AUSP320 1st EditionExam # 1 Study Guide Lectures: 1 - 8Lecture 1 (January 14th)Introduction to ConceptsWhat is Language?A. Language is the systematic and conventional use of sounds, signs, or symbols for the purposeof communication and self-expression a. Systematic=Rule-governed; has organization b. Conventional=Agreed upon by a group; “this is what we mean when we say...” In this way, language is culturally determinedWhat is Communication?A. Communication is the conveying of the contents of one person’s mind to that of another, making an impact on their mental state; Requires understanding that the contents of another person’s mind are different than your own; Successful communication involves 2-way understanding and comprehension a. Communication is NOT just trying to influence/affect someone else’s behavior, because youcan elicit a response or change in behavior without language (using force, stimuli, etc.)B. Some linguists think that the “communication and self-expression” part of the official definition of language shouldn’t be there because it isn’t integral to what language is a. Example: Noam ChomskyWhat is Speech?A. Speech is the vocalized, oral/verbal form that communication or expressing what you want toexpress takes a. You can have communication without speech in the form of body language/gestures/context/non-verbal communicationNon-Human Language/CommunicationA. Do animals use language as we define it? We have to ask if the sounds/signals they are using are systematic, conventional, and/or used for communication. a. Animal “language” shows varying degrees of these qualities but is generally thought to be more a learned, reactionary behaviorB. Conventional vs. innate= Are the noises and responses agreed upon by the animal group (culturally determined) or are the animals born with that response (ancestral knowledge)Lecture 2 (January 16th)Speech, Language, and DialectsMore on SpeechA. Speech=A verbal means of communicating a. Oral/motor sequence: The sequence you go through with your articulators (tongue, teeth, lips) to make speechB. Components of speech: a. “Phones”=sounds b. “Phonemes”=the smallest units of sound that have meaning; i.e., changing these sounds changes the meaning of a word. Any sound is a phone, but not all phones are meaningful (phonemes) c. Voice quality d. Intonation/pitch/stress -Can be a matter of speech or a matter of language if use of intonation/pitch/stress corresponds to what is being said The 5 Parts of LanguageA. Grammar=comprised of all of language’s parts a. Prescriptive grammar vs. descriptive grammar: Prescriptive grammar=formal rules like you learn in English class; Descriptive grammar=Describes the grammar that people actually use in everyday speechB. Part 1: Phonology a. Phonology=Relates to sound systems; the rules about how sounds change in a language b. “Allophones”=Changes or variations in sounds that are contextually conditioned, i.e., the sound changes depending on the context of where it isC. Part 2: Syntax a. Syntax=How words are arranged; give much of language meaning (English=a mostly syntactic language) b. Example: In English, subjects come before the verb and objects come after; we know what is what by the order they are inD. Part 3: Morphology a. Morphology=The structure of the meaningful units of a language-its “morphemes.” English has relatively little morphology. b. Free vs. bound morphemes: A free morpheme doesn’t have to be attached to anything (ex:“cat”); a bound morpheme is attached to something (endings like “ed” for past tense verbs)E. Part 4: Semantics=The meaning of the word/utterance. Encompasses the meaning contained in all the other parts of language, but NOT the same as vocabulary a. Lexicon=the map between the form of words and their meaning F. Part 5: Pragmatics=How language is used a. Example: “Can you please pass the salt”=”give me the salt” in a polite way. b. Grice’s Cooperation Principle names the unspoken, agreed-upon essential of pragmatic communication: Quantity (don’t say too little or too much), Quality (what you say should be true to the best of your knowledge), Relation (be relevant), Manner (be clear) c. Discourse types=Pragmatics vary depending of the context of what type of discourse you are engaged in; you talk differently to different peopleDialectsA. Dialect=A variant of a language defined by geographic region (ex: Southern) or social group (ex: African-American Vernacular English) often only with minor changesB. Pigdin and creole are two varieties of dialects a. Pigdin=A proto-language that develops when 2 groups with different languages come into contact for some purpose (usually trade) and come up with a blended language of the 2 for communication b. Creole=A pigdin that has native speakers; happens when pigdin speakers have kids, these kids grow up hearing it and it becomes their 1st languageC. Diachronic change=Language variation over time; over time, the parts of a language that are hard to learn and nonessential (i.e., parts of the language that won’t impede communication or understanding to lose) get dropped out a. The concept of teleological change/evolution holds the view that change happens to meet a specific purpose-language does not change in this wayLecture 3 (January 21st)Introduction to Language DevelopmentMore on PragmaticsA. Literal vs. Nonliteral meaning a. It is a component of pragmatic speaking to understand when the literal meaning of a word/phrase is or is not meant; i.e., When someone says “my head is killing me,” we understand that what is meant is “my head really hurts,” not “my head is making me die”Theories of Language DevelopmentA. How is language learned? Is there any single “correct” theory of language development? a. There is no right answer to the question of how language develops-different interpretationof facts leads to different theories b. BF Skinner put psychology and the study of language into the realm of science by applying the scientific method to questions of language development. Pre-Skinner, introspection was how you came up with theories: Just sitting down, thinking one up, and writing it downAfter, theories had to be testable, i.e. measurable and observable -To operationalize something is to define it in a way so that it can be measured (Example: You can’t