Linguistics Test 1 : Language: Typology and Universals

Absolute Universals

parameter that is genuinely universal

NP indirect object

person or thing for whose benefit the ___ing was done [writing]

location

place in which a motion occurs; ex. Dan sat [at home]. We are [in class].

principles

rules that everyone shares (absolute universals)

innateness unity

some universals may have been encoded genetically; all languages utilize the same underlying principles

agglutinative morphology

stringing affixes together in easily identifiable pouches where each affix corresponds to one grammatical concept; opposite of fusional

affixes

the add-ons to roots

theta role

the formal device for representing syntactic argument structure—the number and type of noun phrases—required syntactically by a particular verb (ex. put requires 3 arguments)

marked/unmarked forms

a marked form is a non-basic one, often one with inflectional or derivational endings; an unmarked form is the basic form (ex. marked: dishonest, unmarked: honest)

Relative Universal

a parameter that applies to most languages; called Universal Tendencies or Statistical Universals

Linguistic Universals

a pattern that occurs systematically across natural languages, potentially true for all of them; a principle that languages share or a statement that holds for all languages

phylogenetic unity

a possible explanation for linguistic universals -> if all languages have descended from the same common original human language, then forms and principles of this language could still be present

contact unity

a possible explanation for linguistic universals -> languages may have commonalities because they are influenced by constant geographical proximity of numerous languages

expletive/pleonastic verb

a verb that controls 0 arguments (rain, snow, hail)

transitive verb

a verb that controls 2 arguments (hit, love, kiss)

ditransitive verb

a verb that controls 3 arguments (give, put)

intransitive verb

a verb that controls one argument (smile, arrive)

polysynthetic languages

a whole sentence's worth of meaning can be expressed in one unit; opposite of isolating languages

suffixes

affixes attached to the end of the root

prefixes

affixes before the root

fusional morphology

affixes can carry a bunch of grammatical rules simultaneously (ex. latin, the ending gives tense, person, number); opposite of agglutinative

infixes

affixes in the middle of the root

transfixes

affixes that are weaved through and through the root; ex. hebrew

universal grammar

all people are born with a set of knowledge about how languages can work

apophony

another type of non-concatenative morphology; where something is changed inside of the word; like goose goes to geese to indicate plurality

complement

any word or phrase that completes the sense of a subject, an object, or a verb

Non-Implicational Universals

apply to all human languages without exception

functional unity

because human language is used to carry out the same same set of functions, then similarities could persist

physiological unity

because human speech and hearing physiology is the same across the species, it may determine similarities in language; because human neurophysiological structure is the same, it determines abstract linguistic similarities

NP subject

capable of ___ing [writing]

NP object

capable of being ____ [written]

relative clauses (adjP)

clauses starting with the relative pronouns who*, that, which, whose, where, when

arguments

complements that are controlled by a verb; ex.: Jill likes [Jack]. Sam fried [the meat]. The old man helped [the young man].

benefactor

entity for whose benefit an action or event took place; ex. He bought [Elizabeth] a pineapple.

recipient

entity similar to goal with special verbs showing change of possession; ex. Steve gave [Sabastian] a love pat. I sent [Andrew] an email.

experiencer

entity that perceives, senses, or feels events; ex. [Jill] loves Sam.

theme (patient)

entity that undergoes the action (with or without a change of state) ex. John kept [his book].

Source

entity, place or direction from which a motion comes; I came [from home].

goal

entity, place, or direction towards which motion takes place; ex. John kicked the ball [towards the goal].

predicate

everything after the subject

manner

expressed the way in which an action took place; ex. She [quickly] dialed 911. She dialed 911 [without delay].

syntax

grammatical structure

language typology

grouping of languages on the basis of similarities

semantics

the meaning of the vocabulary symbols arranged with that structure (whether the combined words make logical sense, like "the water is triangular" doesn't)

thematic relationships

the role played by a XP with respect to the verb; ex. can have theta-agent, which is the agent that carries out the verb

parameters

the switches that are there before birth; when something can be one thing or another; 'switches'; ex. verbs b4 or after object?

force

things that unwillingly/mindlessly initiate action; ex. [Lightning] hit the boy.

Time

time at which an action takes place; ex. I'll send it [when I have the time].

language

unitary system of linguistic communication that subsumes a number of mutually intelligible varieties

isolating language

use no affixes

cause

what caused or why did an an action take place; ex. He stayed in bed [due to illness].

non-concatenative

when languages have lots of transfixes; morphemes aren't piled

concatenation

when you stack one morpheme on top of another then read them all in a row; for languages that don't use many if any transfixes

Analytic language

words of a single root morpheme are predominant (isolating); 1. predominantly monosyllabic morphemes 2.extensive use of tonemes 3. extensive use of functional words 4. relatively fixed word order ex. chinese, vietnamese

adjuncts

words that are not necessary to complete the meaning of the predicate; ex. Jill [really] likes Jack. Jill likes Jack [most of the time].

Implicational Universals

if 'y' exists, then 'x' also exists

agent (source)

initiator or performer of an action or an event ex. [I] laughed.

Principle of Markedness

linguistic phenomena often occur in polar opposite pairs; a marked feature is only present, if its unmarked counterpart also occurs

instrument

means by which something is done; ex. [A rock] hit the boy. He hit the boy [with a rock].

dialect

mutually intelligible forms of a language that differ in systematic ways from each other

principle of subjacency

English is subject to this; if a language moves its question words around, you can't always form a question off of a sentence using the same format; "you can't move a morpheme past more than one syntactic boundary at one time"

possible arguments

NP subject, NP object, NP indirect object