talking about language

Question 1

types of arrangement

Answer 1

• patterns of sound (spoken language)
• patterns of visual marks (written language)
• patterns of hand positions (sign language)
• patterns of meaning

Charles Hocket: duality of patterning

purpose: communication:
- communicating information
- social interaction

Question 2

linguistics

Answer 2

• study of language and languages
• arrangements or structures in both parts are complex:
• the sounds, visual patterns, hand position
• the meanings
• the relations between them allow languages to express meaning
• these relations are arbitrary - random

Question 3

De Saussure

Answer 3

signifier —> sign —> signified

d-o-g —> ‘dog’ —> dogs

• the connection between signifier and signified is fundamentally arbitrary, and different in different languages

Question 4

non-arbitrariness

Answer 4

• slime, slip, slides
• gleam, glitter, glamour

similar word starting and similar meanings

concept and word - connection

Blasi et al - pattern in certain sound-meaning connections across thousands of languages:

small and ‘i;i

full and ‘p’ or ‘b’

Imai et al: children learn sound-symbolic verbs more easily

Klink: sound symbolism in brand names - use sounds to reflect product features
ketchup Nidax vs Nodax

Question 5

linguistics - sub-branches

Answer 5

• sounds
• sound patterns
• structure of phrases and sentences
• structure of phrases and sentences
• indirect and direct meaning
• style
• letters
• patterns of letters

Question 6

speech sounds

Answer 6

• different tpes of sounds that humans make - coughs, whistles, etc

phones - the sounds of speech

phonemes - groups of phones that are equivalent in a language, even though they are not the exact same sound e.g. /p/ in pin vs /p/ in spin

phonology: sound patterns

Question 7

written language

Answer 7

• derived from and dependent upon spoken language
• written or marks on paper, computer screen etc
• letters corresponding to phonemes
• rules for what strong of letter punctuation

Question 8

sign language

Answer 8

• sign languages also have signs that can vary in their exact form from occasion to occasion
• but clear contrasts between one sign and another
• as well as basic word type signs: ASL and BSL have systems of finger spelling as an interface between sign language and written language

BUT sign languages are fully-fledged languages in their own write, different to the spoken languages around them