Language and thought Flashcards
Phoneme
Smallest unit of sound in language that leads to different meanings in words - “dog” vs “log”
Morpheme
Smallest language units that carry meaning
- word
- suffixes
- Prefixes
Semantic processing
Relies on processing of content words.
Syntax cues meaning -> semantics
Statement that expresses an idea
Syntactic processing
Relies on the processing of function words
Syntax
The structure of language -> phrases and sentences
Rules for ordering words are learning implicitly.
Is cued by word order and word class
Wernicke’s aphasia
The inability to produce or understand language
- Left temporal lobe next to the primary auditory cortex. translates sounds into meaning.
Proposition
Statement that expresses an idea
- action-verb
- performers (semantic roles)
Surface structure
Organisation of words at a surface level
Deep structure
Meaning of sentence
One deep structure, two surface structures
Words in two sentences are organised differently but underlying meaning is the same
Single surface structure can have two very different deep structures
Words organised the same but meaning of sentence is ambiguous
Content morpheme
Carrys meaning, add grammatical function.
“dog’, “food”, “exam”
Unbound/free morphemes
Words that can be used on their own, carry meaning.
Bound morphemes
Affixes + suffixes
Cannot be used without a word -> doesn’t carry meaning
e.g. plural - s
past tense - ed
Closed class words
Category for words that you can’t add new wording to
e.g. she, it, there
Open class words
Category for words that you can add to (building blocks)
Broca’s Aphasia
The inability to produce and understand language
Located near areas that control speech muscles
Lower edge of frontal lobe.
Affects syntax and grammar.
Broca’s Aphasia
The inability to produce and understand language
Located near areas that control speech muscles
Lower edge of frontal lobe.
Affects syntax and grammar.
Early infant speech perception
- able to perceive basic phoneme contrasts
- not restricted to the sounds in language
Categorical speech perception
Perception of consonant sounds become categorical
VOT
Time interval between release of consonant and onset of voicing.
Detection of phonemic change is modified by experience.
Older infant speech perception
Categorised by modified experience.
Producing speech sounds - infants
Cooing (2), reduplicated babbling (6-7) same syllable, variegated babbling (11-12) syllables with different consonant and vowels
Word comprehension vs production
Word comprehension (receptive vocabulary) precedes productive vocabulary by 4 months
Vocabulary burst
Major increase in productive vocabulary after first 50 words are learned. Why - - symbolic nature of language - control over articulation - Easier retrieval
Overextension
“dog” to refer to dogs and cats
“moon” for orange, lamp, fingernail etc
the tendency of very young children to extend the use of a word beyond the scope of its specific meaning
Under-extension
“dog” only for family dog but no other dogs
the incorrect restriction of the use of a word
