An intro to the science of Language Flashcards
1. Define language, linguistics, and psycholinguistics 2. Explain and provide examples of the defining features of language. 3. Describe the different levels of analysis we can use to study language. 4. Explain why speech perception is a hard problem, and ways that the
what is Linguistics
The academic discipline that studies language.
*Language is the set of utterances that are allowed within a communication system
what is Psycholinguistics
The study of language as it is used and learned by people.
*Language is a shared, symbolic system used to express our thoughts, feelings, ideas, and experiences.
what is Phonetics
The study of the physical sounds of human speech.
Example: How sounds are produced and heard, like the difference between “p” and “b.”
what is Morphology
speech sounds that have meaning
◦ Root morphemes – jump, cup, pillow, quick
◦ Bound morphemes – -ing, -ed, un-, dis-, -ly (prefixes and suffixes
that change the meaning of a root)
◦ Morphemes combine to make words
what is Syntax
The rules that dictate how words are combined into sentences, questions, past and future tense etc. Also called “grammar”
(nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.)
what is Syntax
The rules that dictate how words are combined into sentences, questions, past and future tense etc. Also called “grammar”
(nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.)
what is Semantics
The meaning of words, sentences, and narratives.
Analyzing how context affects meaning
what is Pragmatics
How language is used for communication between people
◦ Discourse
◦ Conversation
social cues
Semanticity
Language is made up of symbolic units that combine to express meaning.
Words and sentences represent objects, actions, and ideas
Arbitrariness
◦ Sounds, letters, pictographs, signs bear no relationship to meaning.
◦ Different languages use different symbols
Displacement
We can use language to talk about here and now, but also past/future and real/imagined.
Productivity/Generativity
A fixed number of units can be combined in an infinite number of ways.
Why is speech production/perception so hard?
- Segmentation
- Co-articulation
- Individual differences
Segmentation
The pauses don’t appear between words, they appear in the middle of words.
co-articulation
Phonemes are altered by surrounding phonemes
Individual differences
individual voices vary because of:
* Gender
* Age
* Emotion
* Accent
The McGurk effect
When we hear a sound but see a different mouth movement, we see conflicts with what we hear, causing us to perceive a different sound.
caused by catergorical perception
proves language is multi sensory
Phonemic Restoration
if one letter in a sentence is replaced by a cough you will still hear the correct letter as the sense gives you enough context to infer.
what is Phonology
The study of how sounds function and are organized in a particular language.
sounds change in different contexts, the “s” sound in “cats” vs. “dogs.”
