Animal vs Human Communication Signals Quiz

Word Formation Processes

• Borrowing: Involves forming new words by adopting terms from other languages.
• Compounding: Combines two separate words to create a new single form.
• Clipping: Reduces a word to a shorter form, often by removing syllables.
• Affixation: Creates new words through the addition of prefixes and suffixes to existing words.
• Neologism: The invention of completely new terms or expressions.
• Conversion: Changes the functional category of a word, such as turning a noun into a verb.

Properties of Human Language

• Communicative Signals vs. Informative Signals: The main difference lies in intent; communicative signals are designed for interaction, while informative signals convey information without the intention of interaction.
• Displacement: The capacity of human language to discuss things and events that are not present in the immediate context, allowing for abstract thought.
• Arbitrariness: Refers to the lack of a natural connection between the form of a word and its meaning, emphasizing that words have meanings assigned by social convention.
• Productivity: The ability of human language to continuously create new expressions to describe objects, events, and situations, showcasing creativity in communication.
• Cultural Transmission: Describes the process of passing language from one generation to another within a speech community, crucial for language preservation.
• Duality of Structure: Involves having different forms or sounds that convey distinct meanings, a characteristic feature of human language systems.