The basics

Question 1

Psycholinguistics

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Communication

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Language

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Speech

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Tacit knowledge

Answer 5

how to perform various acts

Question 6

Explicit knowledge

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Rule-based systems of language

Answer 7

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

Question 8

phonology

Answer 8

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

Question 9

phoneme

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Speech is complex (4)

Answer 10

precise coordination of respiration, phonation, articulation, resonance

Question 11

Syntax

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Morphology

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Morpheme

Answer 13

the smallest linguistic units with meaning

Question 14

Semantics

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Lexicon

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Content, form, use

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Pragmatics

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Basic linguistic principles (5)

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Duality of patterning

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Phonology primer (legal combinations, etc)

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Allophones

Answer 21

variability within phonemes

Question 22

Characteristics that distinguish phonemes

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Voicing

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Place of articulation

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Labial

Answer 25

lips

Question 26

lingual

Answer 26

tongue

Question 27

alveolar

Answer 27

ridge behind teeth

Question 28

velar

Answer 28

back of throat

Question 29

glottal

Answer 29

down in throat

Question 30

dental

Answer 30

teeth

Question 31

palatal

Answer 31

roof of mouth

Question 32

manner

Answer 32

how articulation proceeds; what happens to air flow

Question 33

Manner (def'n and five types)

Answer 33

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)

Question 34

Phrase structure rules

Answer 34

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

Question 35

Noun phrase

Answer 35

(determiner)+(adjective)+noun

Question 36

Verb phrase

Answer 36

verb+(Noun phrase)+(adverb)

Question 37

Linguistic productivity/generativity

Answer 37

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

Question 38

phrase structure transformation

Answer 38

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

Question 39

recursion

Answer 39

the ability to embed a phrase/sentence into another

Question 40

Productivity =

Answer 40

phrase structure rules+transformations+recursion

Question 41

displacement

Answer 41

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

Question 42

animal communication = language?

Answer 42

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.

Question 43

Properties of language

Answer 43

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

Question 44

can you teach animals language?

Answer 44

Speech, no. Communication, controversial research area.

Question 45

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

Answer 45

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

Question 46

Savage-Rumbaugh study

Answer 46

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

Question 47

conclusions of animals and language (two hypotheses)

Answer 47

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.