Shared Flashcard Set

Details

2012 Wittenberg University - Psychology of Language, Exam 1
Dr. Crane
106
Psychology
Undergraduate 4
01/09/2012

Additional Psychology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Language
Definition
A means of communication that uses a set of arbitrary symbols; between individuals or to express ideas
Term
A language
Definition
An infinite set of well-formed sentences based on a set of grammatical rules; means of communication for a specific culture or region; can be a marker of cultural affiliation
Term
Communication
Definition
A means of sharing ideas without a specific structure
Term
Linguistic productivity (linguistic creativity)
Definition
The idea that if you know a language, there are an infinite number of utterances a language can create
Argument against: finite number of words; off-limits combinations and grammatical rules
Argument for: possible to combine words in an infinite number of ways; recursive forms
Term
Recursive form
Definition
Example: "I think you're wrong." "I think you think I'm wrong." etc.
While approaching meaninglessness, it is grammatically correct
Term
Things required to know a language
Definition
Vocabulary, sentence structure, pronunciation, conjugation, cultural uses and norms, idioms, slang, sentence intonation, phonology
Term
Phonology
Definition
Speech sounds
Pronunciation, sentence intonation
Term
Semantics
Definition
The meaning of a word despite pronunciation
Term
Lexicon
Definition
Another word for dictionary or vocabulary
Slang,
Term
Syntax
Definition
Another word for grammar
Sentence structure, conjugation
Children first begin to be aware of grammatical structure (may learn irregulars such as "mice" and "feet" on a case-by-case basis, but cannot extend that to other words); then they overregularize and make mistakes (inability to understand irregular grammar; add "s" to the end of all words to make plurals even if they got irregular words correct before); then they are capable of complex grammar
Parents typically do not correct this, but try to correct the message instead
Term
Pragmatics
Definition
Using language in a socially appropriate way
Small children appear more advanced (more utterances per sentence) when talking to adults, and less advanced (fewer utterances per sentence) when talking to younger children
Includes idioms
Term
Explicit knowledge
Definition
Knowledge that you know you do or do not have
Example: mom brings home a new dinner and you know that you don't know the name for it
Controlled processes
pg. 4
Term
Tacit (implicit) knowledge
Definition
Things that you know that you don't realize you know
Example: using "um" and "uh" to mean "I don't know" and "I need time to think"
Automatic processes
pg. 4
Term
Controlled processes
Definition
Term
Automatic processes
Definition
Term
Open-class words (content words)
Definition
Specific nouns and verbs that refer to an object or action Open to new word additions
Term
Closed-class words (function words)
Definition
More vague words that are only grammatically functional but have no real-world value; the "glue" that holds sentences together, such as conjunctions and articles
Typically no new words are added
Term
SVO languages
Definition
A language in which the verb comes before the object
English, Spanish; "I eat meat"
Term
SOV languages
Definition
A language in which the verb comes after the object
Japanese, German; "I meat eat"
Term
Psycholinguistics
Definition
The psychology of language
The study of what happens in an individual's mind to acquire and produce language
pg. 4
Term
Linguistics
Definition
The study of language as a code system regardless of what's going on in the brain
pg. 4
Term
Sociolinguistics
Definition
The study of how language is used in interactions between people, and how it is used differently in different social settings and groups
pg. 6
Term
Linguistic anthropology
Definition
Based on efforts to record cultural groups' language patterns
pg. 5
Term
Aphasia
Definition
Partial or total loss of the ability to articulate ideas due to brain damage
Transitory in situations like strokes
Term
Frontal lobe
Definition
Involved in problem solving, decision making, etc.
Term
Parietal lobe
Definition
Responsible for processing of sense of touch, spatial orientation
Only involved in language when using or reading sign language
Term
Temporal lobe
Definition
Responsible for processing auditory information
Term
Broca's area
Definition
Located in the left hemisphere
Involved in producing language
Term
Wernicke's area
Definition
Located in the left hemisphere
Involved in understanding language
Term
Broca's aphasia
Definition
A type of aphasia in which comprehension remains intact, but production is inhibited; applies to both oral and written language
Use of open class words remains
Lack of closed class and function words, prefixes and suffixes (affixes)
Speak and write slowly and laboriously
Also called agrammatical aphasia
Term
Wernicke's aphasia
Definition
A type of aphasia in which "word salad" (paragrammatical speech) is produced, nonsensical but mostly grammatically correct sentences
Comprehension is better than production, but both are impaired
Production of neologisms
Anomia sometimes occurs
Also called fluent aphasia
Term
Anomia
Definition
Inability to name something/find the right word, therefore use an incorrect word or neologism; appears in Wernicke's aphasia
Term
Lateralization
Definition
Input that comes in from the left side of the body crosses to the right side of the brain, and vice versa
Left side of the brain seems to be more related to language - speech processing, phonetic structure (accents), motor sequences, and grammar
Right side of the brain is more related to prosody, semantics, pragmatic aspects of language, and ambiguity
Term
Alexia
Definition
A type of aphasia in which the person is unable to read; not able to visually recognize words or letters; spoken language and writing remain intact
Caused by damage to the pathway between the occipital lobe and Wernicke's area on both sides of the brain
Term
Agraphia
Definition
A type of aphasia in which the person cannot read or write
Caused by damage to the angular gyrus (knowledge of the alphabet is erased), which is in charge of associated letters with a linguistic meaning
Term
Roger Brown's 3 criteria for true language
Definition
Semanticity: "arbitrariness"; can represent ideas, events, or objects symbolically and arbitrarily; no direct resemblance between the form and the referent
Displacement: messages can be about things removed from the here and now
Productivity: "duality of patterning"; can combine old forms you know to say brand new things
Term
Bee dancing
Definition
Round dance: used to communicate that there's food within about 10 meters; cover themselves in nectar and walk in circles among the bees, so they know approximately where the food is, what kind of food it is, and the intensity of the dance denotes richness of the food source
Waggle dance: used to communicate food that is over 100 meters away; direction of the midline shows direction of the sun, and the angle of the figure-eight shows the angle from the sun to the food source; length of the midline denotes distance to food source; intensity of dance denotes richness of food source
Term
Bird calls and songs
Definition
Bird call: a single note or sequence that is repeated to warn predators or coordinate the flock
Bird song: a more complicated, longer, melodic sound that is usually meant to attract mates or claim territory
Baby birds produce subsongs, which is the bird equivalent of a baby babbling
Birds have different dialects depending on where they grow up; if you interfere with the left hemisphere of a bird's brain, it interrupts their song, but not if you damage the right hemisphere
Term
Silbo Gomero
Definition
A "whistling language" similar to birdsong originating in the mountains of the Canary Islands; the sound carries well between the mountains
Term
Alex the parrot
Definition
An Afrigan grey parrot that could actually learn different nouns and adjectives
Before his death, knew 100 shapes, colors, and other labels
Has productivity and semanticity, but not displacement
Term
Humans understanding dogs experiment
Definition
IV: Experimenter took recordings of a dog barking in six different situations- 3 happy and 3 sad situations (bad guy comes at dog, stranger coming to the house, dog's owner picked up a leash, owner playing tug-of-war, etc.)
DV: Had dog owners and non-dog owners listen
All the dog owners correctly identified the types of barks (fear/happiness/aggression; aggressive barks tended to be faster and lower pitched, and happy barks tended to be slower and higher pitched)
Term
Washoe the chimp
Definition
Taught a chimp ASL
He learned 130 signs
To be considered learned, the sign had to be seen by three different people in three situations 15 days in a row
The chimp used the signs for "water" and "bird" to describe a novel stimuli, a swan
Said to have taught ASL to younger chimps
Term
Koko the gorilla
Definition
A gorilla that knew over 1000 signs and 2000 words
Trainer Dr. Paterson advertised more to the popular media
Scientists are skeptical
Term
Nim Chimpsy
Definition
A chimp that learned 120 signs and 50 words in four years
Raised by a skeptic
Learned basic words, but could not master grammar
Term
Kanzi the monkey
Definition
A monkey who learned pictograms rather than signs
His mother was the actual subject, but he learned by observing his mother
Supposedly pointed to the signs for "marshmallow" and "fire," was given the tools, and started a fire and toasted a marshmallow
Term
Child-directed speech ("motherese")
Definition
"Baby talk," simplified speech directed at infants by adults and older children
Use high-pitched voices (to attract attention to important words); slow, careful pronunciation; grammatically simple sentences; never pause within a sentence; distinctive, exaggerated intonation; extensive repetition; distinctive, limited vocabulary
Using the same words over and over again in slightly different contexts helps infants learn that a word is separate from others
pg. 252-254, 331-334
Term
"The melody is the message" study
Definition
Parents talking to children; prohibitory, comforting, approval
Comforting and prohibition were both low, though comforting started a little higher; approval was very high and fluctuated a lot
Term
Intonation (prosody)
Definition
The way the pitch of voice changes within words and sentences to accentuate
Term
Proto-conversation
Definition
A form of child-directed speech in which the adult acts like they are carrying on a conversation with the infant, even though it's one-sided
Teaches infants what conversation will be like once they learn words
Meaningful gestures: request gestures ~ 8-10 months; showing gestures ~11-12 months
Babbling: reduplication ~6 months; language-specific ~9 months; appropriate prosody ~12 months; even deaf babies babble in sign
Term
Early language skills
Definition
Emerge out of the womb...
Able to recognize mother's voice
Story recognition - prefer familiar stories even though they don't understand the meaning
Language recognition (prefer listening to the language they grow up around)
Studied with preferential listening method; baby can choose to look at one of two screens, and which screen they are looking at is the one that makes the sound; one screen will have one language, the other another language; babies will prefer listening to their native language/mother's voice/etc. and spend more time looking at that screen
pg. 252-257
Term
Phoneme
Definition
The smallest perceptually distinct speech sound that signifies a difference in meaning
First big task an infant encounters when learning a language
English has 44 (five letters to represent 20 vowels)
pg. 260
Term
VRHT procedure
Definition
Sounds presented to infant one after another (d...d...d...d...t...t...t...t...); toy activates when sound changes
Test: does the baby look just before the toy activates?
Difference between "ba" and "da," and then the two Hindi "da" sounds (retroflex /d/); babies can detect the difference easily even in their non-native language, but adults have more trouble with it
Conclusion: babies are born with the ability to tell the difference between all cultural phonemes; they lose this for non-native languages around 7-11 months
Term
Differences in cries of newborns
Definition
Newborns from France tend to cry more in a rising tone, and German newborns tend to cry with a falling tone
Term
Omissions (reduction)
Definition
When small children reduce consonant clusters (i.e. tong = strong)
Drop unstressed syllables ('chelle = Michelle)
Delete final elements (ba = ball)
Term
Reduplications
Definition
When small children repeat specific syllables (baba = bottle)
Term
Substitutions (assimilation)
Definition
When small children front consonants (tite = kite)
Stop instead of fricative (dat = that)
Voiced stop at start (gat = cat)
Unvoiced stop at end (dok = dog)
Add nasal instead of voicing at end (donk = dog)
Term
Coalescence
Definition
When small children kind of chunk two parts of a word together (paf = pacifier)
Term
Example words
Definition
doe (door) - deleting final element
antelars (antlers)
sthep (step)
da (the) - stop instead of fricative
psghetti (spaghetti) -
pease (please) - reduce consonant clusters
ho-mee (hold me) - delete final element
ho-shee (horsey) - reduce consonant clusters
flide (slide) - fronting of consonants
moke (milk) - reduced consonant clusters
briabri (brianna) - reduplication
bloney (baloney) - drop unstressed syllables
pwesents (presents) - fronting of consonants
wiz (with his) - coalescence
weindeers (reindeer) - fronting of consonants
Term
Vocabulary size
Definition
1 year: 0-10 words produced
1y6m: 50 words produced
2y: 100 to 600 different words produced
6y: 14,000 words understood (9/day)
Adults: 50,000 to 100,000 words
~18 months: naming explosion
Learn words for things that happen every day: diaper change, bedtime and naps, meals, routine games and books; learn names for people, food, body parts, clothes, animals, vehicles, toys, household objects, routines (bye-bye, night-night, more, all gone, up up, hi, whoopsy-daisy)
Term
Gender and acquisition of curse words
Definition
Little girls initially know more than boys (3-4 years), but then boys sharply increase this vocabulary over girls. Gradually declines a little in girls, but remains high for boys.
Term
How parents help language mistakes and learning
Definition
Correct wrong words
Offer new words
Part to whole relationship
Term
Mutual exclusivity technique
Definition
When a child learns that an object has a name because another object does not have that name.
Ex: child knows the name for "shoe"; parent presents a shoe and a whisk; parent asks, "can you show me the whisk?"; because the child knows "shoe," he knows that the whisk is not a shoe, and so must be this "whisk" thing his parent is talking about
Term
Constraints on mapping
Definition
Initial constraints on word learning:
1) The mutual exclusivity assumption
2) The whole object assumption (child will not assume that you are talking about one aspect of an object)
3) The taxonomic assumption (categories; "dog" applies to chihuahua, corgi, malamute, golden lab, etc.)
4) The basic level assumption (ex: animal > |cat| > lion)
These assumptions are overridden as vocabulary gains complexity
Term
Underextensions
Definition
The initial application of a word to only one thing in its category; child is unsure of the boundaries of the word
Ex: "dog" applies only to the family dog, not other dogs in the neighborhood
Term
How to test for vocabulary size
Definition
1) Get a good dictionary (including slang)
2) Take a random sample of words from the dictionary
3) Tally up the score and get a percentage
4) Multiply by the number of words in the dictionary
Term
Morpheme
Definition
A meaningful linguistic unit that cannot be further subdivided
Order of acquisition:
1. present progressive (Adam is |eat|ing|)
2. preposition "in" (Eve sit |in| chair)
3. preposition "on" (sweater is |on| chair)
4. number (plural)
5. irregular past tense (broke, fell)
6. possessive (Daddy's chair)
7. uncontractible copula (this is hot)
8. articles
9. regular past tense
10. third person present tense, regular
11. third person present tense, irregular
12. must know number, time, and ongoing
13. contractible copula (he's a clown)
14. contractible auxiliary (she's drinking)
(Know what comes in earliest and the logic of acquisition)
p. 287
First, child uses no inflections ("break glass")
Second, child understands something needs to go between the words and uses a placeholder("ready a-go a-car, Dad!")
Third, child gets some morphemes right on a case-by-case basis ("I broke the glass")
Fourth, overregularization ("I breaked the glass")
Fifth, child learns exceptions to the rules ("I broke the glass")
Term
Object complementation
Definition
A form of advanced syntax learned by older children
"Watch me draw circles"
Term
Wh-embedded clauses
Definition
A form of advanced syntax learned by older children
"Can I do it when we get home?"
"I show you how to do it."
Term
Coordinating conjunctions
Definition
A form of advanced syntax learned by older children
"He was stuck, and I got him out."
"When I was a little girl, I could go 'geek-geek' like that, but now I can go 'this is a chair.'"
Term
Speech acts
Definition
Some action one can take through communication
Assertion of thoughts and feelings
Commissive: acting through speech alone, e.g. I promise... I hereby threaten...
Declaration: that something is going to change; tied to social institutions, e.g. I quit! you're it!
Directive: that someone else do something; orders
Expressive: participating in social routines, e.g. hi! here you go. I love you, too. saying grace
Representative: indicating what something is like
Request: to receive something
pg. 301
Term
Logographic language
Definition
A written language in which pictures are used to stand for words
Hieroglyphics, kanji
Term
Syllabary language
Definition
A written language in which syllables are represented by symbols
Hiragana and katakana, hangul (King Sejong in Korea, because he believed that Chinese could not express Korean ideas; 1446), Cherokee (invented by Chief Sequoyah for the Iroquois around 1819)
Term
Alphabetic language
Definition
A written language in which specific sounds (phonemes) are represented by symbols
English, Spanish, French, etc.
Term
Phonology
Definition
The sound system of a particular language
Term
Phonetics
Definition
The physical production and perception of speech sounds (in any language)
Term
Stop consonants
Definition
A consonant sound where the air passing through the vocal cords stops and then starts again
P, B, T, D, K, G

pg. 80
Term
Voice onset time
Definition
When the voice starts when making a stop consonant sound
Term
Point of articulation
Definition
Where in your mouth or throat a particular sound "stops"

pg. 72
Term
Fricative consonants
Definition
A consonant sound where air is forced through a passage too small for it to flow smoothly
F, V, S, Z,
Term
Nasal consonants
Definition
A consonant sound where air is sent through the nose rather than the mouth
N, M, NG
Term
Manner of articulation
Definition
How a sound is made in the mouth, nose, or throat
Nasal, fricative, stops, voicing, liquids
Term
Liquids
Definition
Sounds made by changing the shape of the mouth without stopping the air
L, R, W
Term
Trills
Definition
"Rolling R" sound
Term
Intonation
Definition
The "music" or an utterance that can convey emotional information
Tone
Term
Tone
Definition
The "music" of a word that can convey lexical meaning
Plays a big part in Cantonese/Chinese
Term
Frequency (pitch)
Definition
How "high" or "low" a sound is
Term
Amplitude
Definition
The loudness of a sound
Term
Hearing loss
Definition
Hair cells that respond to high pitched sounds are more brittle and break more easily in old age, therefore higher frequencies are hard for seniors to hear
Term
Variability (the invariance problem)
Definition
Challenges to overcome regarding understanding language
Between speakers
Within one person
Across word context
Can be due to pitch
Categorical perception
Term
Side participant
Definition
Someone present in a conversation but not actively involved
p. 233
Term
Bystander
Definition
People who are present in the area where a conversation is taking place but are not actively participating or listening
p. 233
Term
Eavesdropper
Definition
p. 233
Term
Coarticulation
Definition
Part of within-speaker variability; saying a morpheme slightly differently in anticipation of the next morpheme
pg. 79-83
Term
The segmentation problem
Definition
A challenge in understanding language
When a phrase is not naturally segmented/has many vowels, we segment it into words based on context of words around it
Evidence: study found that a single word was understood less often than a word in the context of three to four other words
pg. 85
Term
Noise
Definition
A challenge in understanding language
Surrounding noise makes it difficult to pick up every word in a conversation
Term
McGurk effect
Definition
A challenge in understanding language; related to noise
Visual context of what someone is saying may conflict with auditory information
Term
Phonemic restoration
Definition
Our brains restore missing phonemes even if they are not actually heard
pg. 88
Term
Principal of minimal effort
Definition
As efficiency increases, time to complete a task decreases
Trim down requests or statements to convey them more quickly but still get the point across, via transformations
Term
Sentence
Definition
Full grammatical unit defined by punctuation
Term
Phrasal utterance
Definition
A sequence of words that stand together and alone to convey a thought, but is not a full sentence
Term
Transformations
Definition
Starting with one kind of utterance and changing it in your mind to another kind of utterance
Ex. "Two adults" meaning "I would like to buy tickets for two adults."
Debate over whether these utterances are just understood or if there is grammatical transformation first
Term
Simple - complex sentences
Definition
Phonemes > morphemes > words > phrases > clauses > sentences
Term
Utterance boundaries
Definition
Sentences: frequency of pauses - 66% for 1.6 seconds
Clauses: frequency - 22% for 1.0 second
Mid-clause: 10% for .67 second
After and: 18% for .95 second
Term
Evidence for psychological units of language
Definition
1. Ford's pause analysis
2. Sentence-final intonation analysis
3. Analyzing slips of the tongue or speech errors
Term
Levels of utterance assembly
Definition
1. Conceptual (plan/idea for content)
2. Functional (formulate what units will be; syntactic units and lexical units; outline parts of speech without actually filling in words)
3. Positional (where/what order the units belong; open-class words)
4. Articulatory (plan muscle movements)
5. Function/closed-class words
6. Muscle movements
Production
pg. 194-203
Term
Non-contextual errors
Definition
Making a speech error not based on the content of the idea in your head, but by your world knowledge
Ex: "Pass the salt" instead of "pass the pepper"
Supporting users have an ad free experience!