7 - Language Flashcards
keychain of language
ideas, sentences, phrase, words, morphemes, phonemes
define idea/discourse
what is intended by speaker and derived by listener from input
define morphemes
smallest language units which carry meaning
morphemes can be what of which two things
free - stand alone e.g. apple
add-ons to free morphemes adding important info e.g. tense
define phonemes
smallest unit of sound distinguishing between words
phonemes can be recombined to produce what
novel utterances, creating new morphemes from them and so phrases from eords
what do we rely on when perceiving speech
knowledge, context, expectations to guide interpretation
because input is ambiguous what happens when we are listening
all possible meanings unconsciously but actively reviewed to understand meaning faster
variations in what 3 things affect speech perception
accent, mood, articulation
a study avout reviewing possibilities of discourse meanings found what
meanings are activated for a short amount of time
what’s the McGurk effect
seeing how someone’s lips move changes how we hear a sound despite hearing only one sound when not looking at lips
describe speech segmentation
identifying phonemes and knowing word boundaries by parsing speech stream as we perceive pauses
define coarticulation
phonemes overlapping as we prepare to say subsequent phoneme whilst saying another to increase fluency
define the phonemic restoration effect
hearing the complete word despite a phoneme being ommitted/replaced by using context to work out what the word should be
study found what about the phonemic restoration effect
claimed to hear full word and noise
context changes what we hear
can’t distinguish between what we hear and our inference
define categorical perception
being able to distinguish between categories of sounds but not within categories
why is categorical perception important
means we can hear vital differences without being distracted by unimportant subphonemic variations
define descriptive rules
say what language and determines how language is spoken
define prescriptive rules
how language should be spoken but not always correct as changes with time
what is grammar
how language should be spoken and is learnt unconsciously
syntax implicitly defines what
the relationship between words and creates structure
define phrase-structure rules
governing what elements and in what order they must be in a phrase
what is the phrase-structure rule about adjectives and adverbs
adjectives before nouns
adverbs before verbs
what is a noun phrase
article (the/an), noun
what is a verb phrase
verb, noun phrase
what is sentence parsing
figuring out each word’s syntactic role as we listen which can lead to errors
what are garden path sentences
initially being led to one interpretation but find out it’s wrong as we listen to the whole sentence so reject the first interpretation and find another
what is temporary ambiguity in garden path sentences
early part of the sentence is open to interpretations but the latter part reflects the intended interpretation
what do we assume in sentence parsing about the voice
active-voice (noun is doing something) rather than passive-voice (noun is recipient)
sentence parsing is influenced by what
function words and morphemes signalling syntactic role e.g. -ly
define language cognition
hearing a sentence generates cognitive processing, e.g. memories, to determine how we’ll interact and if we’ll keep paying attention
how does the nature of language make it unique
richness, complexity, abstract nature, and there being 5k+ w different syntax/words/etc.
what do humans have which animals don’t
same vocal cords, innate language capacity, being born with structures to learn easily
define language relativity
speaking different languages means thinking differently as having a richer vocab affects perception
in language relativity, what is used in language that becomes used in thought
categories
this is unique, systematic, and irreversible
what type of influence is it when language guides where attention is paid, to determines our thinking?
indirect influence through attention and experience which is reversible but other factors are influentia
why is language arbitrary?
no direct/logical thinking as to what something looks like and what it’s called
what is duality of patterning
phonemes create and can be reused and reorganised to create meaningful morphemes
what is infinitive generative capacity
being able to combine phonemes, morphemes, and words in an infinite number of ways
what is syntactic recursion
embedding multiple things and phrases within sentences so they mean different things
what differences are there between animals and humans when it comes to infinitive generative capacity and syntactic recursion
animals have small vocabs
animals don’t have syntax or anything similar
when does the length of utterances increase dramatically
after 18 months
can animals increase their length of utternaces
no
can’t learn basic language aspects well with training either
define neural plasticity
brain’s ability to change and adapt due to experience so brain can cope with indirect effects of brain damage
what is Broca’s area
area in left frontal lobe controlling language production and is needed to pretend saying words
what is Wernicke’s area
area in left frontal lobe needed to understand speech and need to imagine hearing a word
describe the arcuate fasciculus
white matter bundle of words connecting the two areas
being exposed to different languages at birth does what
slows speech at first but then children catch up soon after
bilinguals are better at doing which tasks
executive function tasks needing cognitive control and the PFC
what is the Simon effect
stimulus-response compatibility which requires exec functions to inhibit the automatic response when needing to say an incongruent response
do monolinguals or bilinguals have the fastest reaction time to inhibition
bilinguals
due to needing to inhibit the other language and its words/syntax when talking in the other
how are bilinguals who learnt both languages earlier and are better skilled different
have more grey matter in their left parietal and temporal areas than those learning language when older
how do babies and children learn language
sensitive to patterns and regularities from which principles are derived, and learn vocab and words not phon/morph
what is an over-regularisation error
over-relying on learnt principles
what was found in a PET scan comparing dead ands non-deaf people
identical region including Broca’s area was activated and develops despite SL being a visual/motor task
when would the region activated which was found in the PET scans not be activated
if the person isn’t proficient in ASL
how does transcranial direct current stimulation work
electrical current passed across scalp and targeted at certain regions to alter neuronal firing pattern to increase/decrease
when does tDCS work and not work
with post-stroke speech therapy to enhance outcome a lot
doesn’t work without speech therapy
define aphasia
neuropsychological speech deficits
what is global aphasia
higher loss of all differnt types of language function
what is anomia
not being able to think of names for individual words but everything else is intact
what is Broca’s/expressive aphasia
ability to understand language but not produce it
effects of Broca’s aphasia
no grammar
slow speech
function words problem
what are people with Broca’s aphasia able to do
answer non-verbally and produce speech sounds but can’t combine so they’re meaningful
what are the differences between mild and severe Broca’s aphasia
only some vocab lost in mild and can’t utter at all if severe
define Wernicke’s aphasia
ability to produce speech but not understand language
what can people with Wernicke’s aphasia not do
speak in a way that makes sense and has fluent grammar, comprehend non-verbal tasks, verbally identify verbs
define double dissociation
two related mental processes function independently to each other and areas of function don’t overlap
with double dissociation, what two things aren’t the same
damaged area and the cognitive result
define conduction aphasia
damage to arcuate fasciculus means one can comprehend and produce speech but not repeat what’s been said
with conduction aphasia, what variation is there where only some things can’t be said
can’t repeat non-words or non-grammatical sentences as phon loop is needed but damaged and inherent semantics can’t be relied on
