Week 13 Flashcards
Language
A socially agreed-upon, rule-governed system of arbitrary symbols that can be combined in different ways to communicate ideas and feelings about both the present time and place and other times and places, real or imagined
What are the three types of language?
oral, written, internal
Semanticity
the extent to which a language can use symbols to transmit meaningful messages
Generativity
the ability to combine words or symbols of a language using rules of composition and syntax to communicate a nearly infinite variety of information and ideas using a limited vocabulary
Displacement
the ability to convey a message that is not related to the current time or place
Psycholingustics
studies the acquisition, comprehension and production of language
Phonemes
the basic distinctive speech sounds that help distinguish words from each other in a language
Phonology
the rules that govern the phonemes of a language
Morphemes
the smallest unit of meaning in language which are made from phonemes
Bound morphemes
morphemes that need to be attached to other morphemes to have meaning
Free morphemes
morphemes that can stand on their own and have meaning
Semantics
The relationship between words and the rules that govern their meanings
Syntax
Grammar, and the order of words
Pragmatics
The knowledge of words as it relates to understanding language
Articulators
mouth structures that make speech sounds
How does one create sound?
Think of an idea apply meaning apply syntax and morphemes map motor movements move articulators communicate acoustic signals
How does one understand utterances?
listen for the utterances analyze syntax recognize words you know the meaning of map onto phonemes and syllables understand acoustic signal
Coarticulation
the idea that our articulators do not create speech sounds in sequence, rather they create multiple ones at the same time, so that particular phonemes are acoustically different from each other depending on the sounds that precceed and succeeds them
Categorical perception
the tendency for perceivers to disregard physical differences between stimuli and perceive them as the same, such that a continuous change in a physical attribute is perceived not as continuous, but as a discrete change at a category boundary
Infants and categorical perception
infants are able to distinguish the difference between almost all phonemes but as they develop are unable to because the language they learn does not require them to
Written language
a visual symbol system that is imposed on top of oral language
What are the two types of reading
sound reading and sight reading
Sound reading
reading by decoding the phonetic significance of letter strings
Sight reading
reading by recognizing a word as a whole
What affects a reader’s ability to interpret text?
vocabulary
Why is knowledge of the world essential to interpreting it?
knowledge includes information and the different purposes, styles of writing (poem vs. essay) as well as different media (texting vs. books)
How is the visual system mapped onto the auditory system?
Either by learning the letter of the alphabet and the sounds that they can make or analysing phonemes in ways that are not required for language comprehension
Eye tracking
when people view scenes their eye movements tend to focus on interesting points of the image
What are the stages for infants learning to talk
prenatal hear and distinguish mother’s voice from other women
1 month respond to IDT (infant-directed talk) and cry verbally to communicate
2 months coo (8-10 weeks)
4 months distinguish their own name
6 months distinguish all different phonemes (6-8 months), until 12 months
7 months babble, and assimilate new words and remember them for weeks
10 months speak first discernable words (10-15 months) and begin to overextend and underextend words
18 months produce ~50 words and begin their vocabulary spurt
5-6 years speak in full and grammatical sentences and have conversations (use ~10,000 words)
Infant direct talk
exaggerated verbal and non-verbal communication used with infants
What are reasons IDT is helpful
it is helpful with strangers but not with familiar people. Also, it helps distinguish encouragement from discouragement before they actually understand the word.
Crying
infants are limited to crying the first two months they are born
Cooing
Around 8-10 weeks, infants begin to coo and make their first speech like sounds
Babbling
occurs around 7 months and infants begin to mix consonant and vowel sounds, and mainly produce sounds of their native language
Overextension
When an infant overgeneralizes the words they use to a wider context
Underextension
When an infant limits the context for a generalized words to a specific meaning
Vocabulary Spurt
Occurs around 18 months and it is a period of strong language growth in children where they can learn and use a large number of words
Telegraphic Speech
Occurs around 18 months, children only use essential words to make sentences, essentially only nouns and verbs
Nativism
- argues that children are born with the innate knowledge of universal grammar
- argues system in the brain develops after the first exposure to language
- argues there is no control over their language acquisition and it does not involve learning, but they require exposure to words for linguistic growth
FOXP2
The lingustic ability between human and non-human animals are a result of genetic mutation of the gene FOXP2
Critical period
times in development where the brain is extremely responsive to learning a specific type of knowledge. If they are not exposed to that skill or knowledge during that time, they may never acquire it or fully develop it
Interactionist theory
- Argues that language acquisition is either a product of the infant’s social environment or as a learning experience guided by the infant themselves
- Places emphasis on environment and learning
- Some believe the development of language is an effect of an infant’s growing cognition capacity
Complexity of grammar (Interactionist’s understanding)
- Grammar emerges from the complexity of growing vocabulary
- Grammar is a system of organizing and simplifying an extremely complex system
- The complexity of grammar is linked to the amount of words a child knows
Social process
some interactionist argue language is a social process where the environment is important to language development as the structure of the social environment is based on language use
Convergent Evolution
The acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages
Subsongs
Unstructured, often rambling vocalization at low intensity heard mainly in young birds
Which hemisphere is dominant for language?
The left hemisphere
How do we know the left hemisphere is dominant for language?
symptoms of patients with focal brain lesions, mapping of speech cortex during neurosurgery, images of brain activity while performing speech tasks
Which areas are involved in language?
Wernicke’s area and Broca’s Area
Broca’s aphasia (non-fluent aphasia)
patients experience difficulty with speech output and lack functioning words and grammar, making their speech telegraph-like
Wernicke’s (fluent) aphasia
Patients lack content words and experience semantic errors and have comprehension difficulties
What are some limitations of lesion studies?
Patients often classified on basis of behaviour and not lesion
lesions can vary greatly
it is difficult to distinguish between a healthy and damaged brain
critical damage may be connected to other areas
What is the role of Broca’s Area
It is responsible for syntactic
How do we know Broca’s area is for syntactic processing?
lesion studies and the activity of the area increases as sentence complexity increases
How do we know Broca’s area is associated with semantic processing?
compared sentences that had different amounts of semantic ambiguity
What does neural activity require?
energy in the form of glucose and oxygen which is provided by local blood flow
What does increased neural activity mean?
increased metabolism and increased local blood flow
What is the role of Wernicke’s area?
It is responsible for semantic processing
