L2 - Speech & Language

Question 1

Define Language

Answer 1

System of visual/vocal systems that has meaning to user and recipient

Question 2

Define Linguistics

Answer 2

Study of the rules of language

Question 3

Define Psycholinguistics

Answer 3

Study of role of cognition in language acquisition, production & comprehension

Question 4

What is the communication model?

Answer 4

• Agent produces speech to represent thoughts
• We form soundwaves through our muscles
• Recipient receives soundwaves through ear and converts them into thoughts

Question 5

Define a phoneme

Answer 5

• smallest unit of a speech sound (one sound)
• group of phonemes: smallest unit of speech that influences meaning

Question 6

How to make consonants? (VPM)

Answer 6

Voice:
- Whether and when vocal cords vibrate
Place:
- Where in vocal cords does the constriction takes place
Manner:
- How air moves out of vocal tract

Question 7

How do we perceive these differences in consonants?

Answer 7

Pa VOT is slower than Ba
- Diff sounds = diff constants, we must control this VOT time

Question 8

Define Voice Onset Time

Answer 8

Delay between the start of a speech sound and the vibration of the vocal cords

Question 9

What happens when you change the VOT with pa/ba?

Answer 9

• Actual perception is categorical
• Abrupt shift at 20ms
• We perceive changes across categories but bad within categories

Question 10

How to make vowels (HBR)

Answer 10

Height:
- Vertical position of tongue in mouth

Backness:
- How far back in is the tongue

Roundedness:
- Shape of lips

Question 11

What are formants?

Answer 11

distinctive frequency components/ peaks of acoustic signals

Question 12

How to vary between vowels?

Answer 12

Unique difference between f1 and f2, the first two formants

Question 13

What is the McGurk Effect?

Answer 13

• Speech perception is multi-modal, based on auditory and visual cues
• How one sensory modality influences another

Question 14

How can we investigate speech perception in speech production? (infants)

Answer 14

• High amplitude sucking procedure: Rate of sucking increases when new sound is detected, slows if sound is repeated
• Head turn preference procedure: if infants listen for longer to one stimulus compared to the other, they must be able to distinguish them
• Preferential looking procedure: if infants look for longer to one stimulus compared to another whilst hearing names, they must be familiar with names

Question 15

How do infants learn languages?

Answer 15

• Phonemic categories are language specific
• Infants are sensitive to all categorical boundaries in the first 6 mo
• By 12 months, they are only sensitive to native categories

Question 16

What is the emergence of language?

Answer 16

• Babbling, more adult like syllables are around 6-8 mo
• Universal features and individual differences
• Accuracy of spoken words are related to the no of words in the child’s vocabulary
• This depends on production-perception loop (how parents say words). They know how to produce those sounds.