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Linguistics
Definitions
29
Anthropology
Undergraduate 2
02/09/2009

Additional Anthropology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
arbitrariness
Definition
relationship between sound and meaning is ascribed arbitrarily, it's not intrinsic; (visible in variety of meanings for a sounds, or lack of meanings)
Term
discreteness
Definition

bits and pieces can be put together to make meanings (function of language's arbitrariness)

 

sounds can be discrete elements, or words (order of words matters)

Term
productivity
Definition
you can put things together in a completely new way that has never been done before and still be understood
Term
constituency
Definition
you understand groups of words into "constituents"
Term
recursiveness
Definition
property of language which allows grammatical processes to be applied repeatedly, combining constituents to produce an infinite variety of sentences into infinite length
Term
acoustic analysis
Definition
analyzing what something sounds like
Term
articulatory analysis
Definition
analyzing how a sound is made
Term
stop
Definition
air is fully obstructed as it comes out
Term
oral
Definition
no air comes through the nose
Term
nasal
Definition
air comes through nose even though air is stopped
Term
fricative
Definition
can make sound continuously
Term
affricate
Definition
quick combination of stop & fricative
Term
approximant
Definition
doesn't stop air very well (semi consonants): glide, liquid
Term
glide
Definition
j, w
Term
liquid
Definition
l, r
Term
What three vowels do all languages have?
Definition
a high front unrounded (i/ɪ), a low vowel (a), and a high back (u/ʊ/ɯ)
Term
In five-vowel systems, what are the two vowels that get added to the base three?
Definition
a mid front unrounded (e/ɛ), and a mid back (o/ɔ)
Term
All languages have more ____ vowels than ____ vowels
Definition
More oral than nasal
Term
What kind of consonant sound do all languages have?
Definition
At least one voiceless stop (most have all three)
Term
What vowel system is most common and why?
Definition
The 5 vowel system... the sounds are all maximally distant from each other.
Term
No language has ______ stops without _______ stops
Definition
No voiced stops without voiceless
Term
What trend is common when a language lacks a particular stop?
Definition
The language will have a fricative in the same place of articulation.
Term
What consonant sounds are most common in languages?
Definition
p, t, k, b, d, g, m, n, ŋ, f, s, h... plus at least one affricate and at least one glide.
Term
phonetics
Definition
speech sounds... noises
Term
phonology
Definition
field of linguistics studying the systematic use of sound to encode meaning
Term
morphology
Definition
study of meaning-bearing units/how words are put together
Term
syntax
Definition
sentence construction
Term
coarticulation
Definition

joining of sounds together to form words

 

[s] + [k] + [a] + [f]

Term
stream of sound
Definition

joining of words

 

(knowing a language involves knowing how to separate it)

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