Semantics and Conversation Analysis Quiz

Chapter One - Origins of Language

•  Early humans likely developed musical ability before language, using it to "charm each other"
•  The origins of language are unknown, but vocal ability and patterning are ancient features shared with vertebrates
•  Language developed between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago

Theories of Language Origins

• Divine Source: - Language was a gift from God - The Tower of Babel story describes God confusing languages
• Natural Sound Source: - Early words imitated natural sounds (onomatopoeia) - The "pooh-pooh" hypothesis suggests emotional cries were the basis for language.
• Musical Source: - Melody develops in the human brain before language - Early humans may have used music to express themselves before language
• Social Interaction Source: - The "yo-he-ho" theory suggests that language developed from the need to coordinate physical effort in social contexts
• Physical Adaptation Source: - Physical adaptations in humans (posture, voice box, etc.) made speech possible

Chapter Five - Word Formation

• Etymology is the study of word origins
• Coinage: The invention of new terms, often trade names (e.g., google)
• Eponyms: Words based on the names of people or places
• Blending: Creating a new word by combining parts of two other words (e.g., gasohol)
• Clipping: Shortening a word to a shorter form (e.g., gas from gasoline)
• Backformation: Creating a new word by removing a morpheme from an existing word (e.g., televise from television)
• Conversion: Changing a word's function (e.g., noun to verb)
• Acronyms: Words formed from the initial letters of a set of words (e.g., CD, VCR)

Chapter Six - Morphology

• Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words
• Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language
• Free morphemes can stand alone (e.g., cat, large, run)
• Bound morphemes need to be attached to other morphemes (e.g., -s, -er, pre-) - Derivational morphemes create new words or change a word's grammatical category (e.g., -ness, -ment) - Inflectional morphemes indicate grammatical features like tense or plurality (e.g., -ed, -s)

Chapter Nine - Semantics

• Semantics is the study of meaning in language
• Conceptual meaning: The literal meaning of a word
• Associative meaning: The emotional or cultural associations a word evokes

Chapter Ten - Pragmatics

• Pragmatics is the study of “invisible” meaning, or how we recognize what is meant even when it isn't actually said or written
• The co-text: The surrounding words in a phrase or sentence
• Physical context: The physical location affects our interpretation of words
• Deixis: Words used to refer to people, places, or times (e.g., here, there, now)

Chapter Eleven - Discourse Analysis

• Discourse is language beyond the sentence
• Cohesion: The way linguistic elements connect parts of a text or discourse to create unity
• Coherence: A semantic phenomenon related to the logical connections between ideas and the broader context

Chapter Thirteen - Language and Social Variation

•  Standard language: Idealized variety associated with administration and education
• Dialect: Variety of language associated with a particular region or social group
• Isogloss: A geographical boundary marking areas where particular linguistic features are used
• Sociolects: Social dialects based on social class and other social factors
• Slang: Informal words particular to a social group
• Vernacular language: Every day use of a language

Chapter Seventeen - Language History

•  Language families: Groups of languages with a common ancestor (e.g., Indo-European)
• Cognates :Words in different languages that share a common ancestor
• Proto-language: The hypothetical ancestor of a language family.
• External change: Influences from other languages
• Internal change : Change in the language structures, like sounds and how words change and develop over time

Chapter Eighteen - Language and Regional Variation

•  Dialects: Variations in vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, or other aspects of language
•  Dialectal continuum: The idea that variations in dialect are continuous rather than having sharp breaks
•  Bilingualism: Speaking or understanding two distinct languages
•  Diglossia: A language variety with two versions (one formal and one informal
•  Pidgins: A simplified language used for communication between people who don't share a common language
•  Creoles: A language that develops from a pidgin spoken as a mother tongue by a generation.

Chapter Nineteen - Language and Social Variation

•  Speech community: Group of people who share language norms.
•  Sociolinguistics: Study of relationship between language and society
•  Social dialects (or sociolects): Varieties reflecting social class or status.
•  Speech style: A way of speaking influenced by the social context
• Convergence, Divergence: Approaches in how speakers match their pronunciation, vocabulary and style to others

Chapter Twelve - Language and the Brain

•  Neurolinguistics: Study of brain processes underlying language

•  Localization view: Specific brain areas are associated with particular language functions

•  Broca's area: Production of speech

•  Wernicke's area: Understanding of speech

•  Arcuate fasciculus: Connecting Broca's and Wernicke's areas for fluent speech

•  Aphasia: Language disorder due to brain damage

•  Malapropism, Spoonerisms, Slips of the Tongue/Ear: Errors in language production/perception that reveal language components

Chapter 17 - Language History and Change

• Language Families : Groups of languages descending from a common ancestor
• Proto-language: Hypothetical language from which other languages evolve