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Brain And Behaviour > Week 7 - Language > Flashcards

Week 7 - Language Flashcards

1
Q

What is language?

A

The primary mode of communication in every human culture.

Range of informational, social, emotional functions

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2
Q

Which systems are involved in language?

A

System of symbols, sounds/signs, meanings, and the rules for combining them.

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3
Q

What is the nature of language?

A

(Spoken) language is squired without specific instruction and becomes automatic

We don’t usually notice it’s complexity

Requires co-ordination of physical, cognitive, and social skills to produce language effectively

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4
Q

Language symbols are

A

Arbitrary
-limited sound symbolism
•onomatopoeia: “hiss”, “buzz”
•phonoesthemes: flap, flee, flick, fling

Human language is generative
-infinite number of ways to generate new words and sentences

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5
Q

What is a phoneme?

A

Smallest unit of sound (th,a,t,s)

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6
Q

What’s a morpheme?

A

Smallest unit of meaning (word shape)
Eg. That, short, en, ing, re, un

Many are while words (nation, dance, interest)

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7
Q

What is syntax/grammar?

A

Grammatical rules about word order and sentence structure (the red dog sat on the mat)

Knowledge of syntax allows us to alter “surface structure” but maintain “deep structure”.

  • the girl was bitten by the fish
  • the fish bit the girl
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8
Q

What re semantics?

A

Word meaning (sea~= ocean)

Literal meaning of morphemes, words, sentences.

Meaning is very specific

English has few true synonyms

English has many homophones
-semantic context (and syntax) helps to disambiguate (look at that girls calf, she went on a date)

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9
Q

What’s extralinguistic info?

A

The way language is used and understood in everyday life

Beyond actual words, but essential for interpreting meaning (that’s a rather short skirt)

Literal meaning is not always the intended one:
-my door is always open
-it’s a bit cool in here
-shall we go to (expensive restaurant) for dinner?
•well, which bank should we rob first?

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10
Q

Describe some elements of extra linguistic information in nonverbal communication.

A

Can speak louder than words;

  • body language and gestures
  • facial expression
  • vocalisations (eg. Gasps, sighs)

Important to use these cues appropriately in different cultures

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11
Q

Early language learning in infants

A

Infacts start heading (muffled) language after about 5 months in the womb

Newborns can recognise mothers voice and native language songs/stories. How do we know? Because of high amplitude sucking

Babbling: intentional but meaningless vocalisation (learn to produce phonemes and intonation

Start with all phonemes, but end up better at distinguishing phonemes of native language

Development of motor and auditory recognition processes

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12
Q

What is the process of learning words?

A 
~ 6 months, understands own name 
9-12 months: understand other words 
~12 months: start saying first words 
12-18 months: saying 20-100 words 
VOCABULARY EXPLOSION
24 months: several hundred words 
48 months: several thousand words
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13
Q

What’re some early linguistic errors with phonemes?

A

Children pronounce words imperfectly at first

-production constraints rather than lack of knowledge

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14
Q

Early linguistic errors in semantics?

A

Hard to learn exactly what words mean

  • overgeneralisation/overextension
  • under generalisation/underextension
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15
Q

Syntax; as learned in later development

A
  • holophrases: single word phrase
  • number of words gradually increases
  • word order, morphological markers
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16
Q

Extralinguistic communication; learned in later development

A
  • development more gradual
  • 24 months, can use speakers looking/pointing to help understanding, emotional tone
  • takes years to understand sarcasm, irony, etc
17
Q

What is bilingualism?

A

Having use of two learned languages

Dominant vs. balanced bilinguals

Bilinguals show:

  • same progression as monolingual acquisition
  • slight delay in squiring syntax, but not vocab
  • superior metalinguistic awareness (Long term)

Bilingualism in early dev-> use same brain areas
Later in development -> different in brain areas

18
Q

Sign language

A

A complete language system

  • generative, with syntactic structure
  • some signs are iconic (sign conveys meaning) but many arbitrary (does not contain meaning)
  • language and visual/spatial areas of brain
  • dead babies of native signing deaf parents show same stages of language learning as hearing babies
19
Q

Is there a critical/sensitive period for acquiring language?

A

Yes; anytime before the age of 7 is the easiest time to learn language. Rapidly declines after that

20
Q

Theories of language acquisition: What is the imitation/learning theory?

A

Language, learned through imitation, and classical and operant conditioning
-parents model words/ phrases; shape, reinforce, and “recast” children’s responses

BUT

children generate new words/combinations

Parents tend to reinforce correct meaning, not correct grammar

21
Q

Theories of language acquisition: nativist/innatist theories

A
  • Noam Chomsky, Steven Pinker
  • “language aquisition device”: innate neural structures for acquiring language
  • explains: rapid aquisition, similarity across children/language/modality, specialised brain areas

BUT

Why is grammar learned so slowly?

Descriptive - doesn’t actually explain how it occurs, or generate testable hypotheses

22
Q

Theories of language acquisition: general cognitive processing theories

A
  • learning language is just like learning anything else
  • ability to perceive, learn, recognise patterns is enough to learn language

BUT

  • children better than adults at learning language, but not everything else
  • distinct cognitive processes/brain activation occur during language processing
23
Q

What’re some ways that animals communicate?

A

Bees: waffle dance tells it’s mates where to find food

Vervet monkeys: share specific (arbitrary) alarm calls for different predators

Chimps: sign language, lexigrams, but limitations

Bonobos: learn through observation, use language socially, but poor syntax

African grey parrot: Alex learnt to use language creatively (repetition rather than observation)

24
Q

The nature of written language

A

Not in every culture, must be taught

Written languages can be:

  • logographic
  • syllabic
  • alphabetic
  • can move in different directions
25
Q

Reading in skilled adults

A

Reading (in English) takes years to achieve

But becomes automatic in literate adults - we can’t not read things! (Stroop colour naming task)

26
Q

Learning to read

A

To start learning to read an alphabetic writing system like English, a child must understand:

  • written words hold meaning
  • writing has direction and print divided into words
  • written symbols are a set of graphemes
  • each graphemes has its own phoneme/s

English is the hardest alphabetic system to learn - so many inconsistencies

27
Q

List the language processes and the biological basis of language

A
  • auditory speech recognition
  • visual word recognition
  • mental lexicon
  • language comprehension
  • language production
28
Q

Visual word recognition and the brain

A

Visual word form area (VWFA): left occipito-temporal regions are involved in written word processing

29
Q

Speech comprehension and the brain

A

Wenicke’s area - speech comprehension

  • damage causes receptive aphasia (difficulty understanding written and spoken language)
  • poor comprehension: speech sounds normal, but has no meaning (“word salad”)
30
Q

Speech production and the brain

A

Broca’s area - speech production
-damage leads to expressive aphasia (normal comprehension; speech is meaningful but awkward (aggrammatic))
Eg. “Son….boy…good”

31
Q

What is the Wernicke-Geschwind model?

A

Evidence supports two elements:

  1. Broca’s and Wernicke areas play important role
  2. Anterior damage associated with expressive deficits and posterior with receptive

BUT, no support for more specific predictions

  • aphasia usually diffuse damage
  • damage to other areas can produce aphasia
  • pure aphasia (expressive or receptive) at rare

Brain And Behaviour (14 decks)

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