Linguistics and Language Essay

What leave alone be covered in this class? How do we produce and recognize speech? How do we perceive lyric poem, letters, and dooms? How do we watch out and recall learning from texts? How tin we improve texts to make them easier to visit? How does the read/write head function to address spoken diction? What argon the ca commits and effects of reading disabilities? Is in that respect linguistic communication in some some other species? Central themes in psycholinguistics 1) What issueledge of language is requisite for us to engross language?Tacit (implicit) noesis vs. unambiguous knowledge tacit knowledge of how to perform something, but non conscious(predicate) of full rules explicit knowledge of the marches of mechanisms in performing that thing 2) What cognitive mental processes argon heterogeneous in the ordinary use of language? How do we understand a lecture, read a book, hold a confabulation? Cognitive processes perception, storage, think ing, tuition Some definitions of basic comp adeptnts of language SemanticsThe signification of tidingss and judgment of convictions Syntax The grammatical arrangement of linguistic communication in a sentence or phrase Phonology The sound pattern of language Pragmatics How language is used in a social contextExamples from psycholinguistics Parsing garden travel plan sentences The novice accepted the deal before he had a find out to check his finances, which put him in a state of conflict when he realized he had a straight flush. 1) The defgoalant examined by the attorney turned out to be unreliable 2).The evidence examined by the attorney turned out to be unreliable The process of parsing is the process of qualification decisions The effect of prior knowledge on comprehension The procedure is very quite simple. First you arrange things into disparate groups. Of course, single pile may be sufficient depending on how often durations in that location is to do.If you garnish out to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities, that is the next step otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too m whatever. In the short circuit run this may not seem important, but complications tail substantially arise. A mistake kitty be expensive as well. At premier(prenominal) the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will turn over just another facet of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this parturiency in the immediate future, but then one never can tell. After the procedure is completed, one arranges the materials intodifferent groups again. accordingly they can be put into their appropriate sends. Eventually they will be used once more, and the whole cycle will then ready to be repeated. However, that is part of life. Bransford & washstandson, 1973 Recall No context 2. 8 image units out of a maximum of 18 Context a fterwards 2. 7 idea units Context before 5. 8 idea units Child language development How many excogitates do you know? Hint mental lexicon has nearly 450,000 entries Test high school graduates How many words do they know? About 45,000 english words About 60,000 including names and orthogonal words.The average six year old knows slightly 13,000 words. Learning closely 10 words per day since age 1. (One every 90 minutes) How much do we afford to t to to each one one children to learn language? Do you hurt to teach a child to walk? Is it the similar way of learning a language? My teacher holded the baby rabbits and we patted them I eated my dinner A brief history of psycholinguistics Wilhem Wundt (early 1900s) Interest in mental processes of language mathematical product Sentence as the primary unit of language Speech intersection is the shift key of complete thought processes into sequentially organized speech segments. styleism (1920s-1950s) Rejected the focus on menta l processes Measurement ground on objective behavior (primarily in lab animals) How does experience (reward and punishment) shape behavior? B. F. Skinner Children learn language through shaping ( moderateion of speech errors) associable chain theory A sentence consists of a chain of associations in the midst of individual words in the sentence Whats wrong with the behavioristic approach? Noam Chomsky (1950s present) 1) Colorless green ideas remainder furiously 2) Furiously sleep ideas green food colorless. 3) George picked up the baby.4) George picked the baby up. Almost every sentence verbalized is a new combination of words The Poverty of stimulus reason in that respect is not enough discipline in the language samples prone to children to account for the richnes and complexity of childrens language The pattern of development is not based on parental speech but on unconditional language knowledge Linguistic Diversity vs. Linguistic Universals Linguistic transformat ion There appears to be a piling of diversity among languages Even deep down languages thither is diversity When are twain languages different?We speak the very(prenominal) language if we can understand each otherExceptions Norwegian and Swedish Cantonese and Mandarin Dialects within languages The myth of pure language How/why do languages change? Why does there seem to be a correct English? Members of the dominant (most powerful) sub-culture tend to speak one dialect and may punish those who do not Linguistic Chauvinism Belief that ones own language/dialect is the best of all execu knock back languages Black English Vernacular (BEV) Study by William Labov Interviewed African-American s cornert youth You know, like some people say if youre unspoiled an sh*t, your center goin theaven . . .n if you bad, your spirit goin to hell. Well, bullsh*t Your spirit goin to hell anyway, good or bad. Why? Why? Ill tell you why. Cause, you see, doesn nil really know that its a God, ykno w, cause I mean I swallow seen black gods, white gods, all color gods, and dont nobody know its really a God. An when they be sayin if you good, you goin theaven, thas bullsh*t, cause you aint goin to no heaven, cause it aint no heaven for you to go to. fundament holders There vs. It in the copula Copula Is, Was optional Negatives You aint goin to no heaven.BEV just as linguistically complex as Standard American English We dont see/understand the complexity in other languages Moral All languages seem to allow for as wide range of expressions as others Linguistic Universals What is in commonalty with all languages? Sentences are built from words based on the very(prenominal)(p) physiological processes All languages involve words All humans have ways of making sounds. speech communications tend to use a small set of phonemic sounds Phoneme The minimal unit of sound that contributes to consequence How many phonemes in a language? English 40 phonemes Range Polynesian 11 to Khoisan 141.Discreteness Messages in human language (e. g. speech sounds) are do up of units of which there is a discrete (limited) deem Arbitrariness The family betwixt meaningful elements in language and their denotation is independent of any physical resemblance between the ii. forges do not have to look or sound like what they describe Openness forward-looking linguistic messages are created freely and easily Languages are not confine in a way so that there are a limited number of messages that can be created. Linguistic Productivity The major power to understand and create an unlimited number of sentences.The question studied by psycholinguists is how to characterize and account for the creativity to construct and create an infinite number of sentences awardn the limited capabilities of the human brain Duality of Patterning Language involves relating dickens different kinds of patterns or forms of mapation A phonological system A semantic system These two s ystems use very different types of codes, although there is a phonological representation for each item in the semantic system wording social organisation Information on how a sentence is grouped into phrases. The quiet boy ate the red orchard apple tree A set of Phrase Structure rulesPS 1 S (sentence) - NP + VP PS 2 NP (noun phrase)- det + (adj) + N PS 3 VP (verb phrase) - V +NP PS 4 N (noun) - boy, get across, man, book PS 5 V (verb) - ate, broke, kissed PS 6 adj (adjective - quiet, red, happy, wormy PS 7 det (determiner) - a, the We use lexical-insertion rules to put words into the construction. Phrase-structure rules provide a good account of phrase-structure equivocalness. They are broiling hens Morphology Morphology is the component of grammar that builds words out of units of meaning (morphemes)A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language How many morphemes? bird firetruck uneducated unmicrowaveability Insights from American Sign Language (ASL) Unlike speech, s igns are expressed in visual or spatial form Do a lot of the same grammatical fancys hold? Arbitrariness ASL possesses iconicity signs can represent objects or activitys to which they refer. However, the degree of iconicity has declined over the years Duality of Patterning signs are composed of smaller elements that are meaningless Example 3 contestations 19 values of reach configuration. 12 values of place of articulation 24 values of movements insignificant patterns can be combined in various ways to from ASL signs. What or so openness and discreteness within ASL? Transformational Grammar (Chomsky 1950s) Language an infinite set of well-formed sentences Grammar A finite set of rules that mystifys sentences in the language How do we know that a grammar is a good theory of language? Three criteria empiric Adequacy A grammar is observationally adequate if it generates all acceptable sequences and no out of the question sequences. Descriptive adequacyA grammar must(pren ominal) also explain how a sentence relates to other sentences that are similar & opposite in meaning. The eyeball was caught by fundament can buoy caught the ball The ball was not caught by derriere Explanatory adequacy It is possible for multiple grammars to attain observational and descriptive adequacy. Which is the correct/best one? Children learning language are presented with many samples of language and must determine the grammar from these samples. There must be some innate language constraints that help children determine the correct grammar. There exist Linguistic Universals that are common to all languages.The occurrence that there are similarities in languages is based on the particular that languages are situated by the nature of the mental structures and processes which characterize human beings A Grammar must explain the role of linguistic universals in language acquisition belatedly and Surface structure Deep structure The structure of the sentence that conve ys the meaning of the sentence. Surface Structure The superficial arrangement of constituents Deep structure ambiguity A single surface structure that is based on two different deep structures Flying planes can be dangerous.Phrase structure rules would not be able to account for the differences in meaning Sentences can have similar phrase structure, although their underlying structure is different John is easy to please John is eager to please Sentences can different surface structure, but similar deep structure Arlene compete the tuba The tuba was played by Arlene Transformational Grammar A two part process to derive a sentence 1) Use Phrase-structure rules to generate the underlying tree structure (deep structure)2) Apply a sequence of transformational rules to the deepstructure to generate the surface structure of the sentence Transformations occur by adding, deleting or abject constituents John phoned up the woman John phoned the woman up Phrase structure approachTwo different rules VP V + (particle) + NP VP V + NP + (particle) Each sentence is derived separately, using different phrase structure rules. Transformational grammar approach One rule V + particle + NP V + NP + particle John phoned up the interesting woman John phoned the interesting woman up John phoned up the woman with the kinky hair John phoned the woman with the curly hair up.Restrictions on transformations The particle-movement transformation can not be employ to pronouns John called them up *John called up them Example 2 Passive transformation NP1 + V + NP2 NP2 + be + V + en + by + NP1 Arlene played the tuba The tuba was played by Arlene Psychological Reality of Transformational Grammar If using language is a process of converting the deep structure to the surface structure, then the number of transformation rules applied should affect how long it takes to process a sentence.However, experiments do not consistently show that this holds true Current theories of grammar lexical-Func tion GrammarMade up of three components a constituent structure, a functional structure, and lexical entries Constituent Structure connatural to phrase structure Functional StructureAll the discipline needed for semantic interpretation John told bloody shame to lend Bill connote tell (subj, obj, V-comp) Tense Past Subj John Obj Mary V-comp predicate leave subj Mary obj Bill lexical Entries Lexical entries contain study about the forms of the word the kinds of sentences into which they fit, arguments and semantic roles Mary kissed John John was kissed by Mary Entry for kiss includes underlying semantic structurekiss ( cistron, patient).Forms of the word kiss agent = subject patient = object (be) kiss agent=object patient = subject Major significance of LFG Most of the commentary of how we process language is based on the lexicon (where we store information about words) . Government-Binding Theory or Universal Grammar Chomskys view of innate grammatical mechanisms. In GB theo ry, grammar is modular. Grammar due to interaction of several independent subsystems, or modules. Each module is fairly simple and performs part of the task further all modules interact in crop to constrain the rules made by the other modules in the grammar.Implications We all inherit a universal grammar that can be set to different parameter values. These parameter values learn to different languages. As we get experience with a language, we acquire these parameter values, and thus the language upon which it is based. Research methods in Psycholinguistics How do we observe, collect information on phenomena related to psycholinguistics? Naturalistic Observation Observing information in a non-experimental setting Slips of the tongue Phonological switching Crushing breastfeed Blushing crow semantic replacements blond eyes for blond hair.Language Acquisition The use of language over time Data from naturalistic observation Rich, but hard to analyze Controlled experiments Goal test an empirical hypothesis Hypothesis A chapter will be easier to understand if each section starts with a summary of what will be said. Independent protean Variable that is manipulated to test the hypothesis. Dependent Variable Variable representing the behavior we motive to measure Control Variables Other variables we need to control in order to see the effect of the independent variable Subjects Who is going to participate in the experiment?Analysis How do we know if there are differences bewteen the two chapters? The Human Information Processing System What psychological mechanisms are convoluted in using language? The Sensory store Processes incoming information from the environment Individual sensory stores for each sense Information hold for a short duration The visual sensory store Experiments by Sperling (1960) X M R K C N J P V F L B The partial draw technique Auditory sensory store Experiment by Darwin, Turvey & Crowder (1972) 3 digits or letters auditorally presente d to each ear and center at the same time.What is the use of the sensory store? It maintains information long enough so that we can do additional bear upon to it. Working memory or short term memory (STM) STM used to describe the fact that it holds information for a short time, while working memory refers to the process capacity. STM works as a temporary holding place for intermediate decisions. Limited in size. Chunking Working memory there is a limited amount of touch capacity that you can use as you perform a problem Long term memory Knowledge of how to do things, things we have learned, grammar rules, personal memories.All knowledge that is not active. Information that becomes active is retrieved from LTM and put in STM. Anything we learn is first processed in STM and some of it is put into LTM divided vs. Semantic Memory distinction Semantic memory Organized knowledge of words, concepts, symbols and objects. motor skills, general knowledge, spatial knowledge , social skills . All information is organized semantically, but not tagged based on when it was learned. periodic memory Holds traces of events specific time and place. Memory of personal experiences. Interaction between semantic and episodic memory.What does the formation of the information impact system have to do with language processing? Pattern Recognition Parsing/understanding sentences in working memory This is a long sentence and yet someway you can keep it all in working memory The organization of Long Term Memory That cat plays really cool have it away Serial vs. Parallel Processing Serial processing One process working at a time Parallel Processing octuple processes working at a time In a sequential perplex of language processing, individual modules would work one at a time to process the information.A parallel shape would say that the processes find out at the same time. Parallel models as neurally inspired models of cognitive processes top-down vs. Bottom-Up processing Co gnitive processing occurs at levels Bottom-up processing is through in such a way that all processing occurs starting from the lowest level processes and proceeds onto the higher level processes higher(prenominal) level processes do not influence any of the processing done at the lower levels Top down processing Information at the higher levels influences processing at the lower levels. Advantages and disadvantages of Top-Down processing robotic vs.Controlled processes We have a limited amount of processes that we can do at a time. Controlled processing Processes that require a substantial amount of cognitive processing. Automatic processing Processes that do not require a substantial amount of cognitive processing. The role of practice in automatic processing The Stroop effect Putting it all together Cognitive processes in action The novice accepted the deal before he had a accident to check his finances, which put him in a state of conflict when he realized he had a straight flu sh. The Internal Lexicon How are words stored? What are they made up of?How are word related to each other? How do we use them? Internal lexicon The representation of words in long term memory Lexical Access How do we cancel the meanings of words? Aspects of gist Reference The relationship between words and things in the world Things in the world are referents of a word My mouse click has fleas My dog is from Mars But not all reference can be mapped to concrete things Abstract words Love, Justice, Equality Non existent objects Unicorn, Martians Meaning is not restricted to the real world, but also imaginary worlds superstar The relationship of a word with other words in the language Student at NMSU vs.Undergraduate at NMSU Synonymy (same meaning) Car automobile Antonymy (opposite meaning) Happy Sad Incompatibility (do the words contradict each other? ) John is happy vs. John is sad Hyponymy (are they part of the same class? ) A dog is an animal, Bowser is a dog, reference work vs. Connotation indication The objective meaning of the word Connotation The aspect of the meaning beyond its explicit meaning Bachelor Spinster Hungry Starving The moral Representation of Meaning The representation of the meaning of a word is based on the semantic features of that word.We acquire the meaning of a word by learning its semantic features Children make semantic mistakes Verbs of possession. We understand more than the meaning, we have knowledge of the relations between these words sold vs. paid give vs. receive lose vs. find Prototypes Some members of a form are better instances of the category than others Apple vs. pomegranate What makes a prototype? to a greater extent central semantic features What type of dog is a prototypical dog What are the features of it? We are faster at retrieving prototypes of a category than other members of the category Semantic Networks.Words can be represented as an interconnected net of sense relations Each word is a particular nod e Connections among nodes represent semantic relationships Mental models A model/understanding of how the world works and how pieces of textual information fits in with it. John is sitting in a chair. That chair is on a table. The table is blue and round. John has red hair. The structure of the Internal Lexicon How do these pieces of semantic information relate to each other?Semantic verification task An A is a B An apple is a fruit A robin is a bird A robin is an animal A dog has teethA fish has gills A fish has feathers An apple has teeth NMSU is in New Mexico Harvard is in California Use time on verification tasks to map out the structure of the lexicon. determines of the Lexicon Collins and Quillian stratified Network model Lexical entries stored in a hierarchy, with features attached to the lexical entries Representation permits cognitive economy Testing the model Sentence curb time Robins eat worms 1310 msecs Robins have feathers 1380 msecs Robins have skin 1470 msecs A cat egory size effect Subjects do an intersection search Problems with Collins and Quillian model .1) Effect may be due to frequency of association 2) premise that all lexical entries at the same level are tint The Typicality Effect Which is a more typical bird? Ostrich or Robin. A whale is a fish vs. A horse is a fish Major conclusions of the model 1) If a fact about a concept is frequently encountered, it will be stored with that concept even if it could be inferred from a more distant concept. 2) The more frequently encountered a fact about a concept is, the more strongly that fact will be associated with the concept. And the more strongly associated with a concept facts are, the more speedily they are verified.3) Verifying facts that are not directly stored with a concept but that must be inferred takes a relatively long time. ranch Activation Models (Collins & Loftus) Words represented in lexicon as a profits of relationships Organization is a web of interconnected nodes in which connections can represent categorical relations degree of association typicality Retrieval of information public exposure activation Limited amount of activation to spread Verification propagation depend on closeness of two concepts in a network Context effect in spreading activation modelsPresent all Murder is a umbrage or Libel is a plague Then get verification time for Robbery is a crime Subjects faster when they see Murder than Libel. Why? Advantages of Collins and Loftus model Recognizes diversity of information in a semantic network Captures complexity of our semantic representation Consistent with results from priming studies Lexical Access What factors are involved in retrieving information from the lexicon? Semantic Priming Meyer & Schvaneveldt (1971) Lexical finding projection vertex Target time Nurse cover 940 msecs colewort Butter 855 msecs Evidence for associative spreading activation.Ratcliff and McKoon (1981) Subjects call for and memorise The doctor scorned the book Task Was this word from the sentence you memorized? Prime Target Time None Book 667 msecs Doctor Book 624 msecs Word Frequency Does word frequency play a role in lexical approach shot? Lexical last Task gambastya, revery, voitle, chard, wefe, cratily, decoy, puldow, raflot, oriole, vuluble, booble, chalt, awry, signet, trave, crock, cryptic, ewe, himpola mulvow, governor, bless, tuglety, gare, relief, ruftily, history, pindle, develop, gardot, norve, busy, effort, garvola, match,sard, pleasant, coin, maisle.Lexical Decision is dependent on word frequency Eyemovement studies Subjects spend about 80 msecs longer fixating on low-frequency words than high-frequency words Morphological Structure So we strip morose the prefixes and suffixes of a word for lexical access? Decision = Decide + ion Lexical Decision Tasks Prime Target Time Nurse Butter 940 msecs Bread Butter 855 msecs Evidence for associative spreading activation Ratcliff and McKoon (1981) Subjects study and memorize The doctor hated the bookTask Was this word from the sentence you memorized? Prime Target Time None Book 667 msecs Doctor Book 624 msecs Word Frequency Does word frequency play a role in lexical access? Lexical Decision Task gambastya, revery, voitle, chard, wefe, cratily, decoy, puldow, raflot, oriole, vuluble, booble, chalt, awry, signet, trave, crock, cryptic, ewe, himpola mulvow, governor, bless, tuglety, gare, relief, ruftily, history, pindle, develop, gardot, norve, busy, effort, garvola, match,sard, pleasant, coin, maisle.Lexical Decision is dependent on word frequency Eyemovement studies Subjects spend about 80 msecs longer fixating on low-frequency words than high-frequency words Morphological Structure So we strip off the prefixes and suffixes of a word for lexical access? Decision = Decide + ion Lexical Decision Tasks Presented subjects with a sequence of words to study Examined the probability of recognizing words over 14 days Performance systematica lly rottings over time Negatively accelerated decay.Bahrick (1984) Students guardianship of spanish-english vocabulary items from 0 to 50 years Power law of decay Review on the internal lexicon Aspects of meaning Reference and Sense Denotation and Connotation What is the mental representation of meaning? Models of the Lexicon Hierarchical Network Model Spreading Activation Model What factors are involved in retrieving information from the lexicon? Semantic Priming Word Frequency Morphological Structure Lexical Ambiguity Retention of lexical items.