Language Flashcards
(98 cards)
1
Q
top 5 most widely spoken languages
A
- Mandarin
- Spanish
- English
- Hindi-Urdu
- Arabic
2
Q
do we know how many languages there are?
A
not really, because the line between languages and dialects is blurred
3
Q
evidence that DNA encodes a strong ability to learn language
A
kids deaf from birth will invent their own language
4
Q
language definition
A
arbitrary, but conventional symbols combined in a rule-like way to convey meaning
5
Q
what are rules required for in language
A
for putting symbols together
6
Q
who came up with properties of language
A
Hockett (1960, 1966)
7
Q
4 properties of language
A
- semantic
- arbitrary
- displaced
- productive
8
Q
how is language semantic
A
there must be intention to convey something of meaning
9
Q
why is language displaced
A
gives us the ability to talk about things that aren’t present
10
Q
how is language productive
A
we can come up with new words and sentences
11
Q
2 things that allow language to be productive
A
- it is hierarchical
2. is has rules
12
Q
3 disciplines of language
A
- linguistics
- psycholinguistics
- neurolinguistics
13
Q
linguistics
A
study of emergence of language
14
Q
psycholinguistics
A
study of language and psychology
15
Q
neurolinguistics
A
study of language and the nervous system
16
Q
3 ways language is represented in the mind
A
- surface structure
- propositional level / meaning / gist
- situation model
17
Q
surface structure
A
exact words you are reading
18
Q
how long does the surface structure representation remains
A
it decays very quickly
19
Q
propositional level
A
general idea of what was said
20
Q
example of propositional level representation
A
EAT (FROG, BUG) represents “the frog eats the bug”
21
Q
situational model
A
a mental representation of the situation described by what you just heard
22
Q
is the situational model based simply on what is heard
A
no, it can be a lot more than what is heard
23
Q
6 levels of language
A
- phonology
- morphology
- semantics
- syntax
- discourse
- pragmatics
24
Q
phonology
A
study of sound systems in a language
25
phoneme
smallest unit of speech that makes a difference to a native speaker
26
what happens if you change a phoneme
you change the meaning
27
difference between phonemes and sounds
sounds don't necessarily change meaning
28
how many phonemes in all human languages
about 200
29
how many phonemes in English
about 46, depending on the dialect
30
how many phonemes in Hawaiian
15
31
morphology
study of word formation and word structure
32
morpheme
smallest unit of language with meaning or function
33
how is a morpheme different from a word
a morpheme may or may not be able to stand on its own
34
example of a morpheme with grammatical function but not meaning
pre-
35
semantics
the study of meaning
36
truth value
if a sentence matches to something that exists, it is true and has meaning
37
how is semantics related to associations
words bring up a set of associations which bring meaning to the word
38
mental lexicon
everything you know inside your head (the dictionary inside your head)
39
how are bilingual lexicons different
perhaps bilingual people have more than one lexicon
40
syntax
system of rules and categories that underlie sentence formation
41
difference between syntax and grammar
```
grammar = rules you are taught
syntax = what you actually do
```
42
2 structures in syntax
1. surface structure
| 2. deep structure
43
surface structure
order of words in a sentence
44
deep structure
underlying form of a sentence
45
discourse
putting sentences together to form something that is meaningful
46
4 most common discourses
1. narration
2. exposition
3. persuasion
4. conversation
47
pragmatics
ways in which context contributes to meaning
48
what does pragmatics include
what is unsaid or unintended
49
challenge with perceiving phonemes
sounds aren't the same as phonemes, and different people pronounce phonemes differently
50
phonemic restoration effect
if we cut out a phoneme and replace it with white noise, people recall hearing both the white noise AND the phoneme
51
segmentation problem
we can understand individual words even though spoken sounds aren't segmented into words
52
2 other problems of word comprehension
1. we don't annunciate clearly
| 2. one word can have multiple meanings
53
how does frequency effect word comprehension (3 things)
1. we read frequent words faster than less frequent words
2. fixation times are faster
3. lexical decisions are faster
54
lexical decision
is this a real word I'm looking at
55
how does syntax help determine word meaning
helps determine if a word is a noun or a verb
56
meaning dominance
for ambiguous words, one meaning is often favored
57
word superiority effect
people are faster at recognizing letters in a word, than letters in a non-word string, or letters alone
58
what does the word superiority effect demonstrate
top-down processing occurring during reading
59
challenge with comprehending sentences
must say one word at a time, but syntax is hierarchical
60
garden path sentences
give people sentences that take a turn and change meaning at the end
61
syntax-first approach
when reading a sentence you form a syntactic tree, and if you make a mistake you change it after
62
what type of approach is the syntax-first approach
late closure
63
interactionist approach
meaning is key in understanding a sentence
64
visual world paradigm
looking at a picture and listening to a sentence
| - where you look shows how you interpret the sentence
65
example supporting the interactionist approach
difference between "the spy saw the man with binoculars" and "the bird saw the man with binoculars"
66
3 problems with comprehending discourse
1. we say very little when we talk to each other
2. we speak very fast
3. we often don't say what we mean
67
given-new contract
when making a sentence, start with a given and add on the new
68
given
information that is already known, or from earlier in the conversation
69
what does given information depend on
social and cultural contracts
70
new
information you will add in your utterance
71
co-operative principle
we agree on certain guidelines in how to speak
72
4 conversational maximums
1. maximum quantity
2. maximum quality
3. maximum relation
4. maximum manner
73
maximum quantity
don't say anything more than you need to
74
maximum quality
don't say anything you aren't sure of
75
maximum relation
don't say anything that is irrelevant
76
maximum manner
be brief, be orderly, be clear
77
what occurs if a maximum is violated
we can infer that you mean something else
78
situation models
construct a mental representation of the situation
79
embodied cognition
part of mental representation in reading is perceptual representations (imagining)
80
perceptual simulations
when we read something we get an abstract perceptual representation
81
example of a perceptual simulation
"he hammered a nail into the wall"
| - people will identify a horizontal nail faster than a vertical one
82
motoric simulation
if you read about an action, parts of the brain related to this will become active
83
conversation
series of sentences exchanged that fulfills a goal within a social context
84
physical aspect of conversation
body language
85
3 techniques used in conversation
1. given-new contract
2. try to achieve common ground
3. syntactic coordination
86
syntactic coordination
tendency to recycle syntax when having a conversation
87
achieving common ground
confirmation that we are on the same page by using certain words like "right?"
88
syntactic priming
give someone a sentence to listen to, ask them to describe an unrelated picture
- they will use the same syntax
89
3 stages of speech production
1. conceptualization
2. formulation
3. articulation
90
conceptualization
formulating the intention of what you want to say
91
formulation
deciding what words to use and what syntactic structures to build
92
articulation
creating a phonetic plan of what sounds you want to produce
93
hypothesis of how language and cognition are related
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
94
evidence for Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (2)
1. different languages effect color perception
| 2. different languages effect family relations
95
how do languages effect naming colors
specific progression of colors based on language words to describe colors
96
color progression based on language words
```
3 = black, white, red
4 = + green
5 = + blue
```
97
how would someone perceive orange if they lacked a color word to describe it?
as red
98
how do different languages effect family relations
- in English we distinguish male and female for siblings
- in Japanese they distinguish order that brothers are born
- shows what is important in each culture
