Midterm 3 Flashcards
language
system of communication using sounds or symbols that enable us to express feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences
importance of language
provides a way of arranging a sequence of signals to transmit different types of information from one person to another; makes it possible to create new and unique sentences
structure of language
hierarchical system, governed by rules
hierarchical system in language
components that can be combined to form larger units
rules in language
specific ways components can be arranged
the universality of language
language occurs wherever there are people; language development is similar across cultures; language are “unique but the same” because they have different words, sounds, and rules but all have nouns, verbs, negatives, questions, past/present tense
B. F. Skinner on language
language learned through reinforcement
Noam Chomsky on language
human language coded in the genes; underlying basis of all language is similar; children produce sentences they have never heard and that have never been reinforced
psycholinguistics
discover psychological processes by which humans acquire and process language
organization of language
sentence –> phrase –> word –> morpheme –> phoneme
sentence
coherent sequence of words
word
a complete, discrete unit of meaning in a language
morpheme
the smallest language unit that carries meaning
phoneme
the smallest unit of sound that serves to distinguish meaning
production of speech
speech produced by airflow from the lungs that pass through the larynx and oral and nasal cavities; different vowels are created by movements of the lips and tongue that change the size and shape of the oral cavity; consonants are produced by movements that temporarily obstruct the airflow through the vocal tract
ways to distinguish sounds
- manner of production
- voicing
- place of articulation
manner of production
how the airflow is restricted to produce different speech sounds
voicing
distinguish between sounds that are and are not voiced
place of articulation
point of airflow restriction; closing of lips, top teeth against bottom lip, tongue behind upper teeth
speech segmentation
the “slicing” of a continuous speech stream into appropriate segments
coarticulation
how the production of each phoneme is slightly altered depending on the preceding and following sounds
complexity of speech perception
has to “read past” context differences in order to identify the phonemes produced
perception of language
relies on prior knowledge and expectations to supplement input
phonemic restoration effect
occurs when phonemes are perceived in speech when the sound of the phoneme is covered up; “fill in” missing phonemes based on context of sentence and portion of word