Language Flashcards
What is language?
Universal across cultures
Method of human interaction, either spoken/signed/written
Interpretating words in a structured and conventional way
All languages share some universal feature of structure
An infinite number of combinations can be produced in any language
What are phonemes?
Smallest units of sound e.g. ‘pat’ ‘p’
44 phonemes in English - this number varies depending on the language
Word recognition from speech relies on a combination of phonemes
Human speech can produce a huge range of sounds, language makes us use phonemes
What are morphemes?
Smallest unit of meaning
Content morphemes: express the fundamental meaning of the word e.g. bake
Function morphemes: modify the function of the word e.g. -er, -s
e.g. new noun = baker (bake + er)
What is syntax?
Rules of ordering sentence components
English has a subject verb object order
Subject: who performs the action
Verb: the action
Object: who receives the action
e.g. the human pats the dog
This depends on the language, in Japan they do subject object verb
What are semantics?
How we get meanings from words
Even when words are in the right order there can be ambiguity
e.g. time flies like an arrow
What is the mental lexicon?
How words and representations are stored in the brain
This is what links semantics, phonological forms, orthographic forms and syntax
What are orthographic and phonological forms?
Orthographic: how words look
Phonological: how words sound
What is lexicon access, lexical selection and lexical integration?
Auditory input coming into our ears and into the mental lexicon
Lexical access: activation of word form, syntax and semantics
Lexical selection: best matching representation is selected
Lexical integration: the word is placed in the context of the full sentence
What are the organisational principles (morphemes, usage frequency, phoneme neighbourhoods, semantic representations) used in mental lexicons?
Morphemes
Usage frequency: more frequently used word accessed easier than less frequently
Phoneme neighbourhoods: words which differ by only one phoneme are stored together closer
Semantic representations: words which are related in terms of their meaning are linked
What is the organisation of the mental lexicon? Reference the conceptual semnatic framework
Conceptual semantic networks
Words are represented as nodes
Nodes connect to one another based on their meanings
Activation spreads to each node
Closer nodes activate more than distant ones
However there is debate if words are stored by their definitions or by how prototypical they are
What is the definitional theory?
Each word is a bundle of meaning/semantic features
Words are integrated into categories which share features
Categories are organised hierarchically
Definitions don’t cover all words in a category
Some category members fit better than others
Some definitions span multiple categories
What is the protype theory?
Each word is categorised by how much it resembles the prototype
High prototypicality: close resemblance to prototype
Low prototypicality: does not resemble prototype
Prototypical category members are more affected by priming
What is the state feedback control theory?
Input activates a conceptual representation of a corresponding word
Phonological level is split into a motor and sensory phonological system
Each have their own feedback loops
What is the segmentation problem?
Unlike written words, speech doesn’t contain reliable spaces or full stops
Speech can instead be comprehended through prosody, visual cues and an interpretation of phonemes
What is prosody?
Conveying meaning beyond the words themselves
pitch
intonation
Rhythm
Stress
What is the Ganong effect?
Perceive ambiguous speech sound as a phoneme that would complete a real world, rather than complete a nonsense/fake word
What is the McGurk effect?
What we see overrides what we hear
The mouth movements we see influences what we believe we are hearing
What is the cohort model?
Acoustic input activates word representations sequentially
Candidate words are deactivated if acoustic input is inconsistent
e.g. if you hear ‘p’ ‘i’ endings will activate ‘n’ ‘g’
Context can narrow the pool of candidates but this comes later
Mispronunciation of a word beginning interferes with the process of this model
What is the TRACE model?
Words are recognised based on their acoustic features, phonemes, and semantics
As speech level starts, feature, and phoneme levels are activated, exciting matching and inhibiting non-matching representation at all levels
Higher levels can influence interpretation of the lower levels
What is phonetic reading?
Grapheme phoneme correspondence
What is whole word reading?
Familiar words are not sounded out from grapheme to phoneme but recognised as a whole
What is phonic mediation?
Unpronounceable
Pronounceable
Pseudowords
Pseudohomophone
What is the interactive activation model?
Visual features of letters activate or inhibit representations of individual letters
Activation/inhibition of letters can activate/inhibit words
We better recognise letters when they are presented in a word VS alone VS in a non word (word superiority effect)
What is the dual route model?
Lexical route: orthographic input and phonological output
Sublexical route: grapheme phoneme rule system
How can context influence a word?
Low level sensory inputs: hearing or seeing the word
High level contextual inputs: sentence or phrase the word is found in
Debate over how much high level information can influence low level perception.
Modular models argue that information is bottom up whereas Interactive models argue all levels an influence word recognition
What did the study by Zwitserlood 1989 find on context?
Lexical decision task
Participants faster to respond to target words which were related to the context of the previous sentence, even if the exact word was missing
What is syntactic parsing?
The brain stores individual words but not entire sentences as that’s impractical
Syntactic parsing helps us understand what is happening in a sentence
Large brain responses when syntactic or semantic information is unexpected or inconsistent
What is telegraphic speech?
1 and a half years to 2 years
Two word sentences combining a noun and a verb or adjective and noun
What is competent speech?
4-5 years
Full sentences with conventional grammar, through less complex structure
What is babbling?
3-5 months
Sound patterns of own language in babbling precedes onset of first words
Reduplicative- repeated syllables e.g. ba ba ba
Variegated- mix of syllables e.g. ba da ca
Tunes the speech system
Deaf infants babble suggested it’s innate
What are first words in language learning?
10-14 months
Tend to learn words of things which are interacted with e.g. teddy, blanket
Fast mapping- quick learning of new content words
Over extension- applying word to wider range than appropriate
Under extension- applying word to narrow range than appropriate
What is the acquisition of grammar?
18-20 months
Expanding words from there
applying rules to new items
Object nouns, noun phrases, verbs, articles, prepositional phrases, complex sentences
Most frequently used verbs are irregular e.g. threw/throw buy/bought
Children initially use irregular verbs correctly because they are used more
Once they learn paste tense, they use irregular verbs everywhere. e.g. she hitted me not she hit me
What does the language acquisition device suggest about language learning?
Children make hypotheses about grammatical rules
Hearing speech tests hypothesis
Language acquisition device guides hypothesis
Brain is hard wired to learn language, no reinforcement needed
Limited to the critical period
What does the social learning theory suggest about language learning?
Reinforcement of sounds made by children results in recognisable words
Learning is via imitation and conditioning
Trial and error process
What is the critical period?
Aspects of development must happen within a certain time frame
The critical period is when the brain is most response to input
Must be exposed to language from 2 years old to puberty
More modern views suggest it can be even earlier before birth
The period ends when neurochemistry prevents further structural change
What is Broca’s area? What other regions are involved in this process?
Speech production
Supplementary motor cortex
Insula
Cerebellum
Thalamus
Basal ganglia
Sensorimotor cortex (mouth area)
Inferior temporal gyrus (Broca’s area)
What is Broca’s aphasia?
Impairment of speech production
Omission of most pronouns, conjunctions, tense, verbs and numbering endings
Language comprehension is good
Difficulty understanding some of the words they omit
Patients are aware of their condition and are responsive in therapy
Can understand some but not all aspects of grammar
What is Wernicke’s area? What other regions are involved in this process?
Speech comprehension
Posterior superior temporal gyrus
Middle temporal gyrus
Middle superior temporal gyrus
Inferior temporal gyrus
Angular gyrus
Temporal pole
Wernicke’s area
Heschl’s gyrus (primary auditory cortex, auditory association cortex)
What is Wernicke’s aphasia?
Impaired language comprehension for both written and spoken language
Inability to remember names of objects
Person still speaks smoothly
Grammar is impaired
Content lacks meaning and cohesion
Ability to find words is impaired
Recognition of items isn’t impaired
Articular speech with pauses to find the right word
Lack of self awareness because of difficulties with comprehension. Frustration, unresponsiveness to treatment
What is the neuroanatomy of the written word processing?
Written word processing occurs in the occipitotemporal regions in the left hemisphere
Anterior cingulate gyrus
Precuneus
Angular gyrus
Anterior fusiform gyrus
Left posterior midfusiform gyrus
What is the visual word form area?
Linked to reading but there’s debate over this
Links to temporal and frontoparietal regions in the brain
Temporal links to predict language abilities
Frontoparietal links to predict visuo-spatial attention abilities
What is the case study of the patient who helped us find Broca’s area?
Patient had only been able to speak a single word ‘tan’
Brain lesion in the posterior inferior temporal gyrus (now referred to as Broca’s area)
What case study of a patient helped us find Wernicke’s area?
Damage in posterior region of the superior temporal gyrus
Damage to this area itself doesn’t cause the impairment, but damage to the surrounding tissue/swelling does
