Reaction Paper:Language
lyn.dee
Week10.pptxcognitive Psychology
Week 11
Sümeyra Tosun
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For today
Language
Language comprehension
Discussion
What is language?
A simple definition: “A system of symbols and rules that enable us to communicate.”
Symbols: stand for other things (i.e. words).
Rules: specify how words are ordered to form sentences.
Properties of language
Communicative
Arbitrarily symbolic
Regularly structured
Structured at multiple levels
Productive
Dynamic
Phonology
Orthography
Morphology
Syntax
Semantics
Pragmatics
What makes up language?
Phoneme: is the basic unit of spoken language
Example: the sounds /p/ /t/ and /a/ are all phonemes.
English has about 40 phonemes.
s and c can both produce /s/ sound
Phonology- Sound system of language; rules of how different phonemes can be arranged.
Phonology
/s/ and c are one phoneme.
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The written form of the language
Language-dependent patterns
STUDIO
STÜDYO
الاستوديو
Orthography
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Morpheme: is the basic unit of meaning
Example: reactivated
contains 4 morphemes re-, -act, -ive, -ate and –ed
Morphology- is the study of morphemes
Lexicon: entire set of morphemes
An average English speaker has a lexicon of ~80,000 morphemes.
Morphology
Each of these segments has a specific meaning. For instance re- indicates a repeated action. And –ed signifies past tense.
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Morphology
Syntax: Refers to the grammatical rules that govern how we organize words into sentences.
English: Dog chased cat (SVO)
Turkish: Dog cat chased (SOV)
Syntax
In English, we follow a subject verb object syntax. We put our subject nouns before a verb and before an object.
Other languages follow OVS patterns Cat chase Dog
SOV Dog Cat Chase
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The meanings of words and language
Example: He accepted the deal too early.
Semantics
Social conventions of language use
Pragmatics
Takes into account listener’s perspective
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Comprehension
Word comprehension
We process 50 phonemes per second.
Pin = Pen?
Coarticulation
Light, Leaf, Lose
Speech segmentation
No pause between words
Pause within word
Comprehension
Phonetic refinement theory
Start with an analysis of auditory sensation.
Process phonemes, and morphemes and words.
Followed by higher level of processing
Bottom-up
Comprehension
TRACE model
Three levels of feature detection
Acoustic
Phonemes
Words
Spreading activation
Lower levels and higher levels are interacted.
Top-down process
Comprehension
TRACE model
Phonemic restoration effect
It was found that the *eel was on the shoe.
It was found that the *eel was on the orange.
It was found that the *eel was on the axle.
It was found that the *eel was on the table.
Isolated speech
68% in slow speech
41% in fast speech
Comprehension
Categorical perception
We categorically process sounds.
ba vs da vs ga
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Comprehension
Motor theory
Reference to knowledge of production
Articulatory speech gestures
“multi-modal”: visual and auditory
Evidence:
McGurk effect: [ga] + [ba] = [da]
Bottom-up processing
Comprehension
Semantics
Connotation
Mental lexicon: all the words and their meanings
Lexical access
Comprehension
Syntax comprehension
Grammar
“’Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.”
Priming
Mat gave flowers to Janna.
Mat gave Janna flowers.
Tom cooked pasta to Jack.
Comprehension
Syntax comprehension
Parsing: Assigning the elements of a sentence’s surface structure to linguistic categories
Noun phrase, verb phrase
Comprehension
Parsing
The actor thanked
the audience
Comprehension: Garden Path
Jessie put the book Kathy was reading in the library.
He gave her cat food.
The lady hit the man with an umbrella.
The old train the young.
I know more beautiful women than Julia Roberts.
While Anna dressed the baby played in the crib.
partial-report procedure
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Reading
Average adult can read 250-300 words in a min.
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Orthographic systems
Logography
Syllabary
Alphabet
Orthographic systems
Logography
Linguistic Unit:
Word or Morpheme
Paired with pictorial symbol
Orthographic systems
Logography
Chinese
Characters map on to
Meaning (Radicals)
Pronunciation
Kanji
Logographic symbols, used in Japanese, Borrowed from Chinese
Orthographic systems
Syllabary
Linguistic Unit: Syllable
Japanese Kana
Orthographic systems
Alphabet
Linguistic Unit: Individual sound (phoneme)
Paired with a letter (grapheme)
Orthographic depth
Degree of consistency between grapheme- phoneme
Orthographically shallow
High consistency
Turkish
Orthographically deep
Less consistency
English
me, seat, seem, ceiling, people, machine, siege, phoenix
Food: flood, through: rough, shoe: toe, rude: rub
Perception of letters in isolation
Perception of letters in word context
Top-down processing
Reading: Lexical access
Reading: Eye-Movements
Three types
Fixations
Saccades
Regressions
Reading impairments
Language and Brain
Broca’s area
Broca’s area: Muscle related language functions and ability to translate information to speech patterns
Articulation
Grammar
Writing/Reading
Broca’s aphasia
congenital insensitivity to pain
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Language
Language ability of animals
They have larger temporal area on the left as humans
Apes
Viki
Sultan
Washoe and Loulis
Mutata
Kanzi (production, comprehension, socialization)
Next week
Chapter 10
