Linguistic Approach Flashcards
Symbolic
make use of arbitrary relation between sounds and meaning
use different words to refer to the same thing within the English language (dialects…i.e. soda/pop/coke)
Discrete Infinity
generativity
a finite set of elements can generate a potentially infinite set of meanings
John hates cheese…add more meaning by adding more words
Structure dependence
meaning is conferred through a specific arrangement of symbols
language is governed by rules that impart meaning and define which combinations of elements are acceptable and which are not
Displacement
language allows referring to ideas/elements that are not “there”
language allows us to think of, and communicate about things beyond what is immediately sensed
Organized at multiple levels
sounds, words, sentences, paragraphs, and text
Referent
the actual object, action, or event in the world that a word refers to
Levels of language representation
phoneme, morpheme, word, syntactic, discourse
Phonemes
the smallest unit of speech that can be used to distinguish an utterance from another
in english, made of consonant or vowel
children appear to be sensitive to any set of phonemes at birth
Phoneme cont.
produced by modulating the flow of air from lungs to mouth and nose
classified according to specific features (voicing, production, articulation)
Voicing
whether vocal folds vibrate (z,d,b,v) or not (s,t,p,f)
Manner of production
whether air is fully stopped (b,p,d,t) or merely restricted (z,s,v,f)
Place of articulation
where in the mouth the air is restricted
closing of lips (b,p) top teeth against bottom (v,f) tongue behind upper teeth (d,t,z,s)
coarticulation
the pronunciation of a phoneme is changed by the following phoneme
Voice onset time
the time between the beginning of the pronunciation of the word and the onset of the vibration of the vocal chords
ba: vocal chords vibrate at start
pa: you vocal chords are delayed
Categorical perception
categorization of phonemes shows abrupt boundaries even when there is no corresponding abrupt change in the stimuli themselves
Morpheme
smallest unit of meaning within a language
can be divided into root words and affixes (prefix, suffix)
Syntax
the systematic way in which words can be combined and sequenced to generate meaningful phrases and sentences
Rules apply to grammatical categories
Phrase-structure Rule
constraint that governs the pattern of branching in a phase-structure tree
a sentence must contain a noun phrase and a verb phrase
transformational grammar
a sentence can be rearranged to express new meanings
jesse drank a cup of coffee.
the cup of coffee was drunk by jesse.
garden-path sentence
initially suggests one interpretation, which turns out to be wrong
Fat people eat accumulates.
The man whistling tunes pianos.
Extralinguistic context
factors outside the language itself
“put the apple on the towel into the box”
Prosody
the patterns of pauses and pitch changes that characterize speech production
Used to emphasize elements of a sentence, highlight the sentence’s intended structure, signal the difference between a question and an assertion
Language in the Brain
Arcuate fasciculus is a fiber bundle that connects Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area
Broca’s area: left ventral frontal cortex
Wernicke’s area: posterior part of temporal lobe
Broca’s aphasia
Patient Tan unable to say anything besides the word Tan. Articulation potential was there, but ability to create sequences was absent.
Wernicke’s Aphasia
damage in wernicke’s area
could speak fluently, articulately, but didn’t understand what was being said. Normal rate of speaking but severely impaired comprehension
comprehension deficit
Broca’s aphasia
halting speech repeat phrases, words disordered syntax disordered grammar comprehension INTACT
Wernicke’s aphasia
fluent speech little spontaneous repetition syntax/grammar adequate contrived or inappropriate words comprehension NOT INTACT
