Quiz #1 Flashcards
What is linguistics?
Scientific study of language
What is psycholinguistics?
Study of psychological processes involved in language. They study understanding, producing, and remembering language
Phonetics
Physical properties of speech sounds, relates to perception and production of speech sounds
Subfields of phonetics (3)
- Acoustic
- Articulatory
- Auditory
Consonants can be described by
Place of articulation, manner of articulation, voicing
Place of articulation
Bilabial [b], labiodental [f], alveolar [t], post-alveolar [sh], palatal [y], velar [k], uvular [ng]
Manner of articulation
Stops [b], nasals [m], fricatives [f], affricatives [ch], liquids [l], glide [w], flap (“tt” in latter)
How can consonants and vowels be distinguished?
Degree of constriction in vocal tract, syllabic or not
How are vowels arranged on chart?
In approximation to tongue positions (front to back) and closed mouth to open
Are consonants (and vowels) voice or voiceless?
Consonants: can be both
Vowels: voiced
How are the IPA symbols organized on the chart?
Horizontal: place of articulation
Vertical: manner of articulation
Phonology
Language-specific inventory of meaning-contrastive sound
Phoneme
Denoted by //, abstract unit, underlying form of sound realizations, contrast meanings
Phone
Denoted by [], actual speech sound, surface realization of phonemes –> concrete
Allophone
Different phones that are understood as the same phoneme (ex: [pʰ] and [p] are of /p/)
Minimal pair
Two words differing just by one sound
What are design features of language?
Attempt to define language, emphasis on spoken language, may be used as set of criteria to compare human lang to animal communication
Vocal-auditory channel
Transmission of speech signal from speaker to hearer
Broadcast transmission and directional reception
Signal sent out in all directions by speaker but listener can localize the signal in space
Rapid fading
Speech signal is not long-lasting and instead is transitory
Interchangeability
A competent language user can be both a speaker and also a receiver
Complete feedback
Speakers can get auditory feedback from their own productions
Specialization
Function of signal doesn’t change regardless of how it is produced (ex: whisper)-specialized for communication
Semanticity
Meaning of signal comes from its association with objects and events
Arbitrariness
Meaning associated between signal and object/event is arbitrary
Is there anything in human language that is not arbitrary?
Onomatopoeia
Discreteness
Language is made up of discrete units (phonemes, morphemes, syntactic constitutes)
Displacement
We can talk about things in the past or future and in different spaces
Openness
Invention of new messages
Tradition
Language can be taught and learned
Duality of patterning
Combination of sounds or words into larger units
Similarities between animal communication and human language
Rely on symbolic representation, smaller communication elements combines to create complex messages
Differences between animal communication and human language
- Bee dance: mostly non-arbitrary
- Human language: mostly arbitrary
Potential problems in animal communication
Researcher over-interprets animals’ signal, Clever Hans effect
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: Linguistic determinism
The form of our language influences how we think, remember, and perceive
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: Linguistic relativism
Different languages generate different cognitive structures
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: strong version
Language determines thought
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: weaker version
Language affects only perception
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: weakest version
The influence of language is “task-dependent”
Vygotsky
- Speech not attached to speech at beginning (thinking is non-verbal)
- Speech becomes connected to thought after age 3
- Cognitive development influenced by language
- Egocentric speech as a tool to develop thinking; becomes internalized at later stage
Piaget
- Cognitive development preceded learning
- Egocentric speech: thinking aloud; reflects immature socialization
- Thought determines language
Speech production processes (Levelt)
Conceptualization–> formulation–> articulation
Garret’s model of speech production
Message level–> functional level–> positional level–> sound level–> articulatory instructions
Freudian slip
Slips of the tongue as a reflection of our repressed thoughts
Cognitive intrusion errors: non-plan internal errors
Evidence of influence from high-level processing
Cognitive intrusion errors: environmental contamination
Errors resulting from the (distracting) input in the surroundings, usually phonologically driven errors
