Chapter Nine/Ten Flashcards
an interdisciplinary field that examines how people use language to communicate ideas
psycholinguistics
grammatical rules that govern how we organize words into sentences
syntax
the area of linguistics that examines the meaning of words and sentences
semantics
our organized knowledge about the world
semantic memory
refers to our knowledge of the social rules that underlie language use
pragmatics
people have a set of specific linguistic abilities that is separated from our other cognitive processes, such as memory and decision making
language is modular
structure represented by the words that are actually spoken or written
surface structure
structure the underlying, more abstract meaning of a sentence
deep structure
how to convert deep structure into a surface structure that they can speak or write
transformational rules
two sentences may have identical surface structures but very different deep structures
ambiguous sentences
the most basic unit of spoken language
(a, k, ah)
phoneme
the basic unit of meaning
(re, ed, er)
morpheme
emphasizes that the function of human language in everyday life is to communicate meaning to other individuals
cognitive-functional approach
one phrase is embedded within another phrase
nested structure
we frequently only process only part of a sentence
the good-enough approach
a general rule that is typically accurate
heuristic
a discipline that examines how the brain processes language
neurolinguistics
a person who has difficulty communicating caused by damage to the speech areas of the brain
aphasia
damage that typically leads to hesitant speech that primarily uses isolated words and short phrases
broca’s area
characterized by an expressive-language deficit or trouble producing language
broca’s aphasia
people with this type of aphasia have difficulties understanding language and often have severe problems with language comprehension
wernicke’s aphasia
each hemisphere of the brain has somewhat different functions
lateralization
a network of neurons in the brain’s motor cortex, these are activated when you watch someone perform an action
mirror system
errors in which sounds or entire words are rearranged between two or more different words
slip-of-the-tongue effect
visible movements of any part of our body that are used to communicate
gestures
emphasizes that people use their bodies to express their knowledge
embodied cognition
during the first stage of speech production we mentally plan the ___
gist
the challenge of arranging words in an ordered, linear sequence
linearization problem
the melody of a words intonation, rhythm, and emphasis
prosody
language units that are larger than a sentence
discourse
the type of discourse in which someone describes a series of actual or fictional events
narrative
occurs when conversationalists share similar background knowledge, schemas, and perspectives that are necessary for mutual understanding
common ground
a sentence that asks someone to do something
a directive
resolves the interpersonal problem in a very obvious fashion
direct request
uses subtle suggestions to resolve an interpersonal problem, rather than stating the request in a straightforward manner
indirect request
