Linguistics; Exam 1 Study Guide with
correct answers
What's the difference between language acquisition and language learning? - correct answer
✔✔ -Language acquisition is the natural, unconscious process of language development in
humans that occurs without instruction.
-Language learning is the process of gaining conscious knowledge of language through
instruction.
What are Hockett's six design features of human language? Can you give an example of animal
communication which uses several of them? (SAD Dogs Produce Digging) - correct answer ✔✔ -
Semanticity-words have meanings
-Arbitrariness-there is no logical connection between the form of the signal and the thing it
refers to. (dog in English is Hund in German, and perro in Spanish)
-Discreteness-messages in the system are made up of smaller, repeatable parts rather than
indivisible units. (ex. A word can be broken down into units of sound)
-Displacement- the language user can talk about things that are not present- the messages can
refer to things in remote time or space (past/future- here/elsewhere)
-Productivity- Language users can understand and create never-before-heard utterances
-Duality of Patterning- A large number of meaningful utterances can be recombined in a
systematic way from a small number of discrete parts of language.
Examples from the Animal Kingdom:
, African Vervet Monkey: Semanticity (signals have meaning), Arbitrariness (no logical connection
between the signal and the signified).
Bees: Displacement (their dance tells the other bees where the honey is)
Birdsongs: Duality of patterning (pieces of songs are combined in different ways to mean
different things)
Do apes learn language? Explain. - correct answer ✔✔ This is still up for debate. The studies
that have been done, have been flawed. They can definitely learn signs, and mimic their
trainers. However, it is debatable whether or not they can form their own original sentences,
and express original thoughts beyond requests to eat, etc.
What do the textbook writers mean by the term grammar? What do linguists mean by the term
grammatical? - correct answer ✔✔ Grammar is the set of rules a speaker knows that allow
him/her to produce and understand sentences in language, and is composed of 5 parts-
-Phonetics (inventory of sounds),
-Phonology (Rules about how sounds are combined),
-Morphology (Rules of word formation),
-Syntax (Rules of sentence formation), and
-Semantics (rules that govern how meaning is expressed by words and sentences)
Grammatical means a possible sentence in the language= what someone would/could say,
regardless of its social value.
What is the difference between a prescriptive versus a descriptive approach to grammar? -
correct answer ✔✔ -Descriptive Grammar: set of grammatical rules based on what we say, not
on what we should say according to some language authority.
-Prescriptive Grammar: Set of grammatical rules prescribed by a language authority.
correct answers
What's the difference between language acquisition and language learning? - correct answer
✔✔ -Language acquisition is the natural, unconscious process of language development in
humans that occurs without instruction.
-Language learning is the process of gaining conscious knowledge of language through
instruction.
What are Hockett's six design features of human language? Can you give an example of animal
communication which uses several of them? (SAD Dogs Produce Digging) - correct answer ✔✔ -
Semanticity-words have meanings
-Arbitrariness-there is no logical connection between the form of the signal and the thing it
refers to. (dog in English is Hund in German, and perro in Spanish)
-Discreteness-messages in the system are made up of smaller, repeatable parts rather than
indivisible units. (ex. A word can be broken down into units of sound)
-Displacement- the language user can talk about things that are not present- the messages can
refer to things in remote time or space (past/future- here/elsewhere)
-Productivity- Language users can understand and create never-before-heard utterances
-Duality of Patterning- A large number of meaningful utterances can be recombined in a
systematic way from a small number of discrete parts of language.
Examples from the Animal Kingdom:
, African Vervet Monkey: Semanticity (signals have meaning), Arbitrariness (no logical connection
between the signal and the signified).
Bees: Displacement (their dance tells the other bees where the honey is)
Birdsongs: Duality of patterning (pieces of songs are combined in different ways to mean
different things)
Do apes learn language? Explain. - correct answer ✔✔ This is still up for debate. The studies
that have been done, have been flawed. They can definitely learn signs, and mimic their
trainers. However, it is debatable whether or not they can form their own original sentences,
and express original thoughts beyond requests to eat, etc.
What do the textbook writers mean by the term grammar? What do linguists mean by the term
grammatical? - correct answer ✔✔ Grammar is the set of rules a speaker knows that allow
him/her to produce and understand sentences in language, and is composed of 5 parts-
-Phonetics (inventory of sounds),
-Phonology (Rules about how sounds are combined),
-Morphology (Rules of word formation),
-Syntax (Rules of sentence formation), and
-Semantics (rules that govern how meaning is expressed by words and sentences)
Grammatical means a possible sentence in the language= what someone would/could say,
regardless of its social value.
What is the difference between a prescriptive versus a descriptive approach to grammar? -
correct answer ✔✔ -Descriptive Grammar: set of grammatical rules based on what we say, not
on what we should say according to some language authority.
-Prescriptive Grammar: Set of grammatical rules prescribed by a language authority.
