LECTURE 9 Flashcards
(27 cards)
“Design Features” of Language
- Semanticity
- Arbitrariness
- Duality of patterning
- Displacement
- Productivity
Semanticity
- Symbols have some shared meaning
Communication of meaning
Arbitrariness
- Size/shape/property of symbols don’t always reflect meaning
Symbols chosen to represent meaning are not necessarily reflective of that meaning (they are arbitrary)
Duality of patterning
- Set of meaningless units (phonemes, sounds, letters)
can be combined to make many meaningful
words/phrases
Displacement
- Spatial: we can talk about things that aren’t here
- Temporal: we can talk about the past or future
Productivity
Infinite set of potential ideas/concepts
“Design Features” of Language
- Key takeaways
- It’s the combination of features that defines language
- Not just that we can convey meaning
- But that we communicate in specific ways
- Reveals the idea of “sub-processes” of language
- Symbol systems for writing
- Symbol systems for speaking
- Semantics/syntax
Key Psycholinguistic Processes
- Word decoding
- Semantics
- Syntax
[Support for thinking about these as separable processes - Patients with language disruption after injury & neuroimaging]
Word decoding
- Sounds/symbols that compose a language and the rules that govern their combination
Semantics
Meaning
Syntax
- Rules that determine how words can be combined in a language
Word Decoding Processes
Phonology, Orthography and Morphology
Phonology
- Phonemes: smallest unit of sound that carries
meaning - Minimal pairs: if changing one sound can
change the meaning of the word, that sound
is important (in that language)
Orthography
Graphemes: written version of phoneme
(letters, characters)
Morphology
- Smallest unit of meaning
- “Book” is a morpheme
- “Teachable” is made up of two morphemes
N400
associated with semantic processing
P600
associated with syntactic processing
Aphasia
Damage to the language function of the brain
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Broca’s Aphasia
- Telegraphic (content words preserved), agrammatic speech (impaired syntax)
- Extends to written/typed speech as well
- Comprehension relatively intact
- Non-fluent speech
Wernicke’s Aphasia
- Fluent, empty speech
- Poor comprehension
- Neologisms (made-up words)
- Perseveration
- Also extends to written/typed
speech
Wernicke’s:
– Storage of sound and meaning
– Activates representations in comprehension/production
– Damage to posterior third of STG can happen without resulting in Wernicke’s aphasia
– Wernicke’s aphasia symptoms can occur with damage to a variety of locations in the brain
Broca’s
– Speech production
– Sequences words and generates syntax
* Broca’s patients have difficulty comprehending reversible passives
Arcuate fasciculus
– Transmits information between Wernicke’s and Broca’s
Posterior and anterior regions can function independently
- Posterior damage → problems with sound/semantics
- Anterior damage → problems with speech production/syntax
