Language (3-4%) Flashcards
How is language (stupidly) defined?
The meaningful arrangement of sounds.
What is the study of the psychology of language known as?
Psycholinguistics
Words are made up of
Phonemes - discrete sounds, that on their own carry no meaning - arranged based on phonological rules.
What are the smallest units of meaning in language?
Morphemes - words or parts of words that have meaning
What exactly defines a linguistic “phrase”
a constituent of a sentence that is larger than a word but smaller than a clause
What exactly defines a linguistic “clause”
generally contain both a subject and verb, may be either a main clause (makes sense and is a sentence on its own) or a subordinate clause (which does not).
How is syntax different from grammar?
Grammar is the overall system of rules that includes syntax (how words are arranged), morphology (the rules affecting word forms), and sometimes also phonology and semantics.
What does language morphology or its morphological rules do?
Rules affecting the form taken by individual words.
What is semantics?
The study of what words mean, or their relationship to the concepts to which they refer.
What is phonology?
The study of sound patterns in languages.
What is phonetics?
Studies the physical properties of speech sounds and the physiological means by which these are produced and perceived.
Whats is phonemics?
the study of which of the phonetic distinctions are considered meaningful within a given language.
What is prosody?
The ways tone, accents, and other aspects of pronunciation carry meaning.
How did behaviorism conceive of language acquisition?
BF Skinner suggested we are rewarded for using certain words and punished or not rewarded for using others.
Which language acquisition theory suggested language was acquired through social learning and interaction with others?
Social interactionist theory
Who was one of the main proponents of the social interactionist theory of language acquisition?
Lev Vygotsky
Who is the most important figure in pyscholinguistics?
Noam Chomsky
What were Noam Chomsky’s contributions to psycholinguistics?
1) transformation grammar
2) language acquisition device (LAD)
What is the concept of transformational grammar?
That there are two elements of language the surface structure (the way words are organized) and deep structure (the underlying meaning of words) and that they may not change together.
LAD in regards to language stands for…
language acquisition device
What is the concept behind the language acquisition device?
That humans have an inborn ability to adopt grammar rules of the language that they hear and can use those rules to create meaning.
What is controversial about the language acquisition device?
It is a genetic interpretation.
Which comes first in babies, the ability to understand or to produce language?
To understand language
What are the stages of language development and when do they occur?
1) Pre-linguistic stage
2) Cooing (2-3 months)
3) Babbling (4-6 months)
4) Speaks first word(s) (1 year)
5) >50 spoken words, usually in 2 and then 3 word phrases (2 years)
6) 1000 words but use has many grammatical errors (3 years)
7) Grammar problems are random exceptions (4 years)
What are communication characteristics of the pre-linguistic stage?
Eye contact, facial expressions, body language, and crying are used to communicate.
What are communication characteristics of the cooing stage?
Consists solely of vowel sounds
What are communication characteristics of the babbling stage?
combining consonant and vowel sounds