Lecture 14 - Linguistics

Question 1

Intermission: Paul Watzlawick - Axioms of Comm.

Answer 1

1. “One cannot not communicate”
   -Even silence can be communication (ex: awkward silence)
2. “Every communication has a content [and relationship aspect]”
   -Talk differently to people depending on relationship with them
3. “Communication is punctuated”
4. “Communication involves digital and analogic modalities”
   -Symbolic discrete elements vs. gestures and movement (verbal and non-verbal components to language)
5. “Communication can be symmetrical or complementary
   -symmetrical = reciprocal (like discussion), complementary = ex: a lecturer to the class

Symbols = discrete and finite vs. sentences and meaning = continuous and infinite

Question 2

Clark and Clark’s Language Characteristics, 1977

Answer 2

1. Language is indicative of communication
   According to prof: Even if not aimed at somebody, still communication (structuring language is specific way with some intention… mental states…really hard to generate language completely unconsciously)
2. (Clark and Clark) Language is arbitrary
   Random, made up
   *Phonesthemes: certain words or part of words seem to correspond to certain concepts
   Ex: gl… light and vision. Glow, Glitter, Gleam, Glisten
   Sl… low friction. slide, slip, slope
3. Language is structured
   the fat cat
   el gato gordo
4. Generative
   Can substitute random words and change the meaning, infinite sentences
   “The fox jumped over the fence”
   “The cat jumped over the fence”
   “The cat jumped over the litter box”
   “The cat jumped into the litter box”
5. Dynamic
   Changes
   Ex: the word Twitter

Question 3

No need to memorize but have a general idea

Answer 3

Linguistic Representation
● Auditory 👂
○ Speech
○ Listening
○ Intonation
● Visual 👁
○ Reading
○ Writing
○ Gestural
○ ASL
● Haptic (Braille) 🫳
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Question 4

Language processing

Answer 4

Phonemes = sounds
Morphemes = parts of words
Syntax and semantics = how to structure and meaning
Pragmatics = social context of language

One after the other on a time scale

Question 5

Phonology (Phonemes=sounds)

Answer 5

Graph = Activity of different frequencies (the international phonetic alphabet)
Tongue/lip movement + pressure
Tongue/lip position

(Wave) Frequencies in when you say “university of California” example

Coarticulation : when the following letter modifies the sound
Ex: eNglish (the g modifies how the n sounds) vs. tenth

Strong top-down influence on phoneme
Ex: McGurk effect
The context can affect what we hear

d/t
The moon rises at [d/t]usk
The walrus was missing a [d/t]usk
Cf. McGurk

○ Phonemes: most basic sounds, b-up / t-dow

Question 6

Morphemes

Answer 6

Parts of words

● “Apple” → stem morpheme
● “-s” → bound morpheme (suffix)
● “Establish”
● “-ment”
● “-arian”
● “Dis-” (prefix)

English:
~100-170k
~20-40k
~5k

Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic:
infix

Word recognition
Ex: ele…. phant, vator, gant
elepha… nt
Later found with fmris: Different brain areas activated as soon as hear word stem, but turn off when you hear more of the words

With eye-tracking (which one they look at)
Candle and candy

Written Word Recognition
Glance in middle of word
Seeing rest of word peripherally
If align words correctly, can read faster
Uncommonness in phoneme increases reaction time (ex: pint vs. lint)

Let’s meet at the bank.
River bank? Money bank?
On Friday, I deposited my paycheck at the bank
Ohhh, money bank

Word recognition: narrowed down 👂, parallel 👁 , t-down

Question 7

Syntax & Chomsky

Answer 7

Might be some universal grammar/structure?
For Chomsky, syntax is the heart of the language
But…

“Put the apple on the towel in the box”
“Put the (apple on the towel) in the box”
“Put the apple on the (towel in the box)”
“Put the (apple on the towel) in the box”?
Frazier & Rayner, 1982

“The old man the boat”
“The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families.”

For George Lakoff
Semantics are the heart of a language (vs. Chomsky = syntax is the heart of the language)
For Lakoff, for ever concept we have simple mental images
“Her mind is full of ideas”
“My mind is empty”
Over
Under
Through…

Gendered word
understanding?
Le pain
La baguette
GL… OW, ITTER, EAM,…
“phonesthemes”

Ex:
The Bridge
-Spanish (masculine)
● Big
● Strong
● Towering
-German (feminine)
● Beautiful
● Fragile
● Elegant

The Key
-Spanish (feminine)
● Lovely
● Little
● Intricate
-German (masculine)
● Jagged
● Heavy
● Hard

Question 8

Pragmatics

Answer 8

● Assertives - “Esteban is a great TA”
● Directives - “Email Esteban!”
● Commissives - “I will email Esteban later”
● Expressives - “I apologize for asking a dumb question that was totally already
answered in the lecture and I just had to watch the recording or attend the lecture”
● Declaratives - “You are hired”

Question 9

Summary

Answer 9

● Language - features:
Communication, Arbitrary*, Structured, Generative, Dynamic
● Phonemes (sounds) - processed b-u + t-d
● Morphemes (word parts) - stem/bound, prefix, infix, suffix
● Word Recognition (very top-down)
○ Auditory: global activation, then narrowing
○ Visual: parallel
● Syntax: Chomsky - Phrase Structure Grammar
● Semantics: Lakoff - Image Schemas
● Pragmatics: Assertives, Directives, Commissives, Expressives, Declaratives
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