Language Flashcards
About how quickly can a word be recognized
about 500msec
Name some levels of analysis in language research
Sounds, words, sentence(structure and meaning), discourse context, and world knowledge.
Name three reasons language research is difficult
There are different levels of language. How do these map onto the hierarchical structure of anatomy (cells, networks, regions)? Human language appears different than that of most animal models, so there are fewer organisms we can study. In humans, for the most part, controlled lesion studies, single cell recordings and such are not possible.
phonetics/phonology
sound structure
morphology
word structure
lexical semantics
word meaning
syntax
sentence structure
prosody
sentence melody….
compositional semantics
sentence meaning
discourse
larger meaning scale than sentence level
What physical features make language easier for humans and more difficult for most animal models?
Rounded tongue, control over the lower larynx and crowded teeth.
What features of human language have apes so far been able to grasp?
Apes can learn to manipulate signs after much practice, They can learn simple syntactic rules and they can acquire vocabulary and syntax similar to 2-year-old humans.
What, so far, appears to be missing from “ape language” that makes it different from humans?
It is mostly thought that they cannot use language to produce novel statements that have not been learned specifically. They cannot separate meaning and syntax
A special case in monkey language, Diana monkeys, have the so far special ability to do what similar to human language?
The Diana monkeys have different calls for “jaguar” and “eagle” and thus possibly have semantics (word meaning which reflects attributes of the world around them). They also have added sounds which seem to convey more information like “maybe” or “not urgent” (grammar). They can combine calls to make sentence-like messages that depend on the order of sounds and the kinds of sounds included ( syntax). Displacement: They can refer to things which are not currently present (deception).
What is the classical picture of language?
Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas make up the two prime language centers in the brain where Broca’s area is responsible for speech production and Wernicke’s is responsible for speech comprehension.