ANT253H1 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Communicative Competence, Sociolinguistics, Shape
ANT253H1
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Lecture 1 Notes
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
3:56 PM
Language is a system of signs for delivery meanings.
Language classification:
• Genetic
• Typological: agglutinative, isolating
o Chinese and English are much more similar typologically than English and other
languages
Features
• Phonemes and morphemes
o Phonemes distinguish meanings, they are the sounds
o Morphemes are the separate segments in a word "un-like-ly"
• Writing symbols
• Words
• Grammar
o The organization of words to make phrases.
• Communication and other functions
• Language is the basis of how we preserve knowledge
• Purposeful social interaction
• Variable across time and space
Acquiring Language
• Universal grammar
• Imitation and creativity
Sociolinguistics
• Ferdinand de Saussure
• Difference and opposition: structuralism
o Language overall is a set of oppositions
• Minimal pair
Subdivisions
o Bilingualism
o Code-switching
o Communicative competence
o Dialects and sociolects
o Diglossia
o Discourse
o Language aesthetics
o Language and identity
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o Language and social variables
o Language and digital environments
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Language is a system of signs for delivery meanings. Chinese and english are much more similar typologically than english and other languages. Morphemes are the separate segments in a word un-like-ly Language is the basis of how we preserve knowledge. Subdivisions: bilingualism, code-switching, communicative competence, dialects and sociolects, diglossia, discourse, language aesthetics, language and identity, language and social variables, language and digital environments. Going to groups of people and living with them to study and understand them. Conversation changes based on relation to other person, intention of conversation, etc. The english term language comes from the latin word lingua, meaning tongue. Different languages emerge in accordance to the specific experiences and needs of the people who speak them. There are between 6000 and 7000 languages spoken in the world today. (not including dialects) More than half of the languages today are expected to disappear in the next 100 years.
