Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Psychology of Language > Psychology of Language Exam 2 > Flashcards

Psychology of Language Exam 2 Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
Psychology 101 flashcards GRE® Psychology flashcards AP® Psychology flashcards
1
Q

What is well-formedness?

A

The quality of a clause, word, or other linguistic element, that conforms to the grammar of the language of which it is a part; essentially, it makes sense given its grammar

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What are the NP and VP in the sentence “The boy likes the girl”?

A

NP = the boy likes
VP = the girl

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What are the NP and VP in the sentence “The man bit the dog”?

A

NP = the man bit
VP = the dog

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What does it mean for sentence structure to be hierarchical?

A

Sentences are made up of words grouped into phrases, which are grouped into higher-level phrases, and so on
Ex. a verb phrase is made up of a verb, a noun phrase, and a prepositional phrase; a prepositional phrase is made up of a preposition and a noun phrase

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

How does sentence structure hierarchy determine meaning?

A

A sentence’s meaning can be changed depending on the structural component a word fills

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Why are sentences like “She wants to discuss sex with John” ambiguous?

A

There’s ambiguity in what the noun phrase is, or what is being discussed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What are the two possible syntactic representations of the sentence “She wants to discuss sex with John”?

A

She could want to talk to John about sex, or she could want to talk about having sex with John

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What does syntactic ambiguity tell us about syntax?

A

It demonstrates the power of syntax because it can generate many syntactic parses to the same sentences

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What is the behaviorist account of language?

A

Language is a verbal behavior—to explain how people behave all you need is a stimulus/response
- Stimulus → response
- Hunger → “give me apple”
- If you give the right response you get the apple, if not
you may not get the apple
- You learn to associate them together
Sentences formed by associating words (adjacent)
- Give-me-apple
- A chain; one word associated with the next word
associated with the next word, and so on and so forth

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What is center embedding?

A

The process of embedding a phrase in the middle of another phrase of the same type

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What determines whether two sounds are different phonemes or different allophones of a single phoneme?

A

It depends on your language

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Phonemes

A

Unique categories/buckets by which you organize speech sounds

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Are two sounds always represented as different phonemes?

A

No

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Allophone

A

Two sounds that realize the same abstract phoneme
English: /kh/ vs. / k/ are allophones (same phoneme)
Gujarati: /kh/ vs. /k/ are different phonemes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is phonology?

A

Knowledge concerning the patterning of words (meaningful units) from meaningless elements; our knowledge concerning the sound structure of language

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Phonological universality

A

Rules or constraints that are part of every grammar; linguistic constraints given through universal grammar

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Phonological diversity

A

Languages differ in their building blocks and the patterns in which they arrange the building blocks

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Two aspects of phonological diversity

A

The building blocks that make up a language and the patterns in which the building blocks are arranged

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What is the difference between consonants and vowels?

A

Differ in constriction of airflow
Consonants: constriction of airflow
Vowels: less constriction

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Consonantal features

A

Place (where airflow is constricted - tongue v. lip), manner (manner of constricting airflow - complete vs. partial), and voicing (whether vocal folds vibrate - /p/ vs. /b/)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Distinctive features

A

Features that contrast phonemes
E.g., voicing (of labials):
Distinctive in English (b vs. p)
Not distinctive in Arabic

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Aspiration

A

A strong air burst that accompanies the production of a consonant

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Place of articulation example

A

Air constricted at lip vs. tongue
Pill vs. Till

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What is phonotactics?

A

Phonological patterns; the study of the rules governing the possible phoneme sequences in a language

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What is a syllable?

A

An imaginary phonological unit, another bucket constructed by your brain

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

What are the constituents of the syllable?

A

Syllable
Onset and Rhyme
(from rhyme) Nucleus and Coda

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

Expletive infixation as evidence for the syllable

A

You infix an expletive between syllables when using the expletive to emphasize a word (sar-freaking-dine)
Words comprise syllables and affixes are inserted between syllables, not within

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

How are syllables shown to be abstract through language differences?

A

Speakers of different languages interpret the same acoustic input differently (one syllable or two)
What you “hear” as a syllable depends on your language
Syllables are “made” by your brain, not just ears, it’s your brain that imagines the syllables

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

How do Japanese speakers pronounce “Mac”?

A

“Macu”

30
Q

How do word chains work?

A

Group words (female names, actions) → Sample one word from each group → Move to the next group
Each move depends only on the immediately preceding move

31
Q

Can word chains generate simple sentences?

A

Yes

32
Q

Why do word chains exhibit difficulties with other types of sentences?

A

You cannot control the number of loops; must loop back for as many items in the group

33
Q

With what types of sentences do word chain grammars experience difficulties?

A

Center embedding and long-distance dependencies

34
Q

What are long-distance dependencies?

A

Understanding a sentence depends on words at endpoints; the form of words that are not adjacent depends on the other word (ex. “The girls who live next door love music” - the ‘s’ at the end of ‘girls’ makes it ‘love’ and not ‘loves’)

35
Q

Why do long-distance dependencies present a problem to word chain grammars?

A

Word chains can only form associations among adjacent words

36
Q

How does syntax solve the problem of long-distance dependencies?

A

Syntax builds constituents recursively

37
Q

What is recursion?

A

An element that is defined in terms of itself; a phrase can have the same phrase inside it; makes us perceive distance words as close (John….-—- Married Linda - physically distant, psychologically close [under the same sentence])

38
Q

How does recursion help us perceive syntactic links between words that are physically distant?

A

Certain grammatical rules can be repeatedly applied, with the output of each application being input to the next

39
Q

What is an auxiliary?

A

A verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it occurs; helps out the main verb (is, have, will, may)

40
Q

Sentence with a single auxiliary

A

A unicorn /is/ eating in the garden

41
Q

Sentence with a double auxiliary

A

A unicorn [that /is/ eating a flower] /is/ in the garden
Has an embedded sentence

42
Q

The 2 rules of question formation

A

Word order rule and structure-sensitive rule

43
Q

Do both rules of question formation work for single auxiliary questions?

A

Yes

44
Q

Do both rules of question formation work for double auxiliary questions?

A

No, only the structure-sensitive rule works

45
Q

What is the challenge in discovering the right rule of question formation?

A

Poverty of the stimulus - Children do not hear double auxiliary sentences nearly enough to form these sentences on their own and learn which rule is correct through parent corrections

46
Q

Do children acquire the word-order or structure-sensitive rule?

A

Sentence-structure (errors made do not follow the word order rule)

47
Q

Poverty of the stimulus

A

To infer the right rule, children need to hear a certain type of input (ex. questions with double auxiliary), but the problem is that input is poor/limited (input is only single auxiliary)

48
Q

How do children solve poverty of the stimulus?

A

Structure sensitivity is a UG principle; children will not consider the word order rule, and the problem of question formation never arises in the first place

49
Q

Why do Japanese speakers pronounce “Mac” as “Macu”?

A

“Mac” is ill-formed because CVC syllable types are not allowed in Japanese, only CV, so another consonant is added to the end of the syllable to make it CVCV

50
Q

What is repair?

A

A grammatical process that renders ill-formed syllables better-formed by inserting/deleting phonemes

51
Q

Does repair affect the perception of syllable structure?

A

Yes, repairs are modality independent

52
Q

What are the goals of Optimality theory?

A

Explain how languages differ from each other and how they are still similar to each other
Explain language diversity and language universals

53
Q

How does grammar work in optimality theory?

A

Get input (ebzo) → Grammar takes it and generates representations (guesses about what you have heard) (ebzo, ebuzo, buzo) → Pick which one you actually heard based on which input incurs the least severe constraint violation

54
Q

Based on optimality theory, how does Japanese grammar result in repair?

A

Markedness (NoCoda) is a constraint valued higher than faithfulness (fill or parse), so Japanese grammar would fill/parse in order to repair having a coda

55
Q

How does the English grammar differ from the Japanese grammar?

A

English values faithfulness over markedness, whereas Japanese values markedness over faithfulness

56
Q

How does Optimality theory explain the tension between language diversity and universality?

A

Languages have universal constraints (markedness/faithfulness), but they are diverse in how they rank them

57
Q

What aspects of grammar are universal?

A

Constraints, preferring large sonority clines over small ones

58
Q

What is the syllable hierarchy?

A

Some syllables are ranked better in our minds due to sonority levels

59
Q

Describe the statistical tendencies associated with the syllable hierarchy

A

Lower/negative sonority clines are disliked compared to higher sonority clines

60
Q

Sonority

A

Consonants have some phonological property on which they’re arraigned

61
Q

Sonority levels

A

A hierarchical ranking of speech sounds (L = 3, B = 1)

62
Q

Sonority distance

A

The distance from C1 to C2 in the syllable onset

63
Q

What is the auditory/phonetic explanation of why English speakers misidentify ill-formed syllables?

A

The person simply misheard what was said/humans cannot hear that syllable

64
Q

How does the auditory/phonetic account differ from the phonological account?

A

The person is not interpreting it as something different, they’re just not hearing it in the first place

65
Q

What is the issue with the auditory/phonetic account as shown by Russian speakers?

A

Ill-formed syllables can be identified/heard by Russian speakers

66
Q

What is the issue with the auditory/phonetic account as shown by printed words?

A

English speakers cannot encode ill-formed syllables, even when they’re reading a printed version

67
Q

What is the sub-vocal articulatory (motor simulation) explanation of why English speakers misidentify ill-formed syllables?

A

Motor areas are activated in production and perception, so people may misperceive ill-formed syllables because they fail to simulate it

68
Q

Perception of /p/ and /t/

A

Even when perceiving /p/ and /t/, not even speaking, the lip motor area and tongue motor areas are activated, respectively

69
Q

Onsets

A

Sounds attached to the beginning of the nucleus

70
Q

Coda

A

Sounds attached to the end of the nucleus

Psychology of Language (3 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions