Linguistic Competence
what we know when we know a language; unconscious knowledge that a speaker has about their native language
Linguistic Performance
The observable use of language. The actualization of one’s linguistic competence.
Performance Error
Errors in language production or comprehension (like hesitations or slips of the tongue)
speech communication chain
process through which information is communicated. Consists of: information source, transmitter, signal, receiver and destination.
Speech Communication Chain steps
- Think of idea you want to communicate
- Pick words to express idea
- Put words together in a certain order following rules
- Figure out how to pronounce these words
- Send pronunciations to your vocal anatomy
- Speak (send sounds through the air)
- Perceive (listener hears the sounds)
- Decode: Listener interprets sounds as language
- Connect: listener receives communicated idea
noise
interference in the communication chain
lexicon
mental repository of linguistic information about words and other lexical expressions (form, meaning, morphology, syntactic properties)
mental grammar
mental representation of grammar. The knowledge a speaker has about the linguistic units and rules of his native language
language variation
property of languages having different ways to express the same meanings in different contexts according to factors like geography, social class and gender
descriptive grammar
objective description of a speaker’s knowledge of a language based on their use of the language
evidence that writing and language are not the same
- Archeological evidence shows that writing developed later than spoken language
- Writing does not exist everywhere but spoken language does (56% of languages unwritten)
- Writing has to be taught whereas spoken language is acquired naturally
- neurolinguistic evidence shows that the processing and production of written language is overlaid on the spoken language centers in the brain.
reasons some people believe writing is superior to speech
- Writing can be edited
- Writing must be taught
- Writing is more physically stable, it tends to last
prescriptive grammar
socially embedded notion of the correct or proper ways to use a language
prescribe
advise and authorize the use of a certain thing (medicine, treatment)
Charles Hockett’s nine design features
- Mode of communication
- Semanticity
- Pragmatic Function
- Interchangeability
- Cultural Transmission
- Arbitrariness
- Discreteness
- Displacement
- Productivity
mode of communication
means through which a message is transmitted for any given communication system
semanticity
property of having signals that convey a meaning, shared by all communication systems
pragmatic function
the useful purpose of any given communication system
interchangeability
property of communication systems that allows individuals to both transmit and review messages
cultural transmission
at least some aspects of language are learned through interaction with other users of the system
arbitrariness
the fact that a word’s meaning is not predictable from its linguistic form, nor is its form dictated by its meaning
linguistic sign
combination of a linguistic form and meaning
convention
something that is established, commonly agreed upon or operating in a certain way according to common practice
nonarbitrariness
direct correspondence between the physical properties of a form and the meaning that the form refers to
