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Introduction to Linguistics

Review Questions for Fall Midterm

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Topics

Definition of linguistics Spoken language Attributes/definition of a language Four pressures that language must f

ollow Universal operating principles Comprehension and production

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Definition of linguistics

What is linguistics?

Why do we study it?

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Spoken language

Why is spoken language more basic to introductory linguistics than writing is?

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Attributes/definition of language (1)

What are the (most) important attributes of language? Explain each one (briefly).

What important characteristic of language does this example (from the textbook) illustrate? George only likes Shirley. Only George likes Shirley. Shirley only likes George. Only Shirley likes George.

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Attributes/definition of language (2) Explain the development of ET’s

theories of language. Explain how gestures are part of an

utterance. How are gestures different from

speech? Show how speech linear and

segmented. What’s the difference between the

linguistic meaning and the intrinsic meaning of an utterance?

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Four pressures that language must follow

What are the Four Pressures that language must respond to? Explain each one briefly. Give examples.

Why is language in a dynamic equilibrium?

What can pidgin and creole languages tell us about language in relation to the Four Pressures?

What is one-to-one mapping?

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Universal operating principles

Define universal operating principles, and explain each of the 5 principles that we studied, with an example for each one. (Remember that there are more principles; we studied 5 as instances of the principles.)

Why have we looked at examples from different languages such as Russian, Spanish, Mandarin, English, Hungarian, and Turkish (as well as the behavior of children acquiring these languages) in our study of universal operating principles and the four pressures?

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Comprehension and Production Is listening comprehension a passive process?

Explain. Give a rough model of listening comprehension. Show how background knowledge, or

knowledge of the world, is crucial in comprehension.

What is a proposition? Give an example. What are the meaning units for comprehension

and production? What are the encoding units? Give a rough model for producing speech. How

is it different from comprehension?