Week 8 - Language Flashcards
___________ describes the physical nature of the speech signal
- Phonetics
___________ relates to the sound structure of language
Phonology
_________ are speech sounds and the smallest units that distinguish meaning in a given
language (e.g. pan vs. tan; tan vs. Dan)
phonemes
___________ relates to morphemes, the smallest meaning-bearing units
Morphology
(morphemes can be words in themselves (e.g. cat) or they can combine to create words (e.g.
beauti-ful; umpire-s; eat-ing; bed-room; police-man …)
_______ relates to the combination of meaningful units (morphemes
and words) to create sentences
- Syntax
___________ meaning of a larger unit is a function of the
meanings of its component parts as well as the nature of their
combination
Compositionality
(* John kissed Stacey and Stacey kissed John have related, but
different meanings
* we can understand sentences that we have never heard before:
Yesterday, a herd of purple elephants invaded the Magill campus)
__________ relates to the meaning of linguistic units
- Semantics
_________ relates to language use
- Pragmatics
(* e.g. It’s cold in here; You’re an absolute genius!)
How do we understand language?
(language comprehension)
How do we produce language?
(language production)
How do we learn language?
(language acquisition)
The brain
begins to dissociate real
words from word-like
stimuli (“pseudowords”)
after ____ ms of stimulus
uniqueness point
e.g. bike vs boak
50
drawing a conclusion by connecting an object in one sentence to an object in another sentence, __________ inference.
anaphoric
drawing a conclusion about methods that occurs while reading text or listening to speech, _________ inference.
instrument
drawing the conclusion that events described in one sentence were prompted by events in a previous sentence, ___________ inference.
casual
system of communication that enables us to express our feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences
language
idea that there are principles specifying the permissible ways for arranging words and phrases in a system of communication
rule-based nature of language
field concerned with the mental and emotional study of language
psycholinguistics
knowledge of what words mean, how they sound, and how they relate to other words
lexicon
meaning of words
lexical semantics
phenomenon of faster reading time for words that are highly common compared with unusual words
word frequency effect
process of perceiving individual words within the continuous flow of words
speech segmentation
situation when a word can have more than one meaning
lexical ambiguity
situation where some definitions of words occur more frequently than others
meaning dominance
situation when a word has more than one meaning and one meaning is more likely
biased dominance
situation in which the meaning of a sentence is unclear because multiple meanings are possible
temporary ambiguity
mental grouping of words in a sentence into phrases
parsing
set of rules for combining words into sentences
syntax
condition characterized by labored ungrammatical speech and difficulty in understanding some types of sentences
Broca’s aphasia
situation when a word has more than one meaning and all meanings are equally likely
balanced dominance
group of words that appears to mean one thing but ends up meaning something else
garden path sentence
“rule of thumb” that provides a best-guess solution to a problem
heuristic
information in one part of a text is related to information in another part
coherence
process by which readers create information that is not explicitly stated in the text
inference
mental representation of what a text is about
situation model
set of knowledge, beliefs, and assumptions shared between two speakers
common ground
Which of the following is NOT a key concern of psycholinguists regarding language?
a. acquisition
b. meaning
c. comprehension
d. production
b. meaning
At its foundation, language enables people to communicate because it is based on ________.
a. give and take
c. symbols and sounds d. meaning and emotion
b. rules and structure
Which of the following words has the lowest frequency?
a. call
b. the
c. we
d. I
a. call
The phrases “First National Bank” and “river bank” illustrate ___.
a. balanced dominance
b. biased dominance
c. lexical ambiguity
d. the word frequency effect
c. lexical ambiguity
A fairly common way to test for the word frequency effect is to ___.
a. utilize the lexical decision task
b. perform saccadic eye movements
c. demonstrate the word superiority effect
d. test for speech segmentation
a. utilize the lexical decision task
Which of the following can be considered the most “personal” concept?
a. lexical semantics
b. semantics
c. narrative
d. lexicon
d. lexicon
What conclusion can we draw from instances where different scenes cause different processing of the same sentence?
a. Semantics and syntax are processed differently in the brain.
b. Semantics can affect sentence processing.
c. Content of a scene can affect sentence processing.
d. Past experience with statistics of a language plus ongoing experience affects sentence processing.
c. Content of a scene can affect sentence processing.
The word “cast”—when used to refer to a member of a play or a plaster cast—suggests
a. biased dominance since “cast” is more common in terms of a member of a play.
b. biased dominance since “cast” is more common in terms of a plaster cast.
c. balanced dominance since both meanings are equally likely.
d. neither biased nor balanced dominance
c. balanced dominance since both meanings are equally likely.
Semantics is to syntax as _____ is to _____.
a. sound; word
b. word; sound
c. meaning; rule
d. rule; meaning
c. meaning; rule
Consider the sentence “Gloria, the glorious poodle, won the dog show. She has won this award for the second time.” A correct anaphoric reference from this sentence would be ___.
a. “She” refers to Gloria the poodle.
b. “She” refers to Gloria the poodle’s owner.
c. “The poodle” refers to Gloria.
d. “This award” refers to the same award won by Gloria the poodle.
a. “She” refers to Gloria the poodle.
Suppose we read that “Shakespeare wrote Hamlet while he was sitting at his desk.” Which of the following would NOT indicate instrument inference from this sentence?
a. Shakespeare probably used a quill pen and definitely not a computer.
b. Shakespeare likely wrote on a wooden rather than a metal desk.
c. Shakespeare probably wrote on paper rather than on a chalkboard.
d. The type of chair that Shakespeare sat in was a stool.
d. The type of chair that Shakespeare sat in was a stool.
What is a conclusion of creating situation models?
a. Reader’s response to words includes simulation of actions.
b. Creative process based on past experience adds meaning.
c. Creative processes help create coherence.
d. Readers create perceptions that match the situations described in sentences.
d. Readers create perceptions that match the situations described in sentences.
In the sentence “Ed was given a watch for his birthday,” what is the new information?
a. Ed got a watch.
b. Ed had a birthday.
c. Ed’s previous watch was broken.
d. Ed enjoys cake on his birthday
a. Ed got a watch.
“Yeah” is a good example of ___ in conversations.
a. lexical ambiguity
b. syntactic coordination
c. the given-new contract
d. common ground
d. common ground
While traveling in Mexico, Ken overheard a shopkeeper say, “Encuentra la camisa verde y dársela a ese chico.” Although the woman’s speech sounded like a fast jumble of sounds, his one year of high school Spanish enabled him to pick out the words “verde” and “chico”—for “green” and “boy.” Which term best describes Ken’s experience at the shop?
a. biased dominance
b. anaphoric inference
c. speech segmentation
d. lexical priming
c. speech segmentation
Which of the following is NOT key to understanding the meaning of an ambiguous word?
a. frequency
b. pronunciation
c. dominance
d. context
b. pronunciation
What is the foundation of lexical priming?
a. repetition
b. sound
c. situation
d. meaning
d. meaning
Which of the following words and definitions are an example of dominant bias in meaning?
a. harbor: to provide shelter for someone in need
b. jam: to put something into a space too small for it
c. squash: an indoor sport played with racquets
d. season: one of four periods in a calendar year
d. season: one of four periods in a calendar year
Which of the following terms is correctly paired with its core concept?
a. lexicon—structure
b. lexicon—meaning
c. parsing—grouping
d. syntax—quantity
c. parsing—grouping
Which of the following is a parsing tool in written language?
a. hyphen
b. comma
c. capitalization
d. paragraph
b. comma
Which of the following is exemplified by garden path sentences?
a. syntactic priming
b. temporary ambiguity
c. visual world paradigms
d. common ground
b. temporary ambiguity
Cassie thought that Rhonda, the new girl at school, was long-winded and spoke in never-ending, circular sentences. Cassie had to pay close attention to each word Rhonda said and decide where a logical phrase ended based on the next word that was spoken. Cassie is engaging in a very deliberate act of ________.
a. instrument inference
b. late closure
c. situation modeling
d. lexical priming
b. late closure
Henry’s first date with Malcolm was not going well. Malcolm had a habit of interrupting him by saying “Yeah, yeah, yeah” whenever he understood or agreed with something Henry said. It was very annoying. Yet after an hour, as their conversation became more animated, Henry found himself saying “Yeah, yeah, yeah” whenever he grasped what Malcolm was saying. Which term best describes what is occurring in this conversation?
a. common ground
b. syntactical priming
c. causal inference
d. repetition priming
b. syntactical priming
For thousands of years, telling stories has been an important method of sharing news and information across generations. To ensure that stories are accurately shared, a good storyteller needs to provide ________.
a. inferences
b. coherence
c. prosody
d. entrainment
b. coherence
Sandra worked hard to improve her diction and accent so she could be a successful stage actress in theaters around the world. But whenever she went home to visit her family, after a couple days she could hear her old New Jersey accent loud and clear. What is Sandra experiencing on these visits to her hometown?
a. prosody
b. syntactic priming
c. situation modeling
d. entrainment
d. entrainment
No offense to his old high school buddies, but after a visit back to his hometown, Reggie is always happy to get back to grad school where he can talk to people using words that have more than two syllables. Which term best reflects Reggie’s experience?
a. given-new contract
b. situation model
c. common ground
d. lexical priming
c. common ground
A situation model is similar to which of the following?
a. a mirror
b. a map
c. a routine
d. a film
d. a film
A person who inherited difficulty in perceiving music would be diagnosed with congenital ________.
a. aphasia
b. prosody
c. amusia
d. anaphoria
c. amusia
After Ahmad finished complaining about the stress of having a new baby in the house, Peter responded, “I have three kids, my friend. I know where you’re coming from.” What is Peter exhibiting in this conversation?
a. situation modeling
b. anaphoric inference
c. entrainment
d. theory of mind
d. theory of mind
