Introduction to Linguistics

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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 follow
• 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 ETs theories of
  language.
• Explain how gestures are part of an utterance.
• How are gestures different from speech?
• Show how speech linear and segmented.
• Whats 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?

8
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?