Linguistics and Language Essay Example for Free

Linguistics and articles EssayWhat will be c all overed in this class? How do we produce and recognize speech? How do we perceive lecture, letters, and reproves? How do we learn and rec alone randomness from texts? How crumb we improve texts to make them easier to understand? How does the br ain function to adjoin style? What be the ca applys and effects of education disabilities? Is there language in former(a) species? Central themes in psycho linguals 1) What demand intercourseledge of language is needed for us to practice session language?Tacit (implicit) comeledge vs. Explicit knowledge tacit knowledge of how to perform something, plainly non aw atomic number 18 of full rules explicit knowledge of the plowes of mechanisms in performing that thing 2) What cognitive does be involved in the ordinary use of language? How do we understand a lecture, read a book, h sexagenarian a conversation? Cognitive processes perception, memory, thinking, knowledge Some definitions of basic components of language semanticsThe pith of wrangle and dooms Syntax The grammatical musical arrangement of row in a metre or phrase phonology The sound formula of language Pragmatics How language is used in a social contextExamples from psycholinguistics Parsing tend path sentences The enlightened accepted the deal before he had a chance to check his finances, which put option him in a state of conflict when he realized he had a straight flush. 1) The suspect examined by the lawyer false out to be unreli qualified 2).The evidence examined by the lawyer turned out to be unreliable The process of parsing is the process of making decisions The effect of prior knowledge on comprehension The procedure is actu anyy quite simple. First you arrange things into antithetical groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how practically there is to do.If you have to go somewhere else due to overlook of facilities, that is the next step o ppositewise you are pretty well cross out. It is important non to overdo things. That is, it is break away to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important, plainly complications can easily arise. A mistake can be overpriced as well. At low gear the total procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become unless another facet of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this labor in the conterminous future, but then one never can tell. After the procedure is completed, one arranges the materials intodifferent groups again. thence they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once much, and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is deviate of life. Bransford toiletson, 1973 Recall No context 2. 8 idea units out of a maximum of 18 place frameting afterwards 2. 7 idea units Context before 5. 8 idea units Child language development How many lectur e do you know? Hint Dictionary has closely 450,000 entries Test high school graduates How many manner of speaking do they know? About 45,000 english words About 60,000 including names and foreign words.The average six year old knows about 13,000 words. Learning about 10 words per day since age 1. (One every 90 minutes) How much do we have to teach youngsterren to learn language? Do you have to teach a child to walk? Is it the akin way of learning a language? My teacher holded the baby rabbits and we patted them I eated my dinner party A brief history of psycholinguistics Wilhem Wundt (early 1900s) Interest in mental processes of language production Sentence as the primary unit of language Speech production is the transformation of complete thought processes into sequentially nonionised speech segments.Behaviorism (1920s-1950s) Rejected the focus on mental processes Measurement based on bearing behavior (primarily in lab animals) How does experience (reward and punishment) shape behavior? B. F. Skinner Children learn language do shaping ( gear upion of speech errors) Associative chain theory A sentence consists of a chain of associations betwixt individual words in the sentence Whats wrong with the behaviorist approach? Noam Chomsky (1950s present) 1) Colorless commonalty ideas sleep furiously 2) Furiously sleep ideas green colorless. 3) George picked up the baby.4) George picked the baby up. Almost every sentence uttered is a new combination of words The Poverty of stimulus argument There is not enough data in the language samples given to children to bet for the richnes and complexity of childrens language The pattern of development is not based on parental speech but on innate language knowledge Linguistic Diversity vs. Linguistic Universals Linguistic diversity There appears to be a circulate of diversity among languages Even within languages there is diversity When are deuce languages different?We speak the comparable language if we can understand each otherExceptions Norwegian and Swedish Cantonese and Mandarin Dialects within languages The story of pure language How/why do languages change? wherefore does there seem to be a correct slope? 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 scoop up of all possible languages Black English Vernacular (BEV) Study by William Labov Interviewed African-American street spring chicken You know, like some people say if youre good an sh*t, your spirit 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 nonentity very know that its a God, yknow, cause I mean I have 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 ain t goin to no heaven, cause it aint no heaven for you to go to. Place holders There vs. It in the copula Copula Is, Was facultative 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 only languages seem to permit as wide range of expressions as others Linguistic Universals What is in common with all languages? Sentences are built from words based on the akin physiological processes all languages have words All mans have ways of making sounds. Languages tend to use a small set of phonemic sounds Phoneme The minimal unit of sound that contributes to center 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 made up of units of which there is a discrete (limited) number Arbitrariness The relationship between meaning(prenominal) elements in language and their d enotation is in dependant of any physical resemblance between the ii. crys do not have to look or sound like what they specify Openness New linguistic messages are created freely and easily Languages are not constrained in a way so that there are a limited number of messages that can be created. Linguistic Productivity The efficiency to understand and create an unlimited number of sentences.The question studied by psycholinguists is how to characterize and account for the creative thinking to construct and create an infinite number of sentences given the limited capabilities of the human brain dichotomy of Patterning Language involves relating two different kinds of patterns or forms of representation A phonological placement A semantic system These two systems use very different emblems of codes, although there is a phonological representation for each situation in the semantic system forge mental synthesis Information on how a sentence is group into phrases. The qu iet boy ate the red apple 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, dog, 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 anatomical organise. Phrase-structure rules provide a good account of phrase-structure ambiguity. 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 substantive unit of language How many morphemes? snigger firetruck undereducated unmicrowaveability Insights from American Sign Language (ASL) Unlike speech, signs are expressed in visual or spatial form Do a lot of the same grammatical concepts hold? Arbitrariness ASL possesses iconicity signs can represent objects or actions 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 controversys 19 values of delve configuration. 12 values of place of articulation 24 values of movements Meaningless patterns can be unite in various ways to from ASL signs. What about openness and discreteness within ASL? Transformational Grammar (Chomsky 1950s) Language an infinite set of well-formed sentences Grammar A finite set of rules that generates sentences in the language How do we know that a grammar is a good theory of language? Three criteria Observational Adequacy A grammar is experimentally adequate if it generates all satisfactory sequences and no unacceptable sequences. Descriptive adequacyA grammar moldiness also explain how a sentence relates to other sentences that are similar opposite in meaning. The testicle was caught by fundament John caught the ball The ball was not caught by John Explanatory adequacy It is possible for multiple gramma rs 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 fact that there are similarities in languages is based on the fact that languages are determined 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 Deep and aerofoil structure Deep structure The structure of the sentence that conveys 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 vie 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 give-up the ghost by adding, deleting or moving constituents John phoned up the adult female 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 curly tomentum cerebri John phoned the woman with the curly hair up.Restrictions on transformations The particle-movement transformation can not be applied 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-Function GrammarMade up of one-third components a constituent structure, a functional structure, and lexical entries Constituent Structure Similar to phrase structure Functional StructureAll the information needed for semantic interpretation John told bloody shame to forswear Bill Predicate tell (subj, obj, V-comp) Tense Past Subj John Obj Mary V-comp predicate leave subj Mary obj Bill Lexical Entries Lexical entries contain information 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 (agent, patient).Forms of the word kiss agent = subdue patient = object (be) kiss agent=object patient = subject Major significance of LFG Most of the explanation of how we process language is based on the lexicon (where we terminus information about words) . Government-Binding Theory or Universal Grammar Chomskys view of innate grammatical mechanisms. In GB theory, grammar is modular. Grammar due to interaction of several independent subsystems, or modules. Each module is fairly simple and performs part of the task But all modules interact in aver to constrain the rules made by the other modu les in the grammar.Implications We all inherit a universal grammar that can be set to different argument values. These parameter values correspond 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? realistic Observation Observing information in a non-experimental setting Slips of the tongue Phonological switching withering blow Blushing crow semantic replacements blond eyes for blond hair.Language Acquisition The use of language over fourth dimension Data from naturalistic observation Rich, but hard to analyze Controlled experiments aspiration test an empirical hypothesis Hypothesis A chapter will be easier to understand if each department starts with a summary of what will be said. Independent shifting Variable that is manipulated to test the hypothesis. Dependent Va riable Variable representing the behavior we want 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 involved in using language? The Sensory store Processes incoming information from the environment separate sensory stores for each sense Information retained 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 report technique Auditory sensory store Experiment by Darwin, Turvey Crowder (1972) 3 digits or letters auditorally presented 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 additive bear on to it. works memory or short term memory (STM) STM used to describe th e fact that it holds information for a short time, while on the job(p) memory refers to the touch capacity. STM workings as a temporary holding place for intermediate decisions. Limited in size. Chunking Working memory there is a limited amount of processing 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, ain 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 Episodic vs. Semantic Memory tuberosity 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. Episodic memory Holds traces of events limited time and place. Memory of personal experiences. Interaction between semantic a nd episodic memory.What does the organization of the information processing system have to do with language processing? Pattern Recognition Parsing/understanding sentences in working memory This is a long sentence and yet somehow you can keep it all in working memory The organization of Long Term Memory That cat plays really cool fart Serial vs. Parallel Processing Serial processing One process working at a time Parallel Processing Multiple processes working at a time In a serial model of language processing, individual modules would work one at a time to process the information.A parallel model would say that the processes happen at the same time. Parallel models as neurally stimulate models of cognitive processes Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up processing Cognitive processing occurs at levels Bottom-up processing is make in such a way that all processing occurs starting from the lowest level processes and subject onto the higher level processes Higher level processes do not influence a ny 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 Automatic 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 chance to check his finances, which put him in a state of conflict when he realized he had a straight flush. 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 activate the meanings of words? Aspects of Meaning Reference The relationship between words and things in the world Things in the world are referents of a word My dog 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 Sense The relationship of a word with other words in the language Student at NMSU vs.Undergraduate at NMSU Synonymy (same meaning) Car political machine 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, Denotation vs. intension Denotation The objective meaning of the word Connotation The aspect of the meaning beyond its explicit meaning Bachelor Spinster Hungry Starving The rational 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 syndicate are better instances of the category than others Apple vs. pomegranate What makes a prototype? More 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. excogitates can be represented as an interconnected engagement of sense relations Each word is a particular node 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 seated in a chair. That chair is on a table. The table is blue and roun d. John has red hair. The structure of the Internal Lexicon How do these pieces of semantic information relate to each other?Semantic checkout 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 tilt 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. gets of the Lexicon Collins and Quillian Hierarchical Network model Lexical entries stored in a hierarchy, with features attached to the lexical entries Representation permits cognitive economy Testing the model Sentence Verification time Robins eat worms 1310 msecs Robins have feathers 1380 msecs Robins have skin 1470 msecs A category size effect Subjects do an converging search Problems with Collins and Quillian model .1) Effect may be due to frequency of association 2) assertion that all lexical entries at the same level are equal The Typicality Effect Which is a more typica l bird? Ostrich or Robin. A whale is a fish vs. A dollar bill is a fish Major conclusions of the model 1) If a fact about a concept is often encountered, it will be stored with that concept even if it could be inferred from a more distant concept. 2) The more much 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 rapidly they are verified.3) Verifying facts that are not directly stored with a concept but that must be inferred takes a relatively long time. cattle farm Activation Models (Collins Loftus) Words represented in lexicon as a network of relationships Organization is a electronic network of interconnected nodes in which connections can represent categorical relations degree of association typicality Retrieval of information Spreading activation Limited amount of activation to spread Verification times depend on closeness of two concepts in a n etwork Context effect in spreading activation modelsPresent either Murder is a crime or Libel is a crime so 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 decisiveness undertaking Prime goat era Nurse Butter 940 msecs abrasion Butter 855 msecs Evidence for associative spreading activation.Ratcliff and McKoon (1981) Subjects field of battle and memorize The doctor hated 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 access? Lexical Decision Task gambastya, revery, voitl e, 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 cancelled 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 gambast ya, 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 systematically decays over time Negatively accelerated decay.Bahrick (1984) Students retention of spanish-english language 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.