G3: Language Comprehendsion Flashcards
the ability to understand spoken or written language
Language Comprehension
Breaking down or analysis of the syntactical structure of sentences.
Parsing
• readers or listeners can be misled or “to be led down the garden path” by ambiguous sentences.
Garden-path Model (Fraizer & Rayner, 1982)
• This model has been developed by MacDonald (2013) into the production-distribution-comprehension account. This model assumes speakers use various strategies to reduce processing demands:
• Start with common words and syntactically simple phrases while the rest of the utterance is planned.
• Favour more practised and easy sentence plans.
Constraint-based Model (MacDonal et al, 1994)
This model combines aspects of the garden-path and constraint-based models. It assumes:
• All sources of information are used to identify a syntactic structure.
• All other possible syntactic structures are ignored unless the favoured syntactic structure is disconfirmed.
• If the initially chosen. syntactic structure has to be discarded then there is an extensive period of reanalysis.
Unrestricted Race Model (Van Sompel et al., 2001)
• The study or analysis of intended meaning considering the context in which it is used.
• The intended meaning of a sentence may not be the same as its literal meaning.
Pragmatics
- does not use a word’s strict or realistic meaning
Figurative Language
Speakers not only use language to say things, but also to do things.
• Used to commit to an action.
Speech-Act theory
- speaker’s utterance (Is there any salt?)
Locutionary Act
speaker’s intention (Please give me some salt.)
Illocutionary Act
- hearer’s reaction (Gives the salt)
Perlocutionary Act
• Centered on the idea of appealing to a person’s positive or negative face by being polite.
• “The positive public image we seek to establish in social interactions.” (Goffman, 1995)
Politeness Theory
- an individual’s desire to be liked and appreciated by others (self-esteem)
Example: “You always wear such lovely clothes! I’d love to borrow something one day.”
Positive Face
- an individual’s desire to protect their personal rights (freedom of speech and action)
Example: “I know it’s a real pain, and I hope you don’t mind, but could you please print these off for me?”
Negative Face
• Based on the idea of cooperation.
• When people talk, they naturally want to work together, which makes it easier to understand each other.
Cooperative Principle