Language Learning Objective Topics What is language? Perception l Perceiving sounds, words Comprehension l Word level (word frequency, lexical ambiguity) l Sentence level (parsing) l Text/story level (inferences) Production Conversation (semantic & syntactic coordination) Culture, language & cognition l Sapir-Whorf hypothesis l Bilingualism 1
Psycholinguistics Acquisition How do we learn language? l Children, Bilingualism Comprehension How do we understand language? l Spoken or written l Words to sentences Production How do we produce language? l Physical and mental Representation How is language represented in the mind and brain? Language Definition: shared symbolic system for communication Linguistic universals l Semanticity: meaningful l Arbitrariness: random connection between sound and meaning l Naming: everything can be named l Displacement: future or past tense l Productivity or generativity: can create new 2
Language Human speech vs Sign language vs Animal communication l Chimps? l Dolphins? l http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz3sqste5ta Is language innate or learned? Nativist (Chomsky) l Innate language acquisition device (LAD) l Localization of language in brain 3
Chomsky: Universal grammar Chomsky s theory l Proposed innate language skills l Phase structure grammar Rules that generate overall sentences Allows for generativity (create new sentences) l Lexicon/Lexical entries Words we put into sentences Transformational Rules Deep: meaning of sentence l May be ambiguous: l The shooting of the hunters was terrible. l Missing object of shooting Surface: actual words l May be ambiguous: l Visiting relatives can be a nuisance l Meaning of visiting? Transformational rules: convert deep into surface structure to be spoken. 4
Problems with Innate View Universal grammar not falsifiable Doubt existence of universal grammar mastery is gradual (i.e. passive voice) Need to also have socialization experiences l Genie: abused never develop grammar l Second language 3-7 Is language innate or learned? Behaviorist (Skinner) l Reinforcement and imitation l Gradual mastery Interactionist l Combine innate capacity and social environment 5
Structure of language Structure RULES l Grammar: complete set of rules to produce sentence l Phonology: sounds into words l Syntax: word order into sentences l Semantics: communicate meaning (word or sentence) Word level l Phonemes: smallest units of sound ( /b/ ) l Morphemes: smallest unit with meaning l Lexicon: knowledge of word meaning, sounds, etc. Sentence level l Hierarchy: words - phrases - sentences Pragmatics: social rules Levels of Language Representation Semantic Level 13 Chapter 12 6
Levels of Language Representation Discourse - a coherent group of written or spoken sentences. Propositions content or meaning of a sentence The Chef Burned the Noodles 7
Levels of Language Representation Syntax Word order relationships between the types of words in a sentence (such as between nouns and verbs) many psychologists and linguists believe that it is part of our mental representation of a sentence as well Example: The young man carries the lady. The lady carries the young man. The Chef Burned the Noodles 17 Chapter 12 8
The Chef Burned the Noodles Semantic Level 18 Chapter 12 Levels of Language Representation Morphemes l the building blocks of words l the smallest unit of meaning in a language. 19 Chapter 12 9
Levels of Language Representation Semantic Level 20 Chapter 12 Morphemes in ASL 21 Chapter 12 10
Levels of Language Representation Phonemes: l the smallest distinguishable units of speech sound l make up the morphemes Phonetic alphabet represents the speech sounds of all languages, independent of how they are spelled in any word or writing system. Levels of Language Representation Semantic Level 23 Chapter 12 11
Learning Objective Topics What is language? Perception l Perceiving sounds, words Comprehension l Word level (word frequency, lexical ambiguity) l Sentence level (parsing) l Text/story level (inferences) Production Conversation (semantic & syntactic coordination) Culture, language & cognition l Sapir-Whorf hypothesis l Bilingualism Understanding words Question: What factors influence ability to understand words? Word frequency effect l Lexical decision method word or non-word l Faster RT for high frequency vs low frequency words How does this relate to reading speed? 12
Understanding words Question: What factors influence ability to understand words? Context effects l Attempt to figure out what a sentence means as we read it l Identify words alone or in conversational speech l Faster RT if words fit expected schema for sentence Lexical Ambiguity Lexical ambiguity words with more than one meaning l Lexical priming method l Words can have multiple meanings need context of sentence to clarify 13
Lexical Ambiguity Examples Will Will will the will to Will? Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. Rose rose to put rose roes on her rows of roses. Lexical ambiguity 14
Lexical ambiguity Swinney (1979) Examine access to meaning of ambiguous words Method: Listen to sentence & lexical decision Rumor had it for years, the governmet building had been plagued with problems. The man was not surprised when he found several spiders, roaches, and other bugs in the corner of the room. l Words such as ant and spy at the same time as bug Lexical ambiguity Swinney (1979) Results: RT same to ant and spy when hear bug l Immediately access both meanings l 200ms later: ant faster Why might this be? Context takes time People briefly accessed both meanings of the word bugs as they read this word in a sentence. 15
Learning Objective Topics What is language? Perception l Perceiving sounds, words Comprehension l Word level (word frequency, lexical ambiguity) l Sentence level (parsing) l Text/story level (inferences) Production Conversation (semantic & syntactic coordination) Culture, language & cognition l Sapir-Whorf hypothesis l Bilingualism What does this say? didyouseethatgameontvlastnighthowth eywonitatthebuzzer 16
Perceiving sounds Phonemic restoration effect l Warren (1970): cough replaces phoneme l What happens? l http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k74kcfsdcn8 Perceiving sounds & words Speech segmentation l Pronunciation of words in sentence different than alone Coarticulation sounds mush together l Pollack & Pickett (1964): only 50% acc for recognizing individual words Ss previously said within a conversation 17
Understanding Sentences How do we separate a sentence into smaller phrases l Parsing! Semantic ambiguity more than one meaning Example: I oppose taxes which hinder economic growth. Garden path sentence: Example: The man who hunts ducks out on weekends. Show our immediacy we interpret words as we encounter them. Syntactic ambiguity The spy saw the man with the binoculars Syntax-first approach l We group phrases based on the structure of the sentence l Late closure: Assume that word is part of the current phrase l Because he always jogs a mile seems like a short distance to him. Interactionist approach l We process both semantics (meanings of words) and syntax at the same time l So we correct ourselves as we are reading the sentence 18
Tanenhaus et al. (1995) Eye-tracker Put the apple on the towel in the box. Interactionist approach support Learning Objective Topics What is language? Perception l Perceiving sounds, words Comprehension l Word level (word frequency, lexical ambiguity) l Sentence level (parsing) l Text/story level (inferences) Production Conversation (semantic & syntactic coordination) Culture, language & cognition l Sapir-Whorf hypothesis l Bilingualism 19
Inferences Info that we take away from the text that is not specifically stated. Anaphoric: connecting objects/people l Sally preferred the company of herself. Instrumental: tools or methods l The man swept the floor l With what? Causal: events in one clause caused by events in previous sentence l I turned on the light switch. The light came on. 20