Exam 3 (Psycholinguistics)

Question 1

Psycholinguistics

Answer 1

the study of language as it is learned and used

Question 2

What is restricted context?

Answer 2

• In non-human languages (e.g. dogs, apes, bees), communication is predictable
• non-humans don’t naturally combine sounds or gestures into sentences

Question 3

What are the 5 criterion of language?

Answer 3

1. semanticity
2. generative
3. displacement
4. structure via rules
5. arbitrariness

Question 4

semanticity

Answer 4

language conveys meaning

Question 5

Generative/productive

Answer 5

finite number of sounds -> unlimited number or words -> infinite number of sentences

Question 6

Displacement

Answer 6

Can convey info about another time and/or place

Question 7

Structure via rules

Answer 7

things you are and aren’t supposed to say, grammar

Question 8

arbitrariness

Answer 8

sounds and written symbols are both arbitrary in meaning (e.g. a giraffe is a giraffe because we assigned it that name)

Question 9

What are the 3 components of spoken language?

Answer 9

Phonemes, morphemes, and grammar

Question 10

Phoneme

Answer 10

Smallest unit of sound that affects meaning
sound units we need to get in the right order to understand the meaning of words
Ex. difference between /p/ie and /d/ie

Question 11

How many phonemes are there in English? Is it a large amount?

Answer 11

44, no

Question 12

Phonemes can produce ____ perception

Answer 12

categorical

e.g. /ba/ and /ga/ gradient, jumping from one phoneme to another (as opposed to continuous)

Question 13

Morpheme

Answer 13

Smallest meaningful units

e.g. “s” = makes things plural

Question 14

Grammar

Answer 14

Rules of lanugage

Question 15

What are the 3 components of grammar?

Answer 15

Syntax
Semantics
Pragmatics

Question 16

Syntax

Answer 16

rules for combining morphemes (e.g. English - red house, Spanish - casa roja)

Question 17

Semantics

Answer 17

rules of meaning

Question 18

Pragmatics

Answer 18

social rules of language use

Question 19

What 4 things must an acceptable set of grammar rules accomplish?

Answer 19

1. generate acceptable sentences
2. reject unacceptable sentences
3. explain why different sentences or phrases can have the same meaning
4. explain ambiguity

Question 20

Structural ambiguity

Answer 20

e.g. the rat is too hot to eat

Question 21

Lexical ambiguity

Answer 21

words with multiple meanings

Question 22

Transformational grammar

Answer 22

surface structure (words, sentences) vs deep structure (meaning)

Question 23

____ connects surface structure to deep

Answer 23

comprehension

Question 24

____ connects deep to surface

Answer 24

production

Question 25

If you have lexical ambiguity, you can convert it into (one/many) deep structure(s)

Answer 25

many

Question 26

what's an example of when the same deep structure can produce multiple surface structures?

Answer 26

the boy was hit by the ball, the boy hit the ball, what the boy hit was the ball

Question 27

In grammar ___ > ___ (performance, competence)

Answer 27

competence > performance

Question 28

Knowledge of grammar is ___.

Answer 28

Tacit

Question 29

Language comprehension is negatively affected by: (4 things)

Answer 29

1. negatives 2. nested phrases (Declaration of Independence) 3. passive voice (Mary was kissed by Sam) 4. ambiguity

Question 30

What are the 3 theories on relationships between thought and language? Which are correct and incorrect?

Answer 30

1. Language is required for thought (wrong) 2. Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis (sometimes true) 3. Language depends on cognition (true)

Question 31

What is supporting evidence of "language is required for thought"

Answer 31

thinking often -> subvocal speech | Deaf may sign during sleep

Question 32

What refutes the language required for thought hypothesis?

Answer 32

- problem-solving animals - abilities of humans without language (ex. babies) - abstract thought and memory (ex. Hillary with a mustache) - full paralysis through drugs - brain works without body

Question 33

What is the linguistic relativity hypothesis?

Answer 33

One's native language determines or influences the way the world is perceived, organized, and understood.

Question 34

What supports the hypothesis that language depends on cognition?

Answer 34

- thought precedes language (object permanence) - highly differentiated terms for category only occur if category is significant for users (e.g. snow, rice) - languages tend to evolve to reflect cognitively important variation (e.g. "touch screen iPhone")

Question 35

T/F every phoneme has a unique manner of production

Answer 35

T

Question 36

What do speech spectograms reveal?

Answer 36

formants (bands of speech energy)

Question 37

Word segmentation problem

Answer 37

if we don't know something about the language, we can't tell where one word starts and one stops - we only know where they stop because we know words - e.g. misunderstood lyrics

Question 38

T/f speech sounds are discrete

Answer 38

F

Question 39

Parallel transmission

Answer 39

temporal overlap in production of neighboring phonemes -> phonemes cannot usually be segmented - articulating sounds for two phonemes at same time

Question 40

What affects speech perception?

Answer 40

age and sex dialect mood talking speed

Question 41

Phonemic context effect

Answer 41

phonemes are context-sensitive: acoustics differ depending on surroundings phonemes - direction and form of formant transitions that give rise to the percept of the same consonant differ as a function of the vowel consonant

Question 42

Speech is segmentable T/F

Answer 42

F

Question 43

understanding words often requires ___ ___

Answer 43

speech context

Question 44

Phonemic Restoration Effect

Answer 44

testing the ability of people to detect that a phoneme is missing - cough sounds - nothing missing - context came after, people remembered hearing wheel/heel

Question 45

What are the theories of speech perception? (2)

Answer 45

1. acoustic features theories | 2. motor theory

Question 46

Acoustic feature theories

Answer 46

we detect sequences of phonemes, each of which has unique and consistent acoustic properties - not possible

Question 47

Motor theory

Answer 47

speech perception involves decoding the manner of production | * detect the intended gestures

Question 48

What findings support motor theory?

Answer 48

- each phoneme (sound) has unique manner of production - seeing lips helps comprehension - McGurk effect - brain has specialized areas - bimodal perception

Question 49

McGurk Effect

Answer 49

visual appearance of a speaker can influence your perception

Question 50

Bimodal perception

Answer 50

poor speech quality can be processed and perceived as either sounds or speech - same acoustic stimulus (computer recording), likely won't recognize it's speech until someone tells you it is