Lecture 9 Flashcards
Explicit learning
Intentional learning of information while consciously looking for structure.
Implicit learning
Learning while being unaware of the rules or structure that are embedded in the information.
Language definition
A system for communicating with others using signals that convey meaning and are combined according to the rules of grammar.
Linguistics
The study of language and its rules
- Attempts to describe languages in a compact set of rules.
Psycholinguistics
The study of human use of language.
- Attempts to describe how we acquire, use, generate and comprehend language.
Phoneme
The smallest unit of sound that is recognised as meaningful speech.
Morphemes
Smallest meaningful units of a language.
- Dog has two morphemes: ‘dog’ and plural ‘s’
Phonological rules
Indicate how phonemes can be combined to produce speech sounds and how they are ordered into syllables and morphemes.
Morphonological rules
Indicate how morphemes can be combined to form words.
Types of prosodic cues (3)
Intonation, volume, speaking rate.
Syntax
It specifies how the units of language can be combined to form phrases and sentences.
Language development - behaviourists explanation
Skinner: we learn to talk in the same way we learn any other skill - through reinforcement, shaping, extinction, and other basic principles of operant conditioning.
Language development - nativist explanation
Language development is best explained as an innate, biological capability.
- Chomsky: the human brain is equipped with a universal grammar, a collection of processes that facilitate language learning.
Deep structure
Refers to the conceptual meaning of any sentence. This structure is not language-specific.
Surface structure
The specific way in which the deep structure is expressed (the actual sequence of words that are used).
