Language Flashcards
Define Language
Language is the meaningful arrangement of sounds. Psycholinguistics is the study of the psychology of language.
Phonemes
Discrete sounds that make up words but carry no meaning such as “ee”, “p”, or “sh”. Infants first make these sounds when learning language. Phonics is learning to read by sounding out the phonemes. All words in a language are created from basic phonological rules of sound combinations
Morphemes
Made up of Phonemes; the smallest units of meaning in language. Words or parts of words that have meanings and cannot be further divided are morphemes.
ex: boy, in, come,-ing
Phrase
A phrase is a group of words that when put together function as a single syntactic part of a sentence.
ex: “walking the dog” is a noun phrase that could function as the subject of a sentence if it were followed by a verb.
Syntax
The arrangement of words intro sentences as prescribed by a particular language
Grammar
The overall rules of the interrelationship between morphemes and syntax that make up a certain language.
Morphology
Aka Morphological rules. Grammar rules; how to group morphemes
Prosody
Tone inflections, accents, and other aspects of pronunciation that carry meaning. prosody is the icing on the cake of grammar and meaning. Infants can more easily differentiate between completely different sounds than between expressions of the same sound.
Noam Chomsky
The most important figure in psycholinguistics. His transformational grammar differentiates between surface structure and deep structure in language.
Transformational Grammar
Created by Noam Chomsky, it differentiates between surface structure and deep structure in language. Surface structure is the way words are organized. The deep structure or the underlying meaning of each sentence stays the same.
Language Acquisition Device
Chomsky’s most famous contribution to psycholinguisitcs was his idea of an innate language acquisition device. Chomsky proposed that humans have an inborn ability to adopt generative grammar rules of the language that they hear.
Why was Noam Chomsky’s Language Acquisition Device so important and controversial?
It was so important and controversial in that it is a native or genetic interpretation. According to Chomsky, children need only to be exposed to a language in order to easily apply the LAD.
Overregularization
The overapplication of grammar rules.
ex: children think plural always recquire an “-s” as in sheeps and it to a word that doesn’t need it like sheep.
Overextension
The generalizing with names for things. This is often done through chaining characteristics rather than through logic.
ex: A three year old may call any furry thing a “doggie”
Telegraphic Speech
Refers to speech without any articles or extras, similar to how it would be in a telegram
ex: “Me go.”
Holophrastic Speech
When a young child uses one word to convey a whole sentence.
ex: A child may use “me” to mean “give that to me”
How do girls and boys compare when learning language?
Girls are faster and more accurate with language learning than boys are.
Are bilingual children faster or slower at language learning?
slower
What are the language acquisition milestones?
- 1 year: Speaks first word(s)
- 2 years: >50 spoken words, usually in two- (and then three-) word phrases
- 3 years: 1,000 word vocabulary, but has many grammatical errors
- 4 years: grammar problems are random exceptions
Whorfian Hypothesis
Created by Benjamin Whorf that posited that language, or how a culture says things, influences that cultures perspective. This has been used as as an argument for the importance of nonsexist language. Research is mixed on how true this is though
Roger Brown
Researched the areas of social, developmental and linguistic psychology. He found that children’s understanding of grammatical rules develop as they make hypotheses about how syntax works and then self correct with experience
Katherine Nelson
Found that language really begins to develop with the onset of active speech rather than during the first year of only listening.
Willliam Labov
Studied “black” English (now known as Ebonics) and found that it had its own complex internal structure. Its is not simply incorrect English
Lev Vygotsky and Alexander Luria
Russia’s best-known psychologists, studied the development of word meanings and found them to be complex and altered by interpersonal experiences. They also asserted that language is a tool involved in (not just a byproduct of) the development of abstract thinking
