Wk13: Language

Question 1

Languages vs dialects vs accents

Answer 1

• Culturally determined
• language = not mutually intelligible
• dialect = mutually intelligible, diff grammar and vocab
• accent = pronunciation differences

Question 2

Language facts

Answer 2

• ~6000 languages and dialects
• > half languages spoken by <10,000 people

Question 3

Chomsky’s language traits

Answer 3

• Critical period - Genie
• Universal grammar -

Question 4

Purpose of language

Answer 4

• Communication: influence minds
• Arbitrary symbols/ modality (Braille, sign, speech)
• Structured (grammar are the rules)
• Generative - we build sentences, numbers, using the given blocks
• Dynamic - languages change over time

Question 5

Motor theory of speech perception

Answer 5

• Differences in near identical phonemes
• Differentiating them using invariance in production
• We hear sounds accourding to how we produce them

Question 6

McGurk effect

Answer 6

• play audio
• video of speech that is not the same as audio
• will hear a sound that is neither from the audio or speech

Question 7

What are morphemes?

Answer 7

Smallest unit of meaning
Root words, prefixes, suffixes
NOT sound

Question 8

What are content morphemes?

Answer 8

Convey meaning; change contextual meaning
anti-, -able

Question 9

What are functional morphemes?

Answer 9

Inflections, gramatical function; expand contextual meaning
-ing, -s, -ed

Question 10

What is recursion?

Answer 10

To tack clauses onto clauses, or embed clauses in clauses, such as this.

Question 11

What is tail recusion?

Answer 11

Adding clauses onto sentences in a listlike manner
The house Jack built
The cheese is in the house Jack built
The rat ate the cheese in the house Jack built.

Question 12

What is embedded recursion

Answer 12

Putting clauses within sentences in a babuska-like way
The house Jack built
The cheese the rat ate is in the house Jack built

Question 13

What is parsing?

Answer 13

Unclear syntax
“Sherlock saw the man with binoculars”

Question 14

Chomsky’s universal grammar

Answer 14

Underlying grammar rules common
English: Subject Verb Object
Japanese: Subject Object Verb
Underlying deep structure reflects innate cognition of language and its principles

Question 15

What are pragmatics?

Answer 15

• How we use language in different settings
• E.g. sarcasm
• E.g. When I’m at till

Question 16

What are the four Gricean maxims?

Answer 16

• Quantity
• Quality
• Relation
• Manner

Question 17

What is the maxim of quantity?

Answer 17

Reduce quantity of words; maximise efficiency, be concise

Question 18

What is the maxim of quality?

Answer 18

Increase quality of words; tend to truth, you’re words are valued

Question 19

What is the maxim of relation?

Answer 19

Use relevant words that contribute to conversation

Question 20

What is the maxim of manner?

Answer 20

Use common, known words to make your point

Question 21

What is Broca’s area?

Answer 21

Productive aphasia
No ability to produce language
Agramattical

Question 22

What is Wenicke’s area?

Answer 22

Receptive aphasia
No ability to understand/ comprehend language

Question 23

Behavioural model of language

Answer 23

• Skinner
• Reinforcement of language
• Verbal behaviour

Question 24

What are the stages of language acquisition?

Answer 24

8 months, phonemes
10-15 months, real words
18-24, rapid word acquisition, 2-word sentences
2-4 years, syntax acquisition

Question 25

What is poverty of the stimulus?

Answer 25

* Behavioural view does not work * Not enough stimuli for the amount of responses learned * poverty (lack of) the stimulus (used to learn) * Therefore biologically innate

Question 26

Early vs late bloomer theories of language

Answer 26

Early = we evolved language recently and rapidly Late = evolved gradually and a long time ago, alongside other models that would be used for language

Question 27

Why did we create writing?

Answer 27

* Trade * Used to record items * Then used to record other important things * Now we have twitter, unfortunately