Review sheet #3
ANTH / LING 203 /503 Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology
Prof. Bilaniuk, Winter 2008
Study sheet 2
Design features of language:
Arbitrariness
Displacement
Discreteness
Duality of patterning
Productivity (Openness)
Traditional transmission, learnability
Prevarication
Reflexiveness
Differences between human and other animal communication
Benefits and problems with language evolution (choking vs. survival advantages)
Phonetics
Articulators (lips, teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, velum (soft palate), uvula, tongue, pharynx, larynx)
spectrograms
formants
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
features of vowels: height, frontedness, roundedness, length
dipthongs
features of consonants--
manners of articulation: stop, nasal, trill, tap, fricative, approximant
places of articulation: bilabial, labiodental, dental/alveolar/postalveolar, velar, glottal
features of ASL signs: hand shape, hand placement (relative to body), movement, palm orientation
suprasegmental features
Phonology
phoneme
distinctive features (vs. redundant features)
allophones
Morphology
free and bound morphemes
allomorphs
bases, affixes
gender, case
Syntax/ grammar
Noam Chomsky
universal grammar, cognitive grammar, generative grammar, transformational grammar
a discrete combinatorial system of recursively embedded modules
modularity
types of modules: noun phrases, verb phrases, etc.
grammatical categories
government: the head (word) governs the phrase
embedding principle
recursion
grammatical trees (understand generally what they are showing)
Evidence that language is an instinct
evidence from Pidgin and Creole languages (know the difference between the two)
aphasia, anomia, other disorders affecting language
critical period hypothesis
cases of children not exposed to language input till later in life
second language learning skills of immigrants arriving at different ages
brain development of infants/children: trends for changes in neurons, synapses, metabolic activity
overgeneralization of rules by children
Standard, non-standard, slang
Language mixing typology, problems of categorization
Surzhyk and conditions leading to language mixing in Ukraine
media shaping language ideology
example of perceived ethnicity affecting comprehension
conditions in which AAVE (African American Vernacular English)/Ebonics developed
some linguistic features of AAVE--double negatives, reduction of word-final consonant clusters, habitual verb aspect
the politics of Ebonics in Oakland schools and elsewhere
being deaf/Deaf and the controversy over cochlear implants
ASL based on Frenchsign language, British Sign Language not mutually intelligible
Examples of the interrelatedness between language, ideology, economics, and political/social power
Emergent properties
relationship between different levels of analysis:
1-physical/biological; 2-individual cognitive/ mental; 3-social linguistic/cultural