Chapter 8 Flashcards
Psycholinguistics
the study of the cognitive underpinnings of human language
Language is communicative
-We can communicate with laughter, body language, and facial expressions
-Language is more than just thought
Language is referential
Language refers to things and ideas that are meaningful
Language is structured
It is made of a hierarchical system and is governed by rules
Language is Creative
Language allows for the creation of meaningful, never-before spoken sentences
-productivity and recursion
Productivity/generativity
ability to produce and understand infinite number of completely new sentences
Recursion
enables us to embed structures of language inside other structures
ie. sentences within sentences
Phonemes
The basic sounds of language
ie. consonants, vowels
Phonology
The rules that govern how sounds can be combined within a language
Opaque orthography
Letters do not correspond to phonemes
-English language
Transparent orthography
Letters do correspond to phonemes
-Spanish
Perceptual Narrowing
Babies can differentiate the phonemes of all languages until they are 8-10 months old
Eventually demonstrate perceptual narrowing: they lose phoneme discrimination for non-relevant phonemes of other languages
-they focus on things only relevant to their native language
Phonemic restoration effect
Individuals seem to hear spoken phonemes that have been rendered inaudible by noise or ommission- top-down
The mental lexicon
Where all the words one uses and their links to real world representations are stored
Morphemes
The smallest meaning bearing units of sound
ie. 2 morphemes in the word “morphemes”: Morpheme + S
Morphology
Combining of morphemes into words
Weaker morphology=stricter syntax
English has a weak morphology; the order of the words in a sentence determine the meaning of a sentence rather than the changing of words through morphemes
Dr. Andelin loves Bodhi
Bodhi loves Dr. Andelin
and Bodhi Dr. Andelin loves convey different meanings with different word order
Richer morphology=less strict syntax
Word order is less important in languages with richer morphology
Overgeneralization
Broad application of grammatical rules ie. “runned” or “swimmed”
Semantic priming
Exposure to a word influences a response to a subsequent stimulus
Ie. exposure to the word nurse, participants are faster about making a judgment about the target word doctor (such as if it is a word)
-participants are faster at responding when the preceeding word is related to the target word
Affective priming
Primed by preceding items that have the same emotional quality
Word frequency effect
High-frequency words (words that have been encountered a lot) are more accessible than low-frequency ones
-more easily brought to attention
-Faster to read
-Faster to recognize
Mutual-exclusivity Constraint
Children factor in what they already know when learning new words
-when presented with two objects whose words they already know, if presented with a novel object and a novel word they will assign the novel word to the novel object
Spreading Activation Model
Word meanings are linked to each other like a web within the mental lexicon
-similar words are likely to be activated from the initial word
Transformational grammar (Chomsky)
a system of rules for translating mental representations into structured verbal output and vice versa
Tree Diagram
Demonstrates the surface, syntactical structure (phrase structure) Noun and verb phrases
Surface structure (phrase structure)
the way a mental representation is structured linguistically
Deep structure
The underlying meaning that is translated into surface structure
“the dog bit the man” “the man was bitten by the dog” same deep structure but different surface structure
Noun Phrase
Part of the sentence that contains a noun and words that modify it
Article + Noun
The + dog = The dog
Verb Phrase
Part of the sentence that contains the action, words that modify it, and nouns that clarify the nature of the action
Verb + Noun phrase =
Verb +article + noun
bit + the + man = bit the man
Grammar
The broad set of rules that govern a language
Syntax
Rules that govern how sentences are structured
-a subcomponent of grammar
Semantics
The meaning of a word or phrase
Pidgin Language
People who speak different languages string words from their respective languages and form a shared vocabulary; a simplified form of communication that does not adhere to a set of grammatical rules
Creole Language
Children raised under a pidgin language impose grammatical rules which creates a creole language that adheres to the rules of grammar
Aphasia
impaired ability to produce or understand language
Broca’s area
Area in left frontal lobe (inferior frontal gyrus) linked to speech production
Associated with syntax
Broca’s Aphasia
Difficulty speaking fluently, producing correct sounds, or finding the right words
-Language is sensible but is disfluent and ungrammatical
-Often omit small words such as “it” “and” and “the”
Wernicke’s area
Area in left hemisphere near junction of temporal and parietal lobes linked to language comprehension and development
-Associated with semantics
Wernicke’s aphasia
difficulty understanding the meaning of words and sentences
-Fluent and grammatical but senseless sentences
-semantics
-may have difficulty understanding others
Anomic aphasia
Mild aphasia: people have difficulty finding the words they want to say
Global aphasia
Severe aphasia: difficulty both producing and comprehending spoken language
Universal Grammar (Chomsky)
Every human language involves rules that enable mental representations to be translated into a structured expression of those representations
-Every human language has grammar rules
Williams Syndrome
Genetic condition associated with cognitive deficits (IQ and spatial skills) but grammar and vocabulary are in tact
-suggests that language is modular and operates independently of other cognitive abilities
Tip-of-the tongue phenomenon
Speech error when one feels like a word is just out of reach
people often instead recall words similar in meaning or sound or that start with the same letter
- gives some insight into what cues people rely on when accessing their mental lexicon
Poverty of the stimulus (Chomsky)
Children are not exposed to a great amount of information and feedback regarding correct language use
-adults often make speech errors and there are not enough expressions heard to be informed about a comprehensive and accurate set of rules
-but children quickly gain linguistic mastery
Chomsky: there must be cognitive structures in place for language
N400 Waves
Negative wave in EEG at around 400 ms when a semantic manipulation is viewed
ie. whipped cream tastes ANXIOUS
P600 Waves
Positive wave in EEG at around 600 ms when a syntactic manipulation is viewed
ie. the spoiled child THROW the toy on the floor
Common Ground
Speakers’ mutual knowledge, beliefs, and assumptions
ie. a doctor will switch to speaking medical language when they discover they are speaking to another doctor
Referential Communication Task
Two participants are separated by a partition and one participant describes the layout of objects in their view but not their partners; partner has to correctly sort cards
ie. Cards depicting areas in NYC and listener has to correctly sort cards based off listener
-the way speakers from NY described their cards differed depending on if listeners were from NY or not
-the speaker would accomodate their partner’s knowledge when apparant that they needed more information
-over successive trails, participants who had never visited NY needed fewer and fewer words to sort the pictures
Sapir-Wharf Hypothesis (linguistic determinism)
Differences among languages reflect and contribute to differences in underlying thought processes
Sapir-Wharf Hypothesis Strong version
language shapes the way we perceive and experience the world
Sapir-Wharf Hypothesis Weak version
language doesn’t affect subjective experience but it does reflect and shape differences in higher order cognition
Pragmatics
Language with the intent of communicating
-uses context to understand someone’s meaning despite the sparseness or ambiguity of their words
-communicates meaning beyond what explicitly stated
-speaker considers what the listener knows
Prosody
The patterns of intonation (rise and fall of the voice) in a sentence
-can influence the meaning behind a sentence
ie. “I just love your tie” could be a compliment or mocking
Speech segmentation
the flow of natural speech does not provide provide clear segmentation or boundaries between words
Usage-based Linguistics
Emphasizes the communicative function of language
suggests the structure of language is not necessarily driven by modular grammar rules but is instead shaped by the communicative and social context in which language is used
-against Chomsky’s idea that language learning is modular: it occurs separetly of other cognitive processes
Garden Path sentences
sentences that begin by suggesting one interpretation only to present another interpretation with their later parts
ie. after the martians invaded the town that the city bordered was evacuated
-with no comma in between “invaded” and “the”, the construction of the sentence leads readers to assume that the initial event was martian invading the town
-people with greater cognitive flexibility are better able to adapt and comprehend garden path sentences (like adults compared to children)
Finite State Grammars
Grammar in which sentences are constructed in sequence and earlier parts of the sentence constrain what subsequent parts of the sentence can be
ie. I like…. can be followed by “oranges” but not “run”
-autocompletion on phones
