Language Comprehension (chpt. 9)

Question 1

Language

Answer 1

words stand for something

1. phonetics/phonology the relation of sounds to the auditory perception of signs
2. semantics the relation of signs to meanings
3. syntax relations between signs
4. progmatics relations of signs to people who use them

Question 2

Syntax (encoding and decoding)

Answer 2

refers to the grammatical rules that govern how we organize words into sentences

how to break a sentence into two parts

Question 3

Constituents

Answer 3

speech units replaceable by a single word rewrite rules used to analyze constituents. Evidence for the psychological reality of constituents people parse sentences at the same place. People hear a click as falling between constituents

Question 4

Function vs. Content words

Answer 4

content =nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs

function=articles, propositions, conjunctions,

Question 5

Chomsky

Answer 5

transformational grammar developed by chomsky similar to rewrite rules syntactic rule to transform surface structure to deep structure surface structure sentences as spoken or seen deep structure is the basic intent of a sentence

surface and deep structure can be different and similar
transformational example neg. to pos.Deep structure needs to be different to surface structure to the whoe content. Deep structure is the meaning

Question 6

Factor affecting comprhension

Answer 6

negatives, passive vs. active voice, nested structures the man the horse but was not hurt, ambiguity, surface structure ambiguity and deep structure

Question 7

Aphasia

Answer 7

Neurolinguistics aphasia a problem in communicating caused by brain damage

Has difficulty communicating typically as a result of damage to the brain caused by a stroke or a tumor

Question 8

Broca’s aphasia

Answer 8

site of damage: frontal lobe, back portion, symptoms difficulty expressing whole thought less of function words
characterized by an expressive language deficit or trouble producing language

Broca’s area typically leads to hesitant speech that primarily uses isolated words and short phrases

Question 9

Wernicke’s aphasia

Answer 9

site of damage: temporal lobe, back portion, symptoms problems in speech comprehension, fluent but nonsensical speech production problems connecting word sounds with meaning impaired processing of some types of semantics

produces serious difficulties understanding language and instruction

Question 10

Psycholinguistics

Answer 10

is an interdisciplinary field that examines how people use language to communicate ideas

Question 11

Phoneme

Answer 11

is the basic unit spoken language, sounds a, k and th

Question 12

Morpheme

Answer 12

is the basic unit meaning

Question 13

Morphology

Answer 13

refers to the study of morpheme

Question 14

Grammar

Answer 14

encompasses both morphology and syntax it therefore examines both word structure and sentence structure

Question 15

Semantic memory

Answer 15

refers to our organized knowledge about the world

Question 16

Pragmatic

Answer 16

refers to our knowledge of the social rules that underline language use pragmatics take into account the listener’s perspective

Question 17

Surface structure

Answer 17

is represented by the words that actually spoken or written

Question 18

Deep structure

Answer 18

underlying more abstract meaning of a senstence

Question 19

transformational rules

Answer 19

to convert deep structure into a surface structure that they can speak or write

Question 20

Cognitive functional approach

Answer 20

that the function of human language in everyday life is to communicate meaning to other individuals

Question 21

Incremental interpretation

Answer 21

refers to the observation that when processing language we do not wait an entire sentence is spoken or read before making judgements about what it means

Question 22

On line language processing measures

Answer 22

On line measures of sentence processing are designed to gauge the amount of difficulty one experiences as the linguistic signal unfolds unit by unit over time

Question 23

Lexical ambiguity

Answer 23

refers to the fact that a single word can have mutiple meaning

Question 24

Eye tracker

Answer 24

is a special camera that allows one to determine precisely where in a visual display someone is looking

Question 25

Neurolinguistics

Answer 25

is the discipline that examines how the brain process language

Question 26

Event Related Potential Technique

Answer 26

records brief fluctuations in the brains electrical activity elicited by the presentation on a linguistic stimulus precise information about the time course of linguistic processing events

Question 27

Lateralization

Answer 27

means that each hemisphere of the brain has somewhat different functions

Question 28

Mirror system

Answer 28

is a network involving the brains motor cortex are activated both when you watch someone perform in action and when you perform the action yourself

Question 29

Dual route approach to reading

Answer 29

specifies that skilled readers employ both 1. direct access route and 2. an indirect access route

Question 30

Direct access route

Answer 30

you recognize this word directly through vision without sounding out the words

Question 31

Indirect access route

Answer 31

as soon as you see a word you translate the ink marks on the page into some form of sound before you can access a word and its meaning

Question 32

Whole word approach

Answer 32

argues that readers can directly connect the written word as an entire unit with the meaning that this word represents

Question 33

Phonics approach

Answer 33

states that readers recognize words by trying to pronounce the individual letters in the word

Question 34

Whole language approach

Answer 34

reading instruction should emphasize meaning, and it should be enjoyable to increase children’s enthusiasm about learning to read

Question 35

Discourse

Answer 35

inter related units of language that are larger than a sentence

Question 36

Constructionist view of inferences

Answer 36

readers usually draw inferences about the causes of events and the relationships between events