Linguistics is part of the broad field of cognitive science, which studies the human mind. Linguistics focus specifically on the mental grammar: the system that all speakers of a language have in their minds, which allows them to understand each other. The mental grammar of every language includes phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics.
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Check Yourself
1. Newspaper headlines occasionally have unexpectedly funny interpretations. One example is:
Two cars were reported stolen by the police yesterday
. Which part of your mental grammar leads to the possibility that the police could have done the stealing or the reporting in this headline?
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Phonetics.
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Phonology.
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Morphology.
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Syntax.
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Semantics.
2. Newfoundland English has some characteristic differences to standard Canadian English. The following sentences are grammatical in Newfoundland English:
I eats toast for breakfast every day. You knows the answer to that question
. What part of the mental grammar of Newfoundland English is different to Canadian English in these examples?
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Phonetics.
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Phonology.
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Morphology.
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Syntax.
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Semantics.
3. When speakers of Hawaiian pronounce the English phrase, “Merry Christmas”, it sounds like:
mele kalikimaka
. What part of the mental grammar of Hawaiian is responsible for how the English phrase gets pronounced?
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Phonetics.
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Phonology.
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Morphology.
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Syntax.
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Semantics.
Answers