Origins of Language
The scientific study of human langauge is called
Linguistics
An example of this Feature of Language: if an English- Speaking family adopts a baby from China, that child will grow up to speak English.
Cultural Transmission
Defined as: New words formed from the initial letter of a set of other words
Acronym
auto --> automobile
Clipping
The theory of Language Origin which states that the original language was given to Humans from God
The Divine Source
The feature of language defined as the ability to speak about imaginary things, such as the Zhombie Apocolypse
Displacement
Defined as: The reduction of a word to a shorter form
Clipping
example: brunch
blending
The theory of Human Language that states that the human tongue eventually copied hand movements
Oral Gesture Source
Human languages have 2 levels-- sound and meaning.
Duality
Defined as: The beginning of one word joining to the end of another word
Blending
rehabilitation --> rehab --> to rehab
clipping, conversion
The theory of Language Origin that includes the "Bow-wow" and "yo-he-ho" theories.
Natural Source
Defied as: the possibility to create an infinite number of new sentences or words from a finite number of morphemes.
Productivity
Defined as the invention of a totally new term.
Coinage
tailor-fit --> to tailor fit
compounding, conversion
The 6 parts body parts that evolved to allow humans to produce the range of speech sounds we are currently capable of.
Teeth, Lips, Mouth, Tongue, Larynx, Pharynx
The exception to this Lanuage Feature is Onomatopoeia
Arbitrariness
Speakers of a language invent new words because they can't remember or don't know the existing word, or there is no word for it yet. This is called a ___.
Lexical Gap
breath/analyser --> breathalyser --> breathalyse
blending, backformation