Language Flashcards
language
method of human communication (written, signed, spoken) using words that are used and interpreted in a structural and conventional way
elements of language structure
phonemes
morphemes
syntax
semantics
phonemes
smallest unit of speech sounds
phonemes example
‘th’, ‘er’, ‘ion’
morphemes
smallest unit of meaning
types of morphemes
function morphemes
content morphemes
morphemes example
bake + er = baker
parrot + s = parrots
play + ed = played
syntax
rules of ordering sentence components
english syntax rule
subject-verb-object
example of english syntax rule
the man pats the dog
semantics
how we get the meaning of words
phonological forms
how words sound
the mental lexicon
a store of words which link semantics, phonological forms, orthographic forms and the syntax
orthographic forms
how words look
functions of the mental lexicon
lexical access – Activation of word form, syntax and semantics
lexical selection – The best matching representation is selected
lexical integration – The word is placed in the context of the full sentence
organisational principles of the mental lexicon
morphemes – smallest unit of meaning
usage frequency – more frequently used words accessed easier than less frequently used words
phoneme neighbourhoods – words which differ by only one phoneme are stored closer together
semanic representations – words which are related in terms of their meaning are linked
conceptual semantic networks - Collins & Loftus, 1975
words represented as nodes
nodes connected based on meaning
activation spreads to each node
closer nodes activated more than distant ones
lexical acces
activation of word form, syntax and semantics
lexical selection
the best matching representation is selected
lexical integration
the word is placed in the context of the full sentence
what is usage frequency as part of the mental lexicon
more frequently used words are accessed easier than less frequently used words in the mental lexicon
what are phoneme neighbourhoods as part of the mental lexicon
words which differ by only one phoneme are stored closer together in the mental lexicon
what are semantic representations as part of the mental lexicon
words which are related in terms of their meaning are linked in the mental lexicon
definitional theory of language
each word is a bundle of meanings/ semantic features
words are integrated into categories which share features #
categories are organised hierarchically - e.g. animals is broken down into birds, etc
prototype theory
each word is categorised by how much it resembles the prototype
central/ ideal category member - an average, is determined by the prototype
high prototypicality - close resemblance to the prototype
low prototypicality - does not resemble prototype
what is a limitation of the prototype theory
difficult to determine what the prototype is, as this may differ across cultures, etc
what is the model for speech production
state feedback control theory
phonemes + vocal tract = speech production
prosody
conveying meaning beyond the words themselves
includes pitch, tone, rhythm and stress
what are the two types of prosody
linguistic prosody
emotional prosody
what are the models of speech recognition
Cohort model - Marslen & Wilson, 1975
TRACE model - McClelland & Ellman, 1986
what is the cohort model of speech recognition (Marslen & Wilson, 1975)
acoustic input activates word representations sequentially
candidate words are deactivated if acoustic input is inconsistent
when you hear the first phoneme of the word, candidate endings will be activated in your brain. context can narrow the pool of candidates, but this comes later. mispronunciation of a word beginning really interferes with this model
what is the TRACE model of speech recognition (McClelland & Ellman, 1986)
words are recognised based on their acoustic features, phonemes and semantics
as speech starts, feature and phoneme levels are activated, exciting matching and inhibiting non-matching representations
model has 3 levels:
speech can be comprehended through…
prosody
interpretation of phonemes
visual cues
