Lecture 2- Intro to psych of lang

Question 1

What is language?

Answer 1

System which can convey meaningf ( mental representations ) from one person to another

Question 2

what is a symbol/

Answer 2

special arbituary pattern that is used to carry out a specific meaning -> words (sounds/writing), gestures (sign language), pictograms

Question 3

how are sentances made/

Answer 3

words learnt and become mental representations- these can be combined to make sentances

Question 4

describe the 3 levels of how the brain works

Answer 4

descriptive: what the brain can do - eg how people use language, children learn language and common disorders
algorithmic: what the algorith,/ software is used - eg how people use languag e, children learn lang and other lang disorders
hardware implantation (how hardware is implements)- eg which parts of the brain involved with lang in animals / humans

Question 5

how do animals communicate

Answer 5

cant use langiuage
can communicate
eg honey bees dance= geographical location of nectar
ant pheremones

Question 6

give some examples of where animals have learnt language

Answer 6

Washoe chimp- 130 sign sand claimed to combine signs

nim chimpsky- 125 signs but no syntax

kanzi the bonobo - 150 symbols of words on lexigram, responded to 70-80% of sentences - same as a 2 year old

Question 7

what is an algorithm

Answer 7

how language is presented in the brain

Question 8

what is universal grammar according to Chomsky

Answer 8

all languages share an innate universal grammar

• lag is modular (apart form the brain)- worls quick and automatically
• humans are born with module for learning (lang acquistion device)

Question 9

describe the language acquisition device

Answer 9

• humans are born with module for learning
• not possible in englusg - poss in spanish and italian

eg syntactic order

Question 10

Describe syntactic order - including the order of 3 languages

Answer 10

s= subject 0= object V= verb

SV0- (42% of languages)- eg english

SOV= (45% languages)- eg hindu, arabic, turkish

VSO= (9% of languages)- eg hebrew

Question 11

explain evidence for where do language preferences come from?

Answer 11

• evidence from universal grammar
• deaf childrern who dont learn to sign can create their own gestural language
• case of genie- neglected for 11 yearss - learnt some words (= no crit period) but didnt learn syntax (= crit period)