language-exam2 Flashcards
properties of language
Arbitrarily symbolic: Words have no inherent connection to their meanings (e.g., “dog” doesn’t resemble a dog).
Generative: Finite set of words can be combined using rules of language to create an infinite number of novel sentences.
Structured at multiple levels: Language is organized from sounds (phonemes) → words → phrases → sentences.
phonemes
Phonemes: Smallest unit of sound in a language (e.g., “b” in “bat”).
Different languages have different sets of phonemes; English uses about 45 phonemes.
Mapping from letters to phonemes is not always 1-to-1 (e.g., “sh” in “shoot” is one phoneme, two letters).
articulation: how do we produce the correct phonemes?
Consonants: Airflow is partially or fully obstructed (e.g., “b,” “d,” “t”).
Vowels: Unobstructed airflow; lips/tongue position shapes sound (e.g., “ee” vs. “ah”).
Voicing: Some phonemes involve vibration of vocal cords (e.g., “z” in “buzz”).
morphology
Morphemes: Smallest meaningful unit of language (e.g., “cat” and plural “-s” in “cats”).
Words can be made up of one morpheme (e.g., “cat”) or several morphemes (e.g., “unhappiness” = “un-“ + “happy” + “-ness”).
Morphology studies how these morphemes form and alter word meanings.
syntax
Syntax: The set of rules that governs how words are combined into phrases and sentences.
Sentence structure: Noun phrase (NP) + Verb phrase (VP) (e.g., “The cat [NP] sat on the mat [VP]”).
Syntax determines whether a sentence is grammatically correct or incorrect.
aphasias
Broca’s aphasia: Difficulty with language production (slow, halting speech), comprehension largely intact.
Wernicke’s aphasia: Fluent but nonsensical speech (word salad), comprehension impaired.
Conduction aphasia: Difficulty repeating spoken language, mild issues with monitoring speech.
linguistic determinism and relativity
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: Language influences (or determines) thought and perception.
Linguistic determinism: Language fully determines worldview and thought patterns.
Linguistic relativity: Language influences thought, but it doesn’t entirely control it (less rigid version of Sapir-Whorf).
color naming studies (linguistic relativity)
Berlin and Kay: Found that all languages derive their color terms from a universal set of 11 colors (black/white, then red, green, blue, etc.).
Heider’s study: Dani tribe (with only 2 color terms) could still distinguish focal colors like English speakers, supporting universal color perception.
Color naming follows a universal hierarchy, suggesting physiological principles behind color naming.
problem of language acquisition
Phoneme learning: Infants can discriminate all phonemes at birth but lose ability for non-native phonemes over time.
Word segmentation: Children must learn to identify word boundaries, as speech has no clear pauses between words.
Syntax learning: Children acquire grammatical rules without explicit negative feedback (suggests linguistic universals).
language development
Holophrastic stage: One-word stage, where a single word conveys a complete idea (e.g., “milk” = “I want milk”).
Telegraphic stage: Two-word combinations (e.g., “want cookie”).
Motherese: High-pitched, exaggerated speech used by adults to help children learn language.
critical period effects (Johnson and Newport study)
Critical period for language acquisition: Language learning, particularly grammar, is significantly easier before puberty.
Johnson & Newport’s study of immigrants showed that those exposed to a second language earlier had better grammatical proficiency.
Supports the idea of a critical period for acquiring language skills.
animal language
Kanzi the bonobo and Koko the gorilla were able to learn some language-like symbols.
Clever Hans problem: Animals may appear to understand language but could be responding to subtle human cues.
Ongoing debate about whether animals can truly learn language in a human sense.
