weeks 1.1 to 3.2 Flashcards
how to recover the missing parts of a word (2)
through context and acoustic cues
why we study psycholinguistics
to understand the cognitive mechanisms underlying language processing
the field of psycholinguistics (3)
linguist, psycholinguist, (cognitive) psycholinguist
cognates
traces of common language ancestor (helps with second language acquisition and bilingualism; neural responses to their recognition)
Noam Chomsky
universal grammar; goal was to find a generic set of rules, principles, and constraints in human language
competence vs performance
competence: what we can do and what we know; abstract knowledge of a language; innate ability to acquire and use language; goal of generative linguistics
performance: what we actually do in production and comprehension; could pose a challenge for making generalizations in order to formulate rules
formal/theoretical approach to psycholinguistics
looking into the “competence”; treat language processor as a device (i.e., sentence generator with unlimited possible sentences)
traditional approach to linguistics
looking into the “competence”; formal symbolic analysis of linguistic phenomenon; formulate rules to make generalizations; helps with investigating endangered or minority languages; opens an avenue for future researchers for further investigation; large-scale analysis based on literature; find out patterns and rules in language for experiment design, language learning, and standardization
behavioral data (4)
reaction time, accuracy, verbal response, eye-tracking
eye-tracking studies
a type of behavioral data; visual word paradigm, competition between L1 and L2
priming
presentation of a preceding stimulus or event influences the response of the following stimulus (facilitation and inhibition)
facilitation vs inhibition
facilitation: the preceding event/stimulus (prime) SPEEDS UP (activates) the response to the following stimulus (target word)
inhibition: the preceding event/stimulus (prime) SLOWS DOWN (inhibits) the response to the following stimulus (target word)
fMRI vs EEG
fMRI: good for localizing the language processes in the brain (“WHERE”)
EEG: good for investigating the time course of language processing (“WHEN”)
computational method in psycholinguistics
processes involved in comprehension and production; an early attempt to stimulate human language processing using artificial intelligence (i.e., ELIZA); input –> processor –> output
top-down vs interactive process
top-down process: knowledge stored in memory helps word recognition (pre-stored knowledge –> intermediate level –> visual input)
interactive process: both bottom-up and top-down processes needed in recognition (pre-stored knowledge <–> intermediate level (spelling rules, etc.) <–> visual input)
computational approach and connectionism
simulation of neural network; information flow shown as connections between nodes; the weight of connection determines which node gets activated; major applications in word recognition/retrieval and language production
onomatopoeia
pronunciation of words that resembles the actual sounds in the world (i.e., barking)
semanticity (design features of language)
the meaning of signal comes from its association with objects or events
arbitrariness (design features of language)
the meaning association between signal and object/event is arbitrary
vocal-auditory channel (design features of language)
transmission of speech signal from speaker to hearer (not in sign language)
broadcast transmission and directional reception (design features of language)
signal sent out in all directions by speaker but listener can localize the signal in space (not in sign language)
complete feedback (design features of language)
speakers can get auditory feedback from their own productions; signers can see their own gestures, finger spellings, but not facial expressions (unless using a mirror)
specialization (design features of language)
the function of signal is specialized for communication
discreteness (design features of language)
language is made up of discrete units (phonemes, morphemes, syntactic constituents)
