unit 9

Question 1

what is “language”

Answer 1

set of symbols, and principles, that allow for communication and comprehension

Question 2

language is symbolic. what does that mean?

Answer 2

symbolic: sounds/signs/symbols stand for something out in the world (randomly linked to meaning) * unlike gestures, pointing, waving.

Question 3

language is rule-based. explain what that means.

Answer 3

rule-based: has structure and the structure is meaningful (rules for combining sounds and combining words)

Question 4

language is generative. explain what that means.

Answer 4

generative: can combine units to create an infinite number of meanings

Question 5

what is “mental lexicon”?

Answer 5

all the words a person knows

Question 6

what is “semantics”?

Answer 6

how words and sentences express meaning

Question 7

what is “syntax”?

Answer 7

rules for putting words together (grammar)

Question 8

what is “discourse”?

Answer 8

language beyond the sentence level

Question 9

what is phonology?

Answer 9

the study/analysis of speech sounds in a language *there can be differences across languages

Question 10

what are phonemes? give an example.

Answer 10

the smallest meaningful units of sound, the smallest units of speech sound that are recognized as different in a particular language and change the meaning of a spoken signal
ex: /b/ and /p/ “p” in “Pat” and “b” in “bat” creates a different meaning

Question 11

what are morphemes?

Answer 11

smallest meaningful units of language
ex: tree, walk, -ed, -s, un-

Question 12

what are free morphemes?

Answer 12

can stand alone

Question 13

what are bound morphemes?

Answer 13

must accompany a free morphene

Question 14

speech perception is pretty complex! what are some things that make speech perception so challenging?

Answer 14

“there are no pauses between the words”
- variability in speech sounds due to accents, speed and context
- coarticulation: overlapping of phonemes during speech
- lack of clear word boundaries in continuous speech

Question 15

what is meant by the “coarticulation” of phonemes?

Answer 15

phonemes articulated together, overlap in time
phonemes sound different depending on neighboring phonemes

Question 16

do we tend to perceive phonemes in categories or along a continuum?

Answer 16

phonemes are perceived categorically

Question 17

are phonemes actually produced in categories or along a continuum?

Answer 17

phonemes are produced along a continuum

Question 18

infants initially detect more phonemes than adults do. by what age do infants begin turning their phoneme detection to match the phonemes of the language they’re exposed to?

Answer 18

phonemic tuning already under way as early as 6 months

Question 19

what is “Motherese”? What does it accomplish?

Answer 19

“Motherese” : the melodic and exaggerated manner in which adults often speak to infants
- provides info about phonemes & boundaries
- aids in development of speech perception

Question 20

why can it be difficult to detect word boundaries in a language that is unfamiliar to you?

Answer 20

unfamiliar languages lack familiar cues like stress patterns, phoneme combinations, and pauses that indicate word boundaries

Question 21

what is the phonemic restoration effect? explain how it is demonstrated. how does it show evidence of top-down processing?

Answer 21

phonemic restoration effect: We “fill in” missing speech sounds
ex: it was found that the *eel was on the shoe (answer: heel)
it shows evidence of top-down processing because our knowledge of words enhances our ability to extract them when listening in speech.

Question 22

ambiguous messages are more difficult to process than unambiguous messages because you need to resolve conflict between two competing interpretations. what can help with picking an interpretation?

Answer 22

context, prior knowledge, and nonverbal cues

Question 23

in speech production, what is the linearization problem?

Answer 23

refers to the challenge of organizing complex thoughts into a linear sequence of words during speech.

Question 24

what is discourse? give an example of how we might adjust our speaking depending on who’s listening.

Answer 24

discourse refers to language organization above the level of words and sentences, like narrative, conversation, exposition
ex: might simplify/adjust our speech for children when teaching them something

Question 25

what’s the difference between a prescriptive vs. descriptive approach to studying language?

Answer 25

prescriptive: describes how language “should be”. focuses on what’s correct
(don’t end a sentence with a preposition
descriptive - describes how language is actually used, focuses on what’s accepted by the community of users

Question 26

what is communicative language?

Answer 26

enables sharing of information

Question 27

what is arbitrarily symbolic language?

Answer 27

words are symbols without inherent connection to their meaning

Question 28

what is regularly structured language?

Answer 28

follows grammar rules

Question 29

what is generative language?

Answer 29

infinite combinations of words and ideas

Question 30

what is dynamic language?

Answer 30

evolves over time

Question 31

what is socially transmitted language?

Answer 31

learned through interaction

Question 32

what is universally acquired language?

Answer 32

humans are born with an innate capacity to learn any language due to a set of underlying grammatical rules shared by all languages, allowing them to acquire language relatively easily and naturally regardless of their native tongue

Question 33

give an example of animal communication. does it qualify as language? why or why not?

Answer 33

example: bees communicate the location of food using a “waggle dance”
no, it does not qualify as a language as it lacks generativity, complexity, and syntactical structure