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Name: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(1) PROPERTIES OF LANGUAGE. In class, we identified six properties that all human languages share.1 We also discussed how not all communication systems have these properties. That is, how language is special in having these properties.
a) Language is complex, systematic, and rule-governed.
b) Language is discrete and categorical.
c) Language is productive.
d) Language is a conventional connection between form and meaning.
e) Language can be displaced.
f) Language is naturally acquired by children.
PART ONE. Pick a communication system that you think is not language. Identify and describe two of the properties above that that communication system does not have.
a. Communication System Chosen: ______________________________________________ b. Property I: _____________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ c. Property II: _____________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ PART TWO. Now, identify and describe one property that communication system has that does make it
language-like.
d. Property III: ____________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ PART THREE. Finally, pick a language besides English that you are familiar with and describe how it does
have one of the remaining three properties..
a. Non-English Language: ____________________________________________________ b. Property IV: ____________________________________________________________
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1 Some people (and textbooks) come up with slightly different lists. For example, the properties identified in File 1.4 Design Features of Language aren’t exactly the same as the six we discussed in class. But notice that they’re pretty similar.
(2) RULES OF DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR. What are the descriptive rules of your native language? Please explain each rule by providing an example from the language. If you are an undergraduate student, please identify and describe three descriptive rules of your native language. If you are a graduate student, please identify and describe four descriptive rules of your native language. For each rule, provide an example from the language that illustrates that rule (e.g., “Bruno loves Eva” shows that objects can come after the verb in English). Do not use rules we’ve discussed already.
(Adapted from Language Files Chapter 1, Exercise 7) Native Language:(Arabic)
Rule 1:
Example for Rule 1:
Rule 2:
Example for Rule 2:
Rule 3:
Example for Rule 3:
Rule 4:
Example for Rule 4:
(3) GRAMMATICALITY JUDGMENTS. Consider the English sentences in (i)-‐(viii).
PART ONE. For each sentence, please use the space in front of the sentence to give a grammaticality judgment for the sentence. If you are not a native speaker of English, you have to get judgments from someone who is!
* I think this is flat out ungrammatical in all dialects of English.
% This isn’t grammatical in my English, but other speakers of English would say it.
· This is a totally fine sentence of English for me.
i. You was out when I called.
ii. There’s twenty horses registered in the show.
iii. That window’s broke so be careful.
iv. Jim and me are gonna go camping this weekend.
v. Who did you come with?
vi. Julie ain’t got none.
vii. Somebody left their book on the train.
viii. Murray hurt hisself in the game.
PART TWO. Some of the sentences that you marked as ‘%’ or ‘✓’ are probably prescriptively ungrammatical. This means that the descriptive grammar differs from the prescriptive grammar. Pick one sentence in (i)-‐(viii) that is descriptively grammatical but prescriptively ungrammatical. Try to identify and describe the prescriptive grammar rule(s) that that sentence violates. Try to describe how the descriptive grammar differs from the prescriptive grammar.
Sentence Chosen:
Short Answer:
(4) GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES. The passage below contains some underlined words. For each underlined , (a) identify the grammatical category of the word or phrase and (b-‐c) provide two pieces of evidence that support the grammatical category you identified. You should refer to our class notes as well as the discussion in File 5.4 of the textbook (including Table 21 on p221).
The horse race is now hitting the home stretch; there are exactly 50 days left until the election, and Politico has produced an assessment of where things stand.2
i. hitting
a. Grammatical Category:
b. Evidence I:
c. Evidence II:
ii. days
a. Grammatical Category:
b. Evidence I:
c. Evidence II:
iii. an
a. Grammatical Category:
b. Evidence I:
c. Evidence II:
2 Sentence Source: http://www.electoral-‐vote.com/evp2016/Pres/Maps/Sep20.html#item-‐1