The basics Flashcards
Psycholinguistics
the scientific study of the mental processes involved in producing, understanding, and acquiring language
Communication
the process by which individuals exchange information and convey ideas (share a common reference, don’t need language, language is a form of communication)
Language
a socially shared code used to convey information through the use of arbitrary symbols and rules that govern combinations of these symbols
Speech
the oral-verbal mode of transmitting language; comprised of the sound system of the language (language specific sounds)
Tacit knowledge
how to perform various acts
Explicit knowledge
knowledge of the processes or mechanisms used in these various acts of tacit knowledge
Rule-based systems of language
Phonology (sounds), syntax/morphology (form), semantics (content), pragmatics (use)
phonology
the sound pattern for language. The study of phonemes and how they are combined
phoneme
the smallest unit of speech that can signal a change in meaning
Speech is complex (4)
precise coordination of respiration, phonation, articulation, resonance
Syntax
the structure of sentences and rules that specify how words are ordered to produce various sentence types
Morphology
the structure of words and rules that govern the makeup of words (the study of morphemes)
Morpheme
the smallest linguistic units with meaning
Semantics
content, the meaning of words and the links that bind them (vocabulary)
Lexicon
an individual’s mental dictionary (semantics requires experience and exposure to the specific word). Interconnections in lexicon allow for quick recall of words
Content, form, use
content (semantics), form (morphology, syntax, use (pragmatics)
Pragmatics
Rules that govern the use of language in social contexts (intentions - purpose for using language, intent dictates how we use language.) Choice of codes, matches the audience, discourse conventions
Basic linguistic principles (5)
duality of patterning, semanticity, phrase structure, linguistic productivity/generativity, displacement
Duality of patterning
two levels of symbols, one with meaning and one without (i.e. words (morphemes/phonemes) need rules for combining meaningless units to form meaningful ones
Phonology primer (legal combinations, etc)
phonemes are language specific (40 in English), described by International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
Allophones
variability within phonemes
Characteristics that distinguish phonemes
consonants can be described according to 3 features (voicing, place of articulation, manner of articulation)
Voicing
vibration of vocal chords (phonation). Some consonants have voicing, some don’t (all vowels do)
Place of articulation
where articulation occurs (labial, lingual, alveolar, velar, glottal, dental, palatal)
Labial
lips
lingual
tongue
alveolar
ridge behind teeth
velar
back of throat
glottal
down in throat
dental
teeth
palatal
roof of mouth
manner
how articulation proceeds; what happens to air flow
Manner (def’n and five types)
stops (air flow comes to a complete stop)
fricatives (air forced through a constriction)
affricates (stop and fricative)
nasals
liquids/glides (very minimal change to airflow, subtle)
Phrase structure rules
specify parts of a sentence and how they are combined (a sentence is made up of a noun phrase and a verb phrase)
Noun phrase
(determiner)+(adjective)+noun
Verb phrase
verb+(Noun phrase)+(adverb)
Linguistic productivity/generativity
there is no limit to the number of sentences in a language; not limited to sentences you have previously heard.
phrase structure transformation
syntactical rules for moving, deleting, or adding elements within a phrase structure
recursion
the ability to embed a phrase/sentence into another
Productivity =
phrase structure rules+transformations+recursion
displacement
language can communicate about things not present, not limited to the here and now
animal communication = language?
fixed number of signals that serve a set function, systems do not display other “properties” of a language (duality, phrase structure, productivity, semanticity, displacement. But may be beyond our knowledge.
Properties of language
duality of patterning, phrase structure, productivity, semanticity, displacement
can you teach animals language?
Speech, no. Communication, controversial research area.
3 factors proposed to explain why animals have the communicative abilities that they do
1) biological characteristics of the species (phylogeny)
2) maturational characteristics of their species (ontogeny)
3) environmental influences
Savage-Rumbaugh study
raised a bonobo and a chimp in more of an immersion environment with gestures and lexigrams. Allow for a test of phylogeny (difference between species) and ontogeny (change over time). Approximately four years:gestures emerged first; lexigram use more challenging. Bonobo > chimp
conclusions of animals and language (two hypotheses)
Continuity hypothesis (other species’ communication represents more primitive versions of our own
Discontinuity hypothesis: our language represents a qualitatively distinct system, generated by unique mental processes. Also depends on what language module you prioritize.
