Language Flashcards
Language
A set of symbols used to convey a meaning
Generating words in a structured and comprehensible manner
Language production
The creative process of creating new sentences each time we speak instead of reusing old one from a memory bank.
Generative language
The expression of language through sounds
speech
The ability to understand vocalizations or gestures
language comprehension
The general building blocks of language
phonology, semantics, syntax, pragmatics
The smallest unit of sound that can be described as a word
phonemes
The smallest unit of language that conveys meaning
morphemes
The meaning of a word
semantics
The dictionary definition of a word that may change overtime
lexical meaning
How the structure of the sentence changes the meaning of the word
syntax
The part of expressing the meaning of a word or sentence through non verbal communication
pragmatics
How is non-verbal communication aquired?
It is aquired automatically by observation
How fast does vocabulary and production level grow?
A baby’s vocabulary increases three times as fast as their production level
Between 2 to 4 months old babies learn the phonemes of the languages they hear
Prevocal learning
At 2 months of age babies attempt vocalizations and practicing sounds
Cooing
At 6 months babies test putting vocalizations together, but these vocalizations are often meaningless
Babbling
At about 1 year old, a baby begins to say simple words and can understand about 50 words
first words
Speaking in short sentences with simple meaning and many grammar inconsistencies
Telegraphic speech
at 3 years of age, a child understands the practicalities of language use,
pragmatics
at age 4, children have learned language rules without any education
grammar
Effects of socio-economics on language development
The more impoverished a child is the less communication they receive from their parents and they also receive more prohibitions. The child is likely to be more academically stunted.
When is it best to learn a second language?
Before the age of 13
A window of time when certain influences must occur for the appropriate formation of the brain
critical period
A window of time where the brain is more susceptible to influences.
sensitive period
Language acquisition occurs throughout life
sensitive period learning
initial language influence required for appropreate brain development in childhood
critical period of learning
B.F. Skinner
Theory suggests that by praising a child for producing coherant speech, the child can be conditioned to talk.
Experience enhances the biological development of language learning. If a baby is not exposed to phonemes, the capacity to distinguish phonemes diminishes.
Interactive theories
Slow, high-pitched voices
child-directed speech
Effects of formal education on grammar
when a child is aware of the rules of a language, they are more likely to make mistakes. This is referred to as overregulation.
Reading aquisition
Occurs around 5 or 6 years old and is trained through formal education. After reading is aquired, it becomes automatic.
What hemisphere of the brain is language associated with.
left.
section of the frontal lobe associated with language production.
broca’s area
The inability to produce coherent speech
Broca’s aphasia
section of the temporal lobe associated with language comprehension
werinke’s area
An impairment to understand verbal auditory communication.
Werinke’s aphasia
a symptom of broca’s aphasia where a person cannot form grammatical sentences
agrammatism
Brain area for profanity
amygdala
Brain area for understanding figurative language
right hemisphere
Picturing things in your mind
Mental imagery
Examples of thinking without the use of words
mental imagery and spatial navigation
Visual imagery used to solve problems by imagining them.
spatial navigation
The vocabulary used for certain objects or concepts influence the way we think about them.
Linguistic relativity hypothesis
Evidence for linguistic relativity hypothesis
The words used to describe colours across cultures change the number of colour categories a person can communicate.
Evidence for linguistic relativity hypothesis
The words used to describe colours across cultures change the number of colour categories a person can communicate.
Executive function
the ability to control and manage mental processing
dysexecutive syndrom
impairments in the ability to control mental activities
determining how to reach a goal
problem solving
Problems that have one distinct answer or solution
well-defined problems
Problems that don’t have a defined answer
ill-defined problems
A problem solving strategy that can solve the problem every time by following certain steps
algorithm
Shortcuts strategies like estimating
heuristic
A eurika moment
insight
The tendency to use problem-solving strategies that have always worked in the past
mental set
The tendency to vieww objects as only having one use or function
functional fixedness
the tendency to only look for information that meets our expectations and disregard anything that does not
confirmation bias
the assumption that individuals who share one characteristic must have other similar characteristics
representativeness heuristic
Assuming that more easily recalled events are more common
avalibility heursitic
Thinking about one’s own thoughts
metacognition
the awareness of one’s own mental states
theory of mind
Episodic knowledge
this is gaining knowledge by engagement and experience
Template theory
using exemplars to form a structure by matching something new to something in memory
The process of selecting certain characteristics to create a catagory
perceptual tuning
Compairing all the characteristics of the exemplars to the ideal to make a category
prototype theory
What is the process of integrating new information in episodic knowledge?
When new information is added that doesn’t fit the prototype, the catagory reverts back to a template to reorganize the characteristics
A mental representation of connected ideas of feature
Semantic knowledge
Compairing all the features to group items
Compassion model
Features that are necessary for the meaning of the item
defining features
features that are descriptive, but not essential to knowing what the item is
characteristic features
A decrease in time to group items due to one item not matching the defining features of the others
Atypically effect
The meaning of a word
semantic
Word associations that create a categorial structure
semantic networks
What can word associations be?
concepts (abstract), properties (traits)
Estimation of an event based on previous similar events
representative heuristic
using the parameters/probability of an event to find the solution
probability algorithems
What is creative problem solving?
using information from one event and applying it to another
Having many equal options for one item
flat hierarchies
The symbolic representation of a word
Universal grammar
How language changes our sensations (conception) and our perception (categorial thinking) of thoughts
Linguistic determinism
Sounds that express a state
affect
Communicative sounds that reference something abstract (think monkeys)
ideas
Inferring to what something is
Inferrential thinking
