Exam 3 (Psycholinguistics) Flashcards
Psycholinguistics
the study of language as it is learned and used
What is restricted context?
- In non-human languages (e.g. dogs, apes, bees), communication is predictable
- non-humans don’t naturally combine sounds or gestures into sentences
What are the 5 criterion of language?
- semanticity
- generative
- displacement
- structure via rules
- arbitrariness
semanticity
language conveys meaning
Generative/productive
finite number of sounds -> unlimited number or words -> infinite number of sentences
Displacement
Can convey info about another time and/or place
Structure via rules
things you are and aren’t supposed to say, grammar
arbitrariness
sounds and written symbols are both arbitrary in meaning (e.g. a giraffe is a giraffe because we assigned it that name)
What are the 3 components of spoken language?
Phonemes, morphemes, and grammar
Phoneme
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
How many phonemes are there in English? Is it a large amount?
44, no
Phonemes can produce ____ perception
categorical
e.g. /ba/ and /ga/ gradient, jumping from one phoneme to another (as opposed to continuous)
Morpheme
Smallest meaningful units
e.g. “s” = makes things plural
Grammar
Rules of lanugage
What are the 3 components of grammar?
Syntax
Semantics
Pragmatics
Syntax
rules for combining morphemes (e.g. English - red house, Spanish - casa roja)
Semantics
rules of meaning
Pragmatics
social rules of language use
What 4 things must an acceptable set of grammar rules accomplish?
- generate acceptable sentences
- reject unacceptable sentences
- explain why different sentences or phrases can have the same meaning
- explain ambiguity
Structural ambiguity
e.g. the rat is too hot to eat
Lexical ambiguity
words with multiple meanings
Transformational grammar
surface structure (words, sentences) vs deep structure (meaning)
____ connects surface structure to deep
comprehension
____ connects deep to surface
production
If you have lexical ambiguity, you can convert it into (one/many) deep structure(s)
many
what’s an example of when the same deep structure can produce multiple surface structures?
the boy was hit by the ball, the boy hit the ball, what the boy hit was the ball
In grammar ___ > ___ (performance, competence)
competence > performance
Knowledge of grammar is ___.
Tacit
Language comprehension is negatively affected by: (4 things)
- negatives
- nested phrases (Declaration of Independence)
- passive voice (Mary was kissed by Sam)
- ambiguity
What are the 3 theories on relationships between thought and language? Which are correct and incorrect?
- Language is required for thought (wrong)
- Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis (sometimes true)
- Language depends on cognition (true)
What is supporting evidence of “language is required for thought”
thinking often -> subvocal speech
Deaf may sign during sleep
What refutes the language required for thought hypothesis?
- 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
What is the linguistic relativity hypothesis?
One’s native language determines or influences the way the world is perceived, organized, and understood.
What supports the hypothesis that language depends on cognition?
- 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”)
T/F every phoneme has a unique manner of production
T
What do speech spectograms reveal?
formants (bands of speech energy)
Word segmentation problem
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
T/f speech sounds are discrete
F
Parallel transmission
temporal overlap in production of neighboring phonemes -> phonemes cannot usually be segmented
- articulating sounds for two phonemes at same time
What affects speech perception?
age and sex
dialect
mood
talking speed
Phonemic context effect
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
Speech is segmentable T/F
F
understanding words often requires ___ ___
speech context
Phonemic Restoration Effect
testing the ability of people to detect that a phoneme is missing
- cough sounds - nothing missing
- context came after, people remembered hearing wheel/heel
What are the theories of speech perception? (2)
- acoustic features theories
2. motor theory
Acoustic feature theories
we detect sequences of phonemes, each of which has unique and consistent acoustic properties
- not possible
Motor theory
speech perception involves decoding the manner of production
* detect the intended gestures
What findings support motor theory?
- each phoneme (sound) has unique manner of production
- seeing lips helps comprehension
- McGurk effect
- brain has specialized areas
- bimodal perception
McGurk Effect
visual appearance of a speaker can influence your perception
Bimodal perception
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
