04 - Language Knowledge Systems Flashcards
What are Semantics?
The meaning
What are Pragmatics?
The context
What is Syntax?
2
Legal word orderings
Structure of phrases and sentences
What is Morphology?
2
Words and affixes
Knowledge of meaningful units
What is Phonology?
2
Sounds
Knowledge of the fundamental sound units and legal combinations
Linguistic knowledge is mostly ______ (or ______) knowledge.
Tacit
Implicit
We learn language best when we are able to learn it ______.
Implicitly
What are legal combinations?
Allowed letter combinations
Stape vs. Sbape; Skib vs. Sgib
Can Morphemes be further analyzed?
No
What are Legal Combos vs. Illegal Combos? (Morphemes)
Morpheme combinations that are allowed or not allowed
happy/unhappy, sad/unsad, brave/unbrave
What are the two categories of Parts of Speech?
Open Class
Closed-Class
What are Open Class Words?
3
Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs
Words that carry meaning
Are continually changing
What is another name for Open Class Words?
Content Words
What are Closed-Class Words?
3
Prepositions, conjunctions, articles, pronouns
They support content words
Don’t really ever change (The last time may have been when the word “thou” was dropped from English)
What is another name for Closed-Class Words?
Function Words
Do brain injuries affect our ability to use these two classes of words equally? What does this tell us?
No. Different classes of words can be effected differently due to different types of brain injuries
This suggests that they are encoded in different parts of our brains
It is easier to read ______ sentences because they follow your ______ knowledge.
Grammatically correct
Implicit syntactic
Can we instantly recognize a “good” or “bad” sentence?
Yes!
What was Noam Chomsky’s big sentence? When was it created? what was he trying to illustrate?
“Colorless green ideas sleep furiously”
1957
That syntax and semantics can be seperated
Can Syntax can be studied without looking at meaning?
Yes
Chomsky believed that an infinite number of sentences can be generated from ______.
A small set of simple rules
What is Phrase Structure?
Breaking sentences down into their constituents
E.g., diagraming sentences
The phrase structure rules tell us how judge sentences as ______.
Grammatical
“Computers are nocturnal twigs.”
This sentence is ______ but ______.
Nonsensical
Grammatical
What is Surface Structure?
Surface arrangement of sentence parts
What is Deep Structure?
The underlying structure that conveys meaning
“Katie flew the kite.”
“The kite was flown by Katie.”
This sentences are examples of different _______.
Surface Structure
“Kids make nutritious snacks.” This sentence could be interpreted as the kids are cooking or the kids are being eaten.
This is an example of differences in ______.
Deep Structure
What is the Transformational Rule?
That surface structure can be transformed to convey the same deep meaning
What are Transformations?
Rules for moving, deleting, or adding elements in order to modify surface structure
What is a Kernel Sentence?
A bare bones sentence
John is eating the apple.
What is a Passive Transformation?
Turning an kernel sentence into a passive one
The apple is being eaten by John
What is a Question Transformation?
Turning a kernel sentence into a question
Is John eating the apple?
What is a Negative Transformation?
Turning a kernel sentence into a negative sentence
John is not eating the apple.
Can different transformations be added to the same sentence? How?
Yes.
A Passive -Negative Transformation would be “The apple is not being eaten by John”
Chomsky said that language may share commonalities in _______ which are obscured by ______. This refers back to his concept of ______.
Deep structures
Surface structure
Universal grammar
What is the Derivational Theory of Complexity?
2
When you are speaking, you go from deep structure to surface structure
When you are listening, you go from surface structure to deep structure
Who came up with the Derivational Theory of Complexity? When?
Chomsky & Miller
1963
According to the Derivational Theory of Complexity:
When we speak, we start with the ______, apply some type of ______, then arrive at a _______.
Deep structure
Transformation
Surface structure
According to the Derivational Theory of Complexity:
When we listen, we start with the ______, apply some type of ______, then arrive at a _______.
Surface structure
Un-transformation
Deep structure
Sentences with more transformations should be _______.
Harder for people to process
What idea did Miller & McKean seek to test? When did they do this?
That sentences with more transformations should be harder for people to process
1964
What did Miller & McKean do?
Gave kernel sentences was to subjects and timed how long it took the subjects to transform these.
What did Miller & McKean find?
People were slower when there were more transformations
What did Slobin research? When?
Comprehension of active vs. passive sentences
1966
How did Slobin’s experiment work?
2
Participants had a picture comparison task. Did pictures match the sentence?
Some sentences were active; others were passive
What did Slobin learn?
That people verified the active sentences faster than the passive but only when the sentences were reversible
What is a Reversible Sentence?
One where the subject and object can be easily switched.
The robot chased the ghost.
The ghost chased the robot.
What is an Irreversible Sentence?
One where the subject and object cannot be switched
The robot watered the flowers
The flowers watered the robot
Chomsky believed that ______ and______ could be separated.
This may be true for _______ but not in the study of ______.
Syntax
Semantics
Linguistic analysis
Language processing
