The basics Flashcards

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1
Q

Psycholinguistics

A

the scientific study of the mental processes involved in producing, understanding, and acquiring language

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2
Q

Communication

A

the process by which individuals exchange information and convey ideas (share a common reference, don’t need language, language is a form of communication)

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3
Q

Language

A

a socially shared code used to convey information through the use of arbitrary symbols and rules that govern combinations of these symbols

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4
Q

Speech

A

the oral-verbal mode of transmitting language; comprised of the sound system of the language (language specific sounds)

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5
Q

Tacit knowledge

A

how to perform various acts

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6
Q

Explicit knowledge

A

knowledge of the processes or mechanisms used in these various acts of tacit knowledge

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7
Q

Rule-based systems of language

A

Phonology (sounds), syntax/morphology (form), semantics (content), pragmatics (use)

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8
Q

phonology

A

the sound pattern for language. The study of phonemes and how they are combined

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9
Q

phoneme

A

the smallest unit of speech that can signal a change in meaning

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10
Q

Speech is complex (4)

A

precise coordination of respiration, phonation, articulation, resonance

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11
Q

Syntax

A

the structure of sentences and rules that specify how words are ordered to produce various sentence types

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12
Q

Morphology

A

the structure of words and rules that govern the makeup of words (the study of morphemes)

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13
Q

Morpheme

A

the smallest linguistic units with meaning

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14
Q

Semantics

A

content, the meaning of words and the links that bind them (vocabulary)

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15
Q

Lexicon

A

an individual’s mental dictionary (semantics requires experience and exposure to the specific word). Interconnections in lexicon allow for quick recall of words

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16
Q

Content, form, use

A

content (semantics), form (morphology, syntax, use (pragmatics)

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17
Q

Pragmatics

A

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

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18
Q

Basic linguistic principles (5)

A

duality of patterning, semanticity, phrase structure, linguistic productivity/generativity, displacement

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19
Q

Duality of patterning

A

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

20
Q

Phonology primer (legal combinations, etc)

A

phonemes are language specific (40 in English), described by International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

21
Q

Allophones

A

variability within phonemes

22
Q

Characteristics that distinguish phonemes

A

consonants can be described according to 3 features (voicing, place of articulation, manner of articulation)

23
Q

Voicing

A

vibration of vocal chords (phonation). Some consonants have voicing, some don’t (all vowels do)

24
Q

Place of articulation

A

where articulation occurs (labial, lingual, alveolar, velar, glottal, dental, palatal)

25
Q

Labial

A

lips

26
Q

lingual

A

tongue

27
Q

alveolar

A

ridge behind teeth

28
Q

velar

A

back of throat

29
Q

glottal

A

down in throat

30
Q

dental

A

teeth

31
Q

palatal

A

roof of mouth

32
Q

manner

A

how articulation proceeds; what happens to air flow

33
Q

Manner (def’n and five types)

A

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)

34
Q

Phrase structure rules

A

specify parts of a sentence and how they are combined (a sentence is made up of a noun phrase and a verb phrase)

35
Q

Noun phrase

A

(determiner)+(adjective)+noun

36
Q

Verb phrase

A

verb+(Noun phrase)+(adverb)

37
Q

Linguistic productivity/generativity

A

there is no limit to the number of sentences in a language; not limited to sentences you have previously heard.

38
Q

phrase structure transformation

A

syntactical rules for moving, deleting, or adding elements within a phrase structure

39
Q

recursion

A

the ability to embed a phrase/sentence into another

40
Q

Productivity =

A

phrase structure rules+transformations+recursion

41
Q

displacement

A

language can communicate about things not present, not limited to the here and now

42
Q

animal communication = language?

A

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.

43
Q

Properties of language

A

duality of patterning, phrase structure, productivity, semanticity, displacement

44
Q

can you teach animals language?

A

Speech, no. Communication, controversial research area.

45
Q

3 factors proposed to explain why animals have the communicative abilities that they do

A

1) biological characteristics of the species (phylogeny)
2) maturational characteristics of their species (ontogeny)
3) environmental influences

46
Q

Savage-Rumbaugh study

A

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

47
Q

conclusions of animals and language (two hypotheses)

A

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.