Chapter 9 - Language Flashcards
Psycholinguistics
The psychology of our language as it interacts with the human mind, considering both production and comprehension of language.
Common properties of language
Language is:
- Communicative
- Arbitrarily Symbolic
- Regularly structured
- Structured at multiple levels
- Productive/generative
- Dynamic.
Phoneme
The smallest unit of speech that can be used to distinguish one utterance from another (i. e vowels and consonants).
Morpheme
The smallest unit of meaning in a given language (i. e roots, prefixes, suffixes etc)
Lexicon
The total amount of morphemes in a given language or in a person’s vocabulary.
Syntax
The study of meaningful sequencing of words in a phrase/sentence.
Views of speech perception
- Ordinary - speech perception follows the same processes and rules as other auditory perception.
- Special - speech perception is separate and unique from other forms of auditory perception.
Phonemic restoration
We integrate what we already know with what we hear. in order to make sense of a degraded signal.
Categorical perception
Continuous speech sounds are perceived as discontinuous/distinct.
McGurk effect
When the sound we hear does not fit the mouth movements of the speaker, we perceive a compromise sound. The visual information a person gets from seeing a person speak changes the way they hear the sound. If a person is getting poor quality auditory information but good quality visual information, they may be more likely to experience the McGurk effect.
Semantics
The study of meaning in a language.
Denotation
Dictionary definition.
Connotation
Overtone, nonexplicit meanings - varies with culture etc.
Mental lexicon
Our internal store of morphemes, containing both words and meanings.
Grammar
The study of language in ters of noticing regular patterns, relating to the functions and relationships of words in a sentence.
Prescriptive grammar
Prescribing the correct way to structure language.
Descriptive grammar
Describing the structures, functions, and relationships of words (how they are, not how they should be).
Syntactical priming
We tend to read sentences faster if they parallel the syntactical structure of a sentence we just heard or read.
PhRase-structure grammar
Analyzes sentences in terms of the hierarchical relationships among words in phrases.
Transformational grammar
Analyzes sentences in terms of transformational rules that describe interrelationships among the structures of multiple sentences, not just the words within one sentence. Pioneered by Noam Chomsky.
Deep structure
The underlying logical relationships of the elements of a phrase or sentence.
Surface structure
Various phrase structures resulting from deep structures - different ways to convey the same meaning.
Lexical access
The identification of a word that allows us to retrieve the meaning of it.
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is characterized by impaired reading ability despite normal intelligence and cognitive function. It can be developmental or acquired. Processes impaired in dyslexia include phonological awareness (recognition of sounds), phonological reading (reading words without context), phonological coding (storing phonemes in working memory correctly), and lexical access.
Thematic roles
Ways in which items can be used in the context of communication, including the roles of agents, patients, beneficiaries, instruments, locations, sources, and goals.
Coarticulation
A conceptually isolated speech sound is influenced by, and becomes more like, a preceding or following speech sound.
Lexical processes
Used to identify letters and words, and activate relevant information in memory.
Comprehension processes
Used to make sense of the text as a whole.
Discourse
Units of language larger than individual sentences - conversations, essays, textbooks, lectures etc.
Function morphemes
A functional morpheme (as opposed to a content morpheme) is a morpheme which simply modifies the meaning of the word, rather than supplying the root meaning of the word. That is to say that it functions, but does not mean in and of itself, but rather encodes grammatical meaning.
Communication
Exchange of thoughts and feelings.
Referent
The concept in the real world that a word/symbol refers to.
Word-superiority effect
Letters are read more easily when they are embedded in meaningful words than when they are isolated and do not form words.
