CLPS 0020- Lectures - Language

Question 1

What is the difference in language acquisition in rich vs sparse environments?

Answer 1

Everyone still acquires language!

Question 2

Is there a critical period for language learning?

Answer 2

Yup.

Question 3

What constitutes a grammar?

Answer 3

sound structure, lexical structure, syntax, and meaning

Question 4

What are structures, in language?

Answer 4

systematic pattersn used by the language

Question 5

What is the phonemic restoration effect?

Answer 5

filling in sounds when they’re obstructed by other sounds

Question 6

What is the verbal transformation effect?

Answer 6

when what you’re hearing can be heard another way based on context: “farewellfarewellfarewell”

Question 7

Why do words sound funny with repetition?

Answer 7

neurons are satiated, no recovery period, so lose meaning for a while

Question 8

What effect: filling in missing information based on our expectations

Answer 8

phonemic restoration effect

Question 9

What effect: same acoustic input gives rise to different linguistic percept

Answer 9

verbal transformation effect

Question 10

What do slips of the tongue suggest about language cognition?

Answer 10

Helps us identify what the features of language are

Question 11

What happens when grammatical particles move, order-wise?

Answer 11

They stay in the same relative position, so for example prefixes will always come before the word

Question 12

Are words and syntactic roles processed separately or together?

Answer 12

Separately: I can’t stand him vs He can’t stand me

Question 13

Which comes first, movement of the item or correct sound structure?

Answer 13

Movement of the item

Question 14

What is phonology?

Answer 14

the study of the sound structure of language

Question 15

Is there a finite inventory or sounds?

Answer 15

Yes

Question 16

what is a phoneme?

Answer 16

the minimum unit of sound-meaning contrast: the smallest sound unit that can distinguish meaning: NOT spelling

Question 17

Give an example of an illusory conjunction in language.

Answer 17

“bana” turns into “mada” because switching from stop-labial and nasal-alveolar to nasal-labial and stop-alveolar

Question 18

Are the spaces in between words also apparent in the sound stream?

Answer 18

Nope: there is an overlap in production between neighboring sounds

Question 19

When a sound change occurs in a langauge, does it occur only for the word, or for the words in the lexicon of the language?

Answer 19

Words in the lexicon: octo nocte vs ocho noche

Question 20

Does the object constancy problem exist in phonology?

Answer 20

YES: different vocal tracts, accents, dynamics, etc.

Question 21

What is the lexical effect?

Answer 21

preference to percieve words

Question 22

What effect: preference to perceive words

Answer 22

lexical effect

Question 23

Give some examples of top-down processing in language cognition.

Answer 23

Lexical effect; sentence meaning (goat vs coat)

Question 24

What are morphemes?

Answer 24

the smallist unit for form (sounds) that have meaning: NOT words

Question 25

Give some examples of morphemes

Answer 25

farm, er, s, etc.

Question 26

What are the two ways that multiple meanings may be distinguished?

Answer 26

serially and parallelly….. lol.

Question 27

What is serial processing of multiple meanings?

Answer 27

one meaning is accessed at a time and we start with the preferred meaning and adjust accordingly

Question 28

What is parallel processing of multiple meanings?

Answer 28

both meanings are activated automatically and context allows the system to select the appropriate meaning