

• Language acquisition vs. learning distinction: acquisition is a largely unconscious process of internalizing language through meaningful use; learning is more conscious knowledge about language rules.
• Grammar-Translation Method (GTM): emphasizes explicit grammar rules and translation; Latin and grammar-heavy traditions often played a major role historically.
• Audiolingual Method (ALM): emphasizes pattern practice and habit formation through drills and repetition; heavily influenced by behaviorist ideas.
• Task-Based Method: focuses on completing meaningful tasks; emphasizes communicative outcomes and interaction rather than form-focused drills.
• Communicative Approach: prioritizes communicative competence and the ability to use language effectively in real-life contexts; errors are often tolerated as part of communicative development.
• The distinction between “habits” in language learning (as in ALM) and communicative goals in modern approaches (as in Task-Based and Communicative) is a recurring theme in language pedagogy.
• The Latin language historically played a major role in traditional teaching methods; modern approaches emphasize communication and authentic use over rote translation.

Motivation in Language Learning

• Integrative motivation: desire to integrate into a language-speaking community; typically associated with long-term engagement and social aspects of language use.
• Instrumental motivation: learning language to achieve practical goals (e.g., graduation requirements, job needs, reading publications).
• Most learners exhibit a mix of integrative and instrumental motives; integrative motivation often correlates with longer-term commitment and social usage of the language.

Sociolinguistics and Language Variation

• Labov’s studies on social factors show that language variation correlates with socio-economic variables, urban vs. rural settings, and stylistic choices.
• Middle-class speakers may exhibit overt prestige while working-class speech can show covert prestige; shifts can occur as communities interact or as socioeconomic status changes.
• Dialectology seeks to identify ideal informants and typical speech forms; informants are often selected to represent stable, non-mimmative speech for data collection.
• Diglossia describes a situation where two distinct varieties of a language are used in different contexts (e.g., formal writing vs. everyday speech); standard language is often an idealized form used in formal settings.
• Linguistic relativity/determinism (Sapir-Whorf) posits that language influences thought; strong determinism suggests language confines thought, while weaker forms suggest facilitation or predisposition.

Writing Systems and Sign Languages

• Writing system types:
  • Logographic: symbols represent words or morphemes (e.g., Chinese characters historically function as logograms).
  • Phonographic: symbols represent sounds (phonemes or syllables).
  • Morphographic: symbols encode morphemes with phonetic or symbolic cues.
  • Syllabic writing: symbols represent syllables.
  • Alphabetic writing: each symbol typically represents a phoneme.
• Cuneiform is described as wedge-shaped writing; historically one of the earliest writing systems, originally on clay tablets.
• A digraph is a pair of letters representing a single sound (e.g., “ph” in English representing /f/ in many contexts).
• Pidgin vs. Creole:
  • Pidgin: a simplified language created for communication between groups with no common language; no native speakers.
  • Creole: a fully developed language that originated from a pidgin and has native speakers.
• Sign languages (e.g., ASL):
  • Acquisition in Deaf communities often occurs naturally within families of Deaf signers; historical debates include the role of oralism vs. sign language in Deaf education.
  • ASL origin is linked to French Sign Language (LSF) and local development in the United States.
  • Phonology for sign languages includes articulatory parameters such as shape, orientation, location, and movement; hand configurations and facial expressions contribute to meaning.
  • Non-manual signals (facial expressions, head tilts) participate in grammatical signaling in ASL.
  • In ASL, signs have components such as movement, orientation, and location; the THANK-YOU sign exemplifies orientation (toward the receiver) and palm orientation.
  • Emblems, iconics, and deictics are functional categories of signs; iconics resemble meanings visually, while deictics refer to spatial or perspectival aspects.

Linguistic Terminology and Concepts

• Aphasia (language disorder due to brain injury) is a broad category; subtypes include Broca’s aphasia (non-fluent) and Wernicke’s aphasia (fluent, poor comprehension).
• Anomia: difficulty in finding words; often associated with aphasia.
• Conduction aphasia and other syndromes illustrate the complexity of brain-language relationships beyond simple lateralization.
• Metathesis: an exchange of sounds or letters in a word (e.g., “spoonerism” as a subtype with swaps like “you have hissed all my mystery lectures” rather than “you have missed all my history lectures”).
• Spoonerism: a particular type of metathesis where initial sounds are swapped across words.
• Anticipation and perseveration: errors where a sound from a later (anticipation) or earlier (perseveration) position intrudes into another word.
• Transfer: the influence of L1 on L2 production; can be positive or negative.
• Fossilization: stabilization of non-target forms in learner speech, hindering progress.
• Overgeneralization vs. overextension vs. extension in child language:
  • Overgeneralization: applying a rule too broadly (e.g., pluralizing irregular words incorrectly).
  • Overextension: using a word to cover a broader set of referents (e.g., calling all four-legged animals “dog”).
  • Extension: extending meaning in discourse, not strictly a lexical error.
• Diglossia vs. bilingualism: diglossia describes two distinct varieties serving different social functions; bilingualism refers to the ability to use two languages interchangeably.
• Register: a conventional way of language use appropriate to a particular social context; related to sociolinguistic variation and style.
• Accent, dialect, idiolect, and standard language:
  • Accent refers to pronunciation features.
  • Dialect encompasses a regional/local variety including phonology, lexicon, and syntax.
  • Idiolect is an individual’s unique use of language.
  • Standard language is an idealized form used in formal contexts.

Sample Exam Questions and Concepts (Selected Highlights)

• Q: In human brain, what is the technical term for the “posterior speech cortex”?
  • A: Wernicke’s area (option 2).
• Q: Which item presents a feature of the tip of the tongue phenomenon?
  • A: We feel some word is eluding us.
• Q: What type of slip of the tongue has occurred in the expression ‘tup of tea’?
  • A: Exchange (swap of sounds) (option 2).
• Q: What is the final stage of acquiring first language by an English-speaking child? (Most sources cite the later mastery of function words like articles.)
  • A: Articles (a, the) (based on the provided set’s reference).
• Q: Which language teaching method used Latin as a major influence?
  • A: Grammar-Translation Method.
• Q: What is the main result of fossilization in L2 pronunciation?
  • A: Foreign accent persists; progress slows or stops (option 2).
• Q: Which goal is typical for a language learner with integrative motivation?
  • A: To become an accepted member of a community (option 1).
• Q: Which statement is true about ASL?
  • A: Deaf children of Deaf parents naturally acquire sign language (option 1).
• Q: Historically, what was the origin of ASL?
  • A: French Sign Language (option 3).
• Q: Which term is used for a system where writing represents sound at the syllable level (syllabary/phonography)?
  • A: Phonographic writing (option 3).
• Q: In sociolinguistics, what is covert prestige?
  • A: When working-class speakers try to speak like their parents or lower-status groups (context-dependent; select scenario-based answer).
• Q: Which language belongs to the Germanic branch of Indo-European?
  • A: English (option 3).
• Q: What does “linguistic relativity” imply?
  • A: Language influences thought; stronger claims of determinism are debated; weaker views suggest facilitation rather than restriction.
• Q: What is the definition of a ‘logogram’?
  • A: A symbol that represents a word or morpheme rather than a sound; e.g., traditional Chinese characters.
• Q: What is a pidgin?
  • A: A simplified language that arises as a means of communication between groups with no common language; lacks native speakers.
• Q: What is the primary function of the arcuate fasciculus?
  • A: It provides a crucial connection between Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area, linking comprehension and production.
• Q: The correct term for left-hemisphere dominance in syllable/word processing is often demonstrated by which method?
  • A: Dichotic listening or related neurocognitive tests (as referenced in the exam material).
• Q: Which stage of child language involves increasing use of function words and forming questions (auxiliary inversion)?
  • A: First stage of forming questions; auxiliary inversion occurs in some contexts as children develop syntax.
• Q: What is the typology of sign language features used to express glossed meanings (orientation, location, movement)?
  • A: Articulatory parameters including shape, orientation, location, and movement.
• Q: What is the best description of “register”?
  • A: A conventional way of using language appropriate for a specific context or audience.
• Q: What is meant by ‘diglossia’ in sociolinguistics?
  • A: A situation with two distinct language varieties used in different social contexts (high vs. low varieties).
• Q: What is the term for the process of analyzing cognates to reconstruct proto-forms?
  • A: Comparative reconstruction.
• Q: Which question format is a ‘tag question’?
  • A: A short question appended to a statement (e.g., “You’re coming, aren’t you?”).
• Q: What is meant by ‘extension’ in child language?
  • A: Extending meaning beyond the original referent, often in holophrastic or early multiword contexts.
• Q: Which mode best describes