language Flashcards

1
Q

formal definition of language

A

systematic means of communication info using conventionalized sounds, gestures, marks, or signals having understood meaning

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2
Q

function of human language

A

is to influence people’s behaviour by changing what they know, think, believe, or desire

allow us to affect what other people think, and thus what they do
When we speak we put ideas into other people’s heads or even our own heads
How do we communicate in an efficient and effective way - it is fund. To how we function in the world as humans

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3
Q

challenge of language

A

need shared understanding between two people who use it

key power of language is our ability to express novel ideas say things that have never been said, think things that have never been thought before and then communicate them

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4
Q

list some of the powers mentioned of human language

A

communicate info fast

makes a social netowrk

store info outside of ourselves

creative expression

refers to time and place

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5
Q

phonemes

A

smallest units of perceived speech. Categorical speech sounds

Ta, ba, ki.

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6
Q

rules on how phones can be combined to form larger units is

A

phonology

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7
Q

how many phonemes does English have

A

44

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8
Q

morphemes are defined as

A

smallest unit of language that carry meaning, combinations of phonemes, - players - ‘play’ ‘er’ ‘s’ -

3 separate morphemes all meaning different things.

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9
Q

rules about combining morphemes to form Words

A

morphology

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10
Q

definition fo words

A

smallest stand-alone units of meaning

Morphemes have meaning but you need to add them to give them plausibility

Ind words can at least stand alone. Combos of one or more morphemes,

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11
Q

syntax

A

language specific rules for combining words

happy child vs nino feliz

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12
Q

what are phrases

A

words in turn are combined into phrases

limitless in English

phrases combined to make sentences

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13
Q

in English - what order do verbs, objects and subjects go in for a sentence

A

SVO

John ate the apple

subject, object verb

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14
Q

what is a sentence

A

a set of words/phrases that in principle tells a complete thought, expresses an idea

can consist of one or more phrases,

even more limitless

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15
Q

understanding of language that we have in modern linguistics due to the researcher named what?

A

Noom Chomsky

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16
Q

Chomsky argued what 4 main ideas

A

1) young children combine words in novel ways they haven’t heard before to express new ideas - argued this showing there is more to language than just repetition of what you hear

2) same as above, it can’t just be about imitation and repetition

3) we learn an underlying set of rules that we can use to generate sentences based on them once we have learned them

4) there is a built in mechanism in our brain that knows from birth that sentences have Subjects, Verbs and Objects - and we just have to figure out what order they go in in our given language

we only learn parameters of language, not the whole thing from scratch

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17
Q

who is nim chimpsky

A

chimp they tried to teach English to, to understand how people learn the language

named after Noam Chomsky

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18
Q

difference between syntax and semantics

A

syntax - rules of word’s order - morphology, phonology - how to put things together

semantics - meaning of language - how meaning is derived from words phrases sentences

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19
Q

how did Chomsky demonstrate that syntax and semantics are ind. components of language

A

used a sentenced that is grammatical but meaningless
‘colourless green ideas sleep furiously’

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20
Q

what sentences is ungrammatical but meaningful

A

colourful green ants crawls furiously

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21
Q

phrase structure is generated from…

A

Generative Grammar - set of rules that specify what orders and combinations these roles can occur in

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22
Q

what is generative grammar

A

set of rules that specify what orders and combinations these roles can occur in

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23
Q

what is a noun phrase

A

consist of an optional article followed by a noun

fill in an article like ‘the’ and a noun like boy.

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24
Q

what is a verb phrase

A

verb followed by a noun phrase, optional article followed by a noun, constructed sentence

‘the boy hit the ball’

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25
Q

what are problems with relying on phrase structure alone to determine meaning

sentence example

what does this suggest

A

sometimes you have a sentence that has just one phrase structure and yet there are 2 possible meanings

the shooting of the hunters was terrible - did they got shot or was their aim the issue

suggests phrase structure alone isn’t determine meaning - it works the other way around

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26
Q

when we say phrase structure works the other way around what do we mean

A

look at these sentences
‘the boy hit the ball’, and the ‘the ball was hit by the boy’

these 2 have the same meaning and yet they have very different phrase structures

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27
Q

chomsky proposed - there are actually 2 types of structure involved in language understanding

A

Surface - refers to structure to words as they are actually spoken in order

Deep Structure - exists in our minds that is where the underlying meaning is represented - underlying phrase structure that conveys meaning

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28
Q

how do we get from surface structure to deep structure?

it was proposed our minds do this by

A

transformational grammar

take a deeps structure and convert it to surface structure when you want to say something and take surface to deep when you comprehend what someone is saying

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29
Q

core proposition refers to

A

the idea being represented by the sentence - like deep structure

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30
Q

the boy hit the ball vs the ball was hit by the ball

same meaning (DS) - what is their difference

A

emphasis

first one the emphasis is on the subject - the boy

2nd one the emphasis is on what was hit - the ball

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31
Q

what is ambiguity in terms of language

A

example of a sentence with multiple interpretations/meanings

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32
Q

studying ambiguity gives us insight on…?

A

gives us insight to the nature of that process our mind and brain does

A lot like how illusions can be helpful to get insight into perceptions
show the ways in which systems can fail and types of assumptions perceptual system makes
ambiguity serves a similar role for language

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33
Q

example of where ambiguity in language often appears

A

Newspaper Headlines - because they try to minimize their amount of words used

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34
Q

what kind of ambiguity occurs when a particular word was more than one meaning

A

Lexical Meaning

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35
Q

what is syntactic ambiguity

example

A

not due to word meanings,

due to multiple possible phrase structures that we construct in our minds to represent the relationships between the words

‘They are cooking apples’
‘I saw the gorilla in my pajamas’

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36
Q

what is referential ambiguity

often caused by use of ___

examples

A

has to do with certain words we use in language that necessarily refer to other entities in a sentence – ‘john grabbed his lunch, sat on a rock, and ate it’
the word it is an object - it refers to an object already introduced and so does it refer to the lunch or the rock?

caused by use of Anaphors

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37
Q

what are Anaphors

A

words that refer to a person place or thing that are referential, has to refer to something that was already introduced - the word stands in for that person place or thing

it, she, him, her,

38
Q

list 3 kinds of ambiguity

A

Lexical - word w multiple meaning

Syntactic - possible relationships between the words

Referential - has to do with words that refer to other entities - it she her

39
Q

like other motor control operations, speech control is heavily dependant on the ..?

A

prefrontal cortex

40
Q

in speech production, when it comes to the planning of speech at the level of abstract language, an area of the brain strongly implicated is…?

where in the brain is this area

A

Broca’s area in the prefrontal cortex

41
Q

most of us language is lateralized primarily to the ____ hemisphere including ______

A

most of us language is lateralized primarily to the LEFT hemisphere including BROCA’S AREA

42
Q

what is aphasia

A

a language deficit

43
Q

damage to Broca’s causes Broca’s Aphasia - what speech issues does this cause

A

Struggle to string words into complete sentences, can get words out, a few words but can’t link them together

Meaning is there but not conveyed through complete sentences for the most part

slow, confluent, awkward articulation, phonemic error (pelsil instead of pencil)

44
Q

you see Broca’s aphasia in both __ and __ speech

A

spoken and written

45
Q

Broca’s aphasia is not an issue __ it’s an issue of ___

you’l see a BA patient says something better if it is ____

A

not an issue of lip movement, issue of abstract language planning

better if it is memorized because they don’t have to plan out ind words

repeated words doesn’t depend much on broca’s area, but planning a sequence of words does

46
Q

in broca’s aphasia patients - they’re speech planning is bad, but their ____ is spared

A

Comprehension is spared, they can understand straightforward questions you ask them

a problem with the planning and production of language. Not a motor problem

47
Q

what kind of words to BA patients have the most issue with

A

verbs, articles, pronouns, words that are smaller and connect language together, or verbs where you have to conjugate them correctly.

No verb inflection.

Responses can make sense but are incorrect grammatically.

48
Q

BA can comprehend pretty well, except their comprehension of _____ is limited

A

comprehension of syntax is limited.
If I asked them ‘did the dog chase the cat’ they understand, but if I asked ‘was the cat chased by the dog’ - they would understand they were being asked about a cat, a dog and a chase, but confused about who is chasing who due to the complicated syntax.

49
Q

BA patients aren’t good at telling is a sentence is __ or not

they also have issue with function words like

A

grammatical or not

they have issues with function words like ‘and, for’ etc.

50
Q

BA impacts people’s ability to produce language, but more than that is a difficulty with _____ in both production and comprehension of language

__ is in tact, but __ is impaired

A

that it is a difficulty with Syntax in both the production and comprehension of language. Semantics (meaning) is intact, but Syntax is more impaired.

51
Q

Broca’s area is important for the ___ of language

A

syntax

52
Q

what lobe is wernicke’s area in

_______ part of the brain

A

temporal lobe - perceptual part of the brain

53
Q

why does it make sense WA is in the temporal lobe

in the ______ stream

A

because temporal lobe is about perception, and speech comprehension involves perception - visual or auditory

in the WHAT stream

54
Q

WA causes a deficit in

language coming out is ___ correct, but hard to

A

speech compression

Language coming out is more syntactically correct but hard to figure out what they are talking about - the meaning is lacking,

55
Q

Wernicke’s speech comes out sounding ____ but rather ______

A

sounding natural but rather meaningless.

56
Q

which aphasia - broca’s or wernicke’s has good emphasis and normal intention

A

Wernicke’s speech has good articulation and prosody - normal emphasis and intonation

57
Q

what aphasia has been called word salad

A

wernicke’s aphasia

58
Q

when people with WA express meaning, they often do it in a

what is this called

A

roundabout sort of way called Circumlocution

59
Q

what aphasia has impaired comprehension

A

wernicke’s

don’t understand what you ask them, they respond and talk and talk but you get the sense that they don’t really know what you asked them

60
Q

problem in WA is the link between __ and ___

they ___ you, but don’t link it to _______, affecting ___ __________

A

seems to be the link between the sequence of sounds and the meaning to which that refers - this profoundly affects the comprehension of language

they hear the sound you say but don’t link it to meaning, and affects language production

61
Q

___ aphasia is about syntax

______ aphasia is about semantics

A

broca’s is about syntax

wernicke’s is about semantics. Linking sounds and visuals of words to the meaning they have

62
Q

what does split brain refer to

why does this happen

A

corpus callosum was severed

bridge between the two is no longer there

developmental reasons - also done to help Epilepsy

63
Q

In a split brain patient an object presented in the _____ hemisphere only goes to the ______ hemi and can’t get across, and vice versa.

A

an object presented in the left hemisphere only goes to the right hemi and can’t get across, and vice versa.

64
Q

what happens with the split brain patient looking at the photo fo the dog and cat on left and right side

A

cat is in the right visual field, it gets sent to the left hemisphere the left hemisphere also controls the right hand, because motor control is also contralateral.
left side uses right hand to draw the photo

dog goes to right hemi, that controls left hand to draw the dog

they can draw both at the same time as their 2 hemi’s act independently

65
Q

what % are right handed, and what % are left handed

the rest are one of what 3 things

A

70-90% right handed
10% left

some folks are ambidextrous, cross Dom, or mixed handedness

66
Q

for right handers, 95% have language primarily in their

A

left hemisphere

the rest are right hemisphere Dom for language

67
Q

for left handed, what % of them are left hemisphere Dom for language

what % right

what % split evenly

A

70% left hemisphere for language

15% are right hemisphere dom

15% are split evenly

68
Q

if we are left hemisphere Dom for language, what goes on in the right equivalent area

A

one way right hemisphere is involved in Prosody - the that we say words, stress, rhythm, question tones, sarcasm, tone

69
Q

deficit of prosody is called

what are the diff kinds of this

A

Aprosodia

produce and receptive

70
Q

what is productive aprosodia, what is it caused by

A

caused by damage to RH equivalent to Broca’s Area that is used for incorporating prosody into one’s language

can’t use prosody in one’s own speech,
right words but monotone speech, lacks emotion

71
Q

what is receptive aprosodia

associated with what area

A

refers to difficulty processing prosody in other’s speech

associated with RH equivalent to Wernicke’s Area
left hemi wernicke’s is important for Language Comprehension and it RH equivalent is important for Comprehension of Prosody

72
Q

Not correct to say language is entirely in LH in typical brain, more accurate to say that ___ are on one side

A

core functions

syntax, processing, meaning from words

73
Q

Broca’s area is for

wernicke’s area is for

A

Broca’s - syntax and planning for production

Wernicke - word perception and semantics

74
Q

sensory vs motor cortices in language

A

Sensory Cortices - are also important for language because we hear or read language, even braille

Motor Cortices - how we produce language, same parts of brain that control mouth face tongue, hands and arm to write

75
Q

what is association cortices used for in language

A

the core is getting a meaning across to someone else

a highly distributed representation of meaning throughout cortex is fundamental to meaning

76
Q

what 5 sources of info are used to interpret what we comprehend from language

A

Genes

Past Experience

Internal State

Environmental Context

Proximal Stimulus

77
Q

what is the interactive activation theory

A

time and accuracy that we can perceive ind letters depends on perception of letter and also faster when we can perceive them in the context of words

top down influence on letter perception

78
Q

is language processing bottom up or top down

A

both

79
Q

why do people hear da in the mcgurk effect

A

person says GA
audio says BA

B is on lips and G is back in the throat, and so what you end up perceiving is something in between, Da is on tip of the tongue - in between the lips and the throat, your mind and brain combine the two inputs allowing the perception of the sound to be influenced by your visual context

80
Q

garden path sentences

A

example of how we hear language one word at a time, but the brain doesn’t wait until the end of the sentence to start processing - we process it word by word ‘online’ - we have to guess the correct phrase structure of the sentence as it comes in.

81
Q

know where broca’s and wernicke’s area are on the brain map image on page 15 on our google notes

A

okay

broca’s pink - rostral and large
wern green - above blue, caudal

82
Q

fmri measures changes in __ using __ and ___

A

measures changes in magnetization using electromagnetic radiation and nuclear magnetic resonance,

83
Q

diff between functional mri and mri

A

instead of focusing on a structure of the body

functional mri is trying to measure what’s going on and in particular we are interested in brain activity

84
Q

how does an MRI measure magnetization - 4 steps

A

sending ElectroMagnetic Radiation (radio waves) into body

absorbed by atoms in our body (usually Hydrogen)

releases it back out
and how quickly it is released depends on the type of brain tissue it is in and what is going on in that tissue

85
Q

fmri is based on a principle called

A

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

86
Q

fmri can’t measure neural activity, it measures ____
how is this helpful

A

changes in blood oxygenation, how much oxygenated vs deoxygenated hemoglobin there is in our blood

you can measure that is because hemoglobin has iron in it, iron has strong magnetic properties

when brain becomes active, body pushes blood to that part of the brain, pushes out deoxy hemo. so we end up w more oxy hemo less deoxy

this change in blood oxygenation represents brain activity

87
Q

fmri is good for _ resolution, bad for _ resolution

A

temporal resolution isn’t great takes 5-6 seconds to see result

spatial resolution is good - because this neuromuscular response is very specific - a few mm

where the change in blood flow occurs tells you within m where the neural activity is

EEG is the opposite

88
Q

pros and cons of Fmri

A

pros - non invasive, no surgery, no injection, low risk, used a lot, rare complications

cons - safety issues regarding magnetic objects colliding with the strong magnet

89
Q

Mitchells brain study overview

A

use text to see which nouns commonly co-occur w which verbs

recorded neural pattern of people thinking about verbs

predicted the neural activity for nouns that co-occured with verbs

got patients to think of nouns and see if they could guess which noun they thought of based on their brain activity

90
Q

Mitchells study conceptually idea - celery example

A

any given noun like celery we may be able to think of it as a combo of different semantic features

if we knew the brain activation associated with each of those features we could make a prediction for what the overall pattern of activation in brain would be as a combo of those features

they said what if a noun is essentially the combo of meanings of the related verbs? Would that let us make accurate predictions in the brain

his study worked

91
Q
A