Linguistics Exam #4 questions with
verified answers
linguistic context - correct answer ✔✔ discourse that surrounds a language unit and helps to
determine its interpretation. exists purely in confines of what has been spoken before; does not
take into consideration situational and social contexts. one type of context which refers to what
others have said earlier in the conversation. the response will be different depending on what
language was used earlier in the conversation. for example, "ok" means something entirely
different than if it was a response to "can we go to a movie tonight" than to "can I kiss you?".
(linguistic context can therefore give some clue to what was said before; not sure if that's
correct way to think of it, though).
situational context - correct answer ✔✔ another type of utterance which gives information
about the situation in which it is uttered, allows one to mention something about the situation
that was not explicitly mentioned in the discourse. for example, "I'm going downtown tonight"
probably means downtown LA. I didn't have to say LA, and the person I'm speaking to can infer
this because we live in LA.
social context - correct answer ✔✔ another type of context, this includes info about
relationships between the ppl who are speaking and what their roles are. If I say "sup" to
someone, it probably means that person is my friend, but if I say "hello! how are you?" that
means it might be a figure of higher authority. The person listening to me say this could infer
the relationship between myself and the person I am speaking to without me explicitly
mentioning the nature of my relationship with that person. use the coach running laps thing,
actually.
felicity - correct answer ✔✔ whenever an utterance is situationally, socially, or linguistically
inappropriate given the context. for example, me referring to NY as "the city" if I live in LA, "sup
homes" to greet Professor Shelton, and "it's a nice day today" to "will you marry me?" are
situationally, socially, and linguistically felicitous, respectively. to be infelicitous is to break a
maxim. "what do you do for a living?" "I have a job" is a infelicitous response, breaking the
maxim of manner.
, cooperative principle - correct answer ✔✔ an assumption that we make that what the person is
saying in a conversation is to further it. in other words, it a set of norms that we expect in
conversation. if one is cooperating, what they are saying is relevant, and felicitous.
4 maxims of the cooperative principle - correct answer ✔✔ 4 types of ways speech in
conversation can further it. quantity maxim is that an appropriate amount of information is
given in some exchange of discourse. make your contribution as informative as required, but
not more. if you ask someone for their address, and they also tell you which solar system,
planet, and nebula they live in, they are being too informative. quality maxim is that there is
honesty present in the conversation. don't say anything false or for which you lack adequate
evidence. so, don't say that black widows don't kill people. just because you were bit by one
and didn't die doesn't mean they don't kill. relevance maxim is that it is expected for
conversation to stay around the subject of the conversation. it can help us figure out what
others mean by their utterances, and sometimes it can be plain horseshit. "Is Jamie dating
anyone"? "Well, she goes to Cleveland every weekend" could be a hint. better example is that
Rachel wants to talk about doing something fun this weekend, but Sarah says I want to talk
about class instead. straight up violating this maxim and being irrelevant. maxim of manner
differs from others, in that it is not concerned with the information as much as the way that it is
delivered. aka. this one is just don't make it harder to understand. so, don't be obscure,
ambiguous, be brief, and orderly. opposite of politicians. "What do you do for a living?" "What I
do is that I'm an instructor and the subject matter that I teach is linguistics" would be violating
manner maxim.
flouting a maxim - correct answer ✔✔ to say something in a way that appears to violate a
maxim, while it really conveys some ulterior meaning. for example, the rec letter where the
professor talks only about the student in three sentences violates the maxim of quantity, but
really he was trying to give a negative impression while not wanting to do so directly.
entailment - correct answer ✔✔ one type of reasoning used to draw conclusions from language.
allows a conclusion to be drawn very confidently. for example, if you hear and believe x, and x
entails y, concluding y is completely safe. ex. Ian eats a large breakfast every day -> Ian eats a
large breakfast on Monday. truth of one utterance requires truth of the other.
verified answers
linguistic context - correct answer ✔✔ discourse that surrounds a language unit and helps to
determine its interpretation. exists purely in confines of what has been spoken before; does not
take into consideration situational and social contexts. one type of context which refers to what
others have said earlier in the conversation. the response will be different depending on what
language was used earlier in the conversation. for example, "ok" means something entirely
different than if it was a response to "can we go to a movie tonight" than to "can I kiss you?".
(linguistic context can therefore give some clue to what was said before; not sure if that's
correct way to think of it, though).
situational context - correct answer ✔✔ another type of utterance which gives information
about the situation in which it is uttered, allows one to mention something about the situation
that was not explicitly mentioned in the discourse. for example, "I'm going downtown tonight"
probably means downtown LA. I didn't have to say LA, and the person I'm speaking to can infer
this because we live in LA.
social context - correct answer ✔✔ another type of context, this includes info about
relationships between the ppl who are speaking and what their roles are. If I say "sup" to
someone, it probably means that person is my friend, but if I say "hello! how are you?" that
means it might be a figure of higher authority. The person listening to me say this could infer
the relationship between myself and the person I am speaking to without me explicitly
mentioning the nature of my relationship with that person. use the coach running laps thing,
actually.
felicity - correct answer ✔✔ whenever an utterance is situationally, socially, or linguistically
inappropriate given the context. for example, me referring to NY as "the city" if I live in LA, "sup
homes" to greet Professor Shelton, and "it's a nice day today" to "will you marry me?" are
situationally, socially, and linguistically felicitous, respectively. to be infelicitous is to break a
maxim. "what do you do for a living?" "I have a job" is a infelicitous response, breaking the
maxim of manner.
, cooperative principle - correct answer ✔✔ an assumption that we make that what the person is
saying in a conversation is to further it. in other words, it a set of norms that we expect in
conversation. if one is cooperating, what they are saying is relevant, and felicitous.
4 maxims of the cooperative principle - correct answer ✔✔ 4 types of ways speech in
conversation can further it. quantity maxim is that an appropriate amount of information is
given in some exchange of discourse. make your contribution as informative as required, but
not more. if you ask someone for their address, and they also tell you which solar system,
planet, and nebula they live in, they are being too informative. quality maxim is that there is
honesty present in the conversation. don't say anything false or for which you lack adequate
evidence. so, don't say that black widows don't kill people. just because you were bit by one
and didn't die doesn't mean they don't kill. relevance maxim is that it is expected for
conversation to stay around the subject of the conversation. it can help us figure out what
others mean by their utterances, and sometimes it can be plain horseshit. "Is Jamie dating
anyone"? "Well, she goes to Cleveland every weekend" could be a hint. better example is that
Rachel wants to talk about doing something fun this weekend, but Sarah says I want to talk
about class instead. straight up violating this maxim and being irrelevant. maxim of manner
differs from others, in that it is not concerned with the information as much as the way that it is
delivered. aka. this one is just don't make it harder to understand. so, don't be obscure,
ambiguous, be brief, and orderly. opposite of politicians. "What do you do for a living?" "What I
do is that I'm an instructor and the subject matter that I teach is linguistics" would be violating
manner maxim.
flouting a maxim - correct answer ✔✔ to say something in a way that appears to violate a
maxim, while it really conveys some ulterior meaning. for example, the rec letter where the
professor talks only about the student in three sentences violates the maxim of quantity, but
really he was trying to give a negative impression while not wanting to do so directly.
entailment - correct answer ✔✔ one type of reasoning used to draw conclusions from language.
allows a conclusion to be drawn very confidently. for example, if you hear and believe x, and x
entails y, concluding y is completely safe. ex. Ian eats a large breakfast every day -> Ian eats a
large breakfast on Monday. truth of one utterance requires truth of the other.
