Language Flashcards
what is language
a sysetmatic/local variation of a dialect that exhibitions identity and communicates thoughts
Clark & Clark Properties of Language (5)
- communicative
- arbitrary
- structured
- generative
- dynamic
Hocketts 1963 “Features of language”; what are they
looked at how speech was structured
13 in total; 10-13 HUMAN SPECICIFIC
hockets human specific features of language
- displacement
- productivity
- duality of patterning
- cultural transimission
hockets non-human specific features of language (1-9)
1Vocal-auditory channel (Vocalization) 2Rapid fading (transitoriness) 3Broadcast Transmission 4Interchangeability 5Total feedback 6Specialization 7Semanticity 8Arbitrariness: 9Discreteness
Displacement
Communicating about things or events that are distant in time or space.
Discreteness:
Language can be said to be built up from discrete units (e.g.,
phonemes in human language). Exchanging such discrete units causes a change in
the meaning of a signal. This is an abrupt change, rather than a continuous change
of meaning.
Arbitrariness
There is an arbitrary relationship between a signal and its meaning.
That is, the signal is related to the meaning by convention or by instinct but has
no inherent relationship with the meaning.
Semanticitiy
There is a fixed relationship between a signal and a meaning.
Specialization:
Specialization: The signal produced is specialized for communication and is not the
side effect of some other behavior.
total feedback
The sender of a message also perceives the message. That is, you hear what you say.
interchangeatbility
All utterances that are understood can be produced.
Rapid fading (transitoriness)
Rapid fading (transitoriness): Signal last a short time. This is true of all systems involving sound.
Vocal-auditory channel:
sounds emitted from the mouth and perceived by the
auditory system.
Duality of Patterning
Large numbers of meaningful signals (e.g., morphemes or
words) produced from a small number of meaningless units (e.g., phonemes). (we can recombine words into infinitite number of sentences)
Cultural Transmission
Each generation needs to learn the system of communication from the preceding generation.
(we arent born with it= its locally learned)
Producitivity
Language is an open system. We can produce potentially an infinite number of different messages by combining the elements differently. (create new meanings/utterances)
what does ‘arbitrary’ mean
the relationship between a symbol and what it means
what does ‘structured’ mean
how words, symbols are placed into strucutures to create meaning
‘generative’ means…
the ability to create new utterances all the time
dynamic aspect of lanauge
langauges changes among individuals/societiy
examples of animals with lanauge
- stirling birds and regional songs
- kanzi the chimp
- alex the parrot
- koko the goriila
- dolphins and vocalizations
Kanzi the CHimp
undersatnd; but can’t produce english
follows instructions (i.e. cuts onions) based on VOCAL siignals (researchers wears mask to prove this)
Alex the Parrot
exhibits displacement:
—> can responsd to questions but not describe/distinguish objects
what is recursion
the abiltiy to take a result of an operation and apply it infinetelty
signifiance of diplacement in brain damaged patients
people with aphasia: cant modify/apply multi-word utterances; only memorize them
what are the 6 levels of analyzing language
- phonetics
- phonology
- morphology
- semantics
- grammar
- pragmatics
what are phonetic
acousitistic properties of speech signals (sounds) we produce and the perception of those signals
involves: sound durations, content , melodies, vowels
what is phonology
the interpretation of speech sounds in a particular language and it deals with phoneme: the smallest unit of sound. (Translationg sounds to signals)
what is a phoneme
a ‘meaning changing unit’
(pen vs pin): how simple differences shape speech perception
english vs japanse pronounciation phoneme example
‘reik’ vs ‘leik’ pronounced different (perception of sound differs in brain/pronounciation of the word)
what is morphology
study of word forms
unit= morpheme
deals with= grammar + regularities in the language
what is a morpheme
a ‘meaning carrying unit’
e.g. -ing (aphex), nouns, verbs, etc., head words, compound words
what is semantics
the meaning and representaiton of a word
is:
- combinatorial= complex messages assembled by different words
- idioms= contextual knowledge of certain combinations
what is the N400 effect
reflects semantic violations where in EEG studies the brain response to semantically incorrect sequeuncs 400ms after the sentences
“whipped cream tastes anxious” would issue what in the brain?
a N400 effect as it is a semantic error
what is grammar
how we put words together using ‘rules’
units of phrases are put into heirarhical strucutres
involves combinatiorial rules/and contextual knowledge of that language
statistical aspect of grammar
some words statistically appear more than others, such as passives
what is the p600 effect
response to grammar violations in EEG
what is pragmatics
the use of language in itneraction, communication
units= infroamtion (relebance, duration, ‘turn-taking’, approrpoaitness, social situsions and variance)
what three types of damages can occur to language
- production (brocas aphasia)
- comprehstion (wernickes aphasia)
- conduction (conduction aphasia)
who was patient tan
he had a stroke and could only then say ‘tan’: Paul Broca investgiated this and realized he had damage to the ‘brocas area’
what was still fine in patient tan
his language comprehsion and motor control abiltiy
what was wrong with patient tan
his abiltiy to produce language
what is brocas area
the inferior frontal gyrus in the brain responsible for languate production (writing, speaking, sign language)
who was sarah scott
a patient with brocas aphasia in 2008 who coul dunderstand but not produce language
what could sarah scott still do and what could she not do
could only produce memorize words (noun + content words) but not use verb/function verbs
who was Karl Wernicke
investigated language= discovered wernickes aphasi
what is wernickes aphasia
the inbaility to comprehend language or produce MEANINFUL speech due to a brain damage
what goes remains and what goes missing in wernickes apahsia
YES; grammar/function words
NO: noun/content words
where is wernickes area
posterior superior temporal cortex
what do people with wernicke struggle with
they know WHAT and HOW of an object but language abiltiy is impaired so they cna only produe nonsense words/incorrect word-object associations
Who was Ludwig Lichtheim
coined the ‘connectionism’ concept of the Wenicke-Lichtheim model
he focused on
language processing as being locally specialised.
what is conduction aphasia
also called associative aphasia, is a relatively rare form of aphasia.
An acquired language disorder, it is characterized by intact auditory comprehension, fluent (yet paraphasic) speech production, but poor speech repetition.
(dicciulty REPEATING a word: issue in listening/producing)
where is the damage in conduction aphasia
in the arcuate fasciularis
compare conduction aphasia to broca/wernicke aphasia
speech is still fluent
comprehesion still good
difficulty in repeititon
alternative name for wernickes aphasia
receptive aphasia, sensory aphasia, or posterior aphasia
arcuate fasciularis
a bundle of white-matter tracts that connect brocas and wernickes area
The arcuate bidirectionally connects caudal temporal cortex and inferior parietal cortex to locations in the frontal lobe.
sylvian fissures
The Sylvian fissure, also known as the lateral sulcus, separates the frontal and parietal lobes superiorly from the temporal lobe inferiorly. where broca/wernickes area are found
what area of the sylvian fissure is for language
the left side (hence is longer)
Geswind-Levitsky 1968 Concept
Human brain: left-right asymmetries in planum temporal speech area
found that the left temporal is slightely larger than the right for speech
Wernicke-Geschind Model
how langauge is produced/comphrehend; the artculate fasciularies combines broca and wernickes areas to produce, understand and make language connections
–> a dichotomic model treathing speech production + comphresision sas 2 different things in 2 different areas
what are some of the key issues with the concept of ‘brocas area’ (4)
- lesions to brocas area doesnt mean you will have brocas aphasia
- people with brocas aphasia= don’t always have a lesion in brocas area
- brocas area also causes issues with langauge comprehesion
- brocas area also responsbible for other functions (speech perception, music) and is activated in non-linguistic factors
what else and where does brocas area affect
the FLUENCY of a language= especialyl lesions in parietal white patter in the aterior insula
grammar impairtment in brocas area patient
sarah scott= can understand grammar but not use function words (conjunctions, preoporistion)
what is aggramatism
a tendency to form sentences without the correct inflectional structure as a result of brain damage, as in Broca’s aphasia.
what are the issues with wernickes area concept
- lesions to Wernicke’s area= doesn’t always cause Wernicke’s aphasia
- Wernickes aphasia= doesn’t mean a lesion is in Wernicke’s area
issues with Wernicke=Gewschind Idea
whole STG defined as ‘speech reception region’ but later neurologists found that poster STG + IPL also have language
fMRI studies and word distribution
action words= motivate motor areas
colour words= motivate colour perception areas
—> show words are ‘disttributed in brain’ parallel to the organization of sensory + moetor systems
contradiction to ‘left language’ area
right hemipshree also involved in comprehesions for more COMPLEX languages like idioms, metaphors, etc
and unerstanding of SELF-production of language
(anterior temporal region)
what rules out the unified meaning center idea
that right hemisphere also involved
that words are evyewhere (action words= foot in motot area vs face in face motor area)
what is MUC
alternative hypothesis to language prodution by Peter Hagoot
the current model: Memory, Unification, Control
Abandonds werniche-gewschined production-comphresiion dichotomy
Memory: what and where
for storage of knowledge about language (content words, word forms, meaning)
located in posterior temporal cortex + angular gyrus in parietal cortex
Unification: what and where
combining something (cells, meaning, semanticsgrammar)
stored in brocas area
Control: what and where
language in social itneractions (information reliances, etc)
in frontal areas of parietal cortex
what is syntax
how words combine with other words to form phrases/sentences according to rules
problems with wernicke-geswichind model
- no clear relationship between brocas area + speech production
- no clear relationship between wernickes area + language production
- language is not left lateralized (no centre of speech)
methods to study langauges
- brain (neuroimagine, eeg, fmri, lesions)
- social itneractions
- corpus collection
building blocks of lnauge
phonemes + morpheses + grammar
