Chapter 9 number of unique sentences and other

meaningful combinations of words

– Language = the use of an organized (Chomsky!)
means of combining words in order to
communicate f. Dynamic → language evolves
naturally
→ Makes it possible to think about
things and processes people currently 1.2 The Basic Components of Words
cannot see, hear,
– Phoneme = the smallest unit of
feel, touch, or smell speech sound that can be used to
distinguish one utterance
– Communication = exchange of
thoughts and feelings (verbal or in a given language from another
nonverbal)
→ Phonemics = the study of the
– Psycholinguistics = psychology of particular phonemes of a language
our language as it interacts with the
human mind → Phonetics = the study of how to
produce or combine speech sounds or
→ Considers production and to represent
comprehension of language, four fields
contribute to it: them with written symbols

a. Linguistics = the study of language – Morpheme = the smallest unit of

structure and change meaning within a particular language

b. Neurolinguistics =the study of the - Content morphemes = the words

relationship among the brain, that convey the bulk of the meaning of
cognition, and language a language

c. Sociolinguistics = the study of the - Function morphemes add detail and

relationship between social behaviour nuance to the meaning of the content
and language morphemes or

d. Computational linguistics = the help the content morphemes to fit the

study of language via computational grammatical context
methods – Lexicon = entire set of morphemes
1. What Is Language? in a given language or in a given
person’s linguistic
1.1 Properties of Language
repertoire
– All languages are:
– Syntax = the systematic way in
a. Communicative which words can be combined and
sequenced to form
b. Arbitrarily symbolic
meaningful phrases and sentences
→ Referent = the thing or concept in
the real world that a word refers to – A sentence comprises at least two
parts: a noun phrase and a verb
→ Principle of conventionality: phrase (predicate)
meanings of words are determined by
conventions 2. Language Comprehension
→ Principle of contrast: different words 2.1 Understanding Words
have different meanings
– we can perceive as many as fifty
c. Regularly structured phonemes per second in a language in
which we are
d. Structured at multiple levels
(sounds, meaning units, words, and fluent, but less than one nonspeech
phrases) sounds/second
e. Generative/Productive → possible to – Coarticulation = simultaneous
produce infnite pronunciation of more than one sound
(Result of the
anticipation of the next word)
– Speech segmentation = the process of a third sound
of trying to separate the continuous
sound stream into – physiological basis in the superior
temporal sulcus (STS); motor parts of
distinct words the cortex are
The View of Speech Perception as involved not only in the production of
Ordinary speech but also in speech perception
– when we perceive speech, we use 2.2 Understanding Meaning:
the same processes as when we Semantics
perceive other sounds
– Semantics = the study of meaning in
→ theories of Template-matching or a language
feature-detection processes
– Denotation = strict dictionary
a. Speech sounds are analyzed into definition of a word
their components
– Connotation = a word’s emotional
b. Components are analyzed for overtones, presuppositions, and other
patterns and matched to a prototype non-explicit
or template
meanings
→ Require decision-making processes
above and beyond feature detection or → Denotation and connotation
template together form the meaning of a word

matching; cognitive and contextual – Meanings are encoded into memory

factors influence perception of speech through concepts

→ Phonemic restauration effect = → Having a word for something helps

integrating what we know with what us to add new information to our
we hear when we existing

perceive speech information about that concept and

also facilitates and enhances recall
The View of Speech Perception as
Special – All words are stored in our mental
lexicon, which contains both the words
– Categorical Perception - and their
discontinuous categories of speech
sounds meanings ; When retrieving the
meaning of words, people may rely on
→ Perception of speech sounds is their
experienced categorically
a. perceptual features (living things)
→ People are better able to and the
discriminate between two different
categories than within b. function (artificial, manmade
objects)
categories
2.3 Understanding Sentences: Syntax
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([email protected]) – Syntax = the systematic way in
which words can be combined and
lOMoARcPSD|30305176 sequenced to make
– McGurk effect = perceptual meaningful phrases and sentences
phenomenon that demonstrates an
interaction between Downloaded by Karizza Kitong
([email protected])
hearing and vision in speech
perception → illusion occurs when the lOMoARcPSD|30305176
auditory component of – Grammar = the study of language in
one sound is paired with the visual terms of noticing regular patterns
component of another sound, leading (patterns relate to
to the perception the functions and relationships of
words in a sentence)
a. Prescriptive grammar: describes the – Sentences are organized in
“correct” ways in which to structure hierarchical structures of embedded
the use of phrases → Phrase
written and spoken language Structure Grammar e.g. noun phrase,
verb phrase
b. Descriptive language: describes the
structures, functions, and relationships → phrase-structure rules: rules
of words in governing the sequences of words
language A New Approach to Syntax:
Transformational Grammar
Syntactical Priming
– Chomsky: to understand syntax, we
= People tend to use syntactical must not only observe the
structures and read faster sentences interrelationships among
that parallel the
phrases within sentences but also
structures of sentences they have just consider the syntactical relationships
heard between sentences
– Sentence priming: independent of its → phrase-structure analysis fails to
grammatical correctness, a sentence show relation between sentences that
is rated more express the
grammatically correct when a same proposition in different ways
sentence with the same structure was
presented before – → introduction of transformational
grammar: involves transformational
Speech Errors rules = rules that
– When speech errors occur they do so guide the ways in which an underlying
in accordance with grammar (nouns proposition can be arranged into a
are switched for sentence
nouns, verbs for verbs, propositions – Deep structure = underlying
for propositions, etc.) syntactical structure that links various
→ attachment/detachment of function phrase structures
morphemes to make the switched through various transformation rules
words fit their
– Surface structure = any of the
new positions various phrase structures that may
Analyzing Sentences: Phrase-Structure result from such
Grammar transformations
– Humans seem to have a mental Relationships between Syntactical and
mechanism for classifying words Lexical Structures
according to syntactical
– Chomsky: Each lexical item contains
categories which is separate from the not only meaning attached to
meaning of words morphemes, but also
a. Parsing: when composing syntactical information, which
sentences, people seem to analyze indicates:
and divide them into
a. The syntactical category of the
functional components items (noun, verb,…)
b. People assign appropriate b. The appropriate syntactical contexts
syntactical categories to each in which the particular morpheme may
component be used
c. Syntax rules are used to construct (pronouns as subjects, direct objects,
grammatical sequences of the parsed …)
components
c.Any idiosyncratic information about memory about these words (bottom-
the syntactical uses of the morpheme up)
(treatment of
b. Comprehension processes: used to
irregular verbs,…) make sense of the text as a whole
(top-down)
→ By making the mental lexicon more
complex, the syntax is made simpler 3.2 Lexical Processes in Reading
(number of
Fixations and Reading Speed
required rules is reduced)
– When reading the eyes move in
– Criticism: too much focus on syntax, saccades (rapid sequential
too less on meaning → theory that put movements ) as they fixate on
so much
successive clumps of text → Longer on
emphasis on syntax seems insufficient longer words, unfamiliar words, and
to explain the processes of language the last word in
usage to
a sentence (“sentence wrap-up time”)
express meaning
Lexical Access
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([email protected]) = the identification of a word that
allows people to gain access to the
lOMoARcPSD|30305176 meaning of the word
– Thematic roles = ways in which from memory → Interactive process:
items can be used in the context of combines information of different
communication kinds (features of
a. .Agent = “doer” of any action letters, the letters themselves, the
words comprising the letters,…)
b. Patient = direct recipient of the
action – Interactive-activation model
(McClelland, Rumelhart): Activation of
c. Beneficiary = indirect recipient of lexical elements occurs
the action
at multiple levels:
d. Instrument = means by which the
action is implemented a. feature level
e. Location = place where the action b. letter level
occurs
c. word level
f. Source = where the action
originated → Activity at each level is interactive

g. Goal = where the action is going → Information at each level is

represented separately in memory
→ various syntactical slots can be
filled by lexical entries with → Information passes from one level
corresponding thematic roles to another bidirectionally

3. Reading
– Word-superiority effect (similar to
= complex process that involves, at
confgural-superiority effect and the
minimum, perception, language,
object-superiority
memory,
effectt): letters are read more easily
thinking, and intelligence
when they ar eembedded in words
3.1 Perceptual Issues in Reading than when they are
– Two basic kinds of processes: presented either in isolation or with
letters that do not form words
a. Lexical processes: used to identify (Reicher-Wheeler
letters and words; activate relevant
information in effect); measured using lexical-
decision-task
– Sentence-superiority effect: people words in isolation than in context)
take about twice as long to read
unrelated words as c. Phonological coding in working
memory: difficulty storing phonemes
opposed to words in a sentence → in working memory;
Context effects occur on a conscious
and preconscious tendency to confuse them

level d. Lexical access: ability to retrieve

phonemes from long-term memory
Intelligence and Lexical-Access Speed
– Different kinds of dyslexia, most
- Lexical-access speed = the speed common:
with which people can retrieve
information about words a. Developmental dyslexia: starts in
childhood; both biological
stored in (abnormalities in certain
long-term memory chromosomes) and environmental
causes
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([email protected]) b. Acquired dyslexia: result of a
traumatic brain injury
lOMoARcPSD|30305176
– linked to hypoactivation (=too little
3.3 Teaching How to Read activation) in certain brain areas (left
– several approaches to teach children temporoparietal cortex) and atypical
to read: activation in others (left prefrontal
a. the phonics approach: children are region, left middle
taught how the letters of the alphabet and superior temporal gyri; left
sound and occipitotemporal regions )
then progressively put them together Downloaded by Karizza Kitong
to read more letters together ([email protected])
b. the whole-word approach: teaches lOMoARcPSD|30305176
children to recognize whole words,
without the 4. Understanding Conversations and
Essay: Discourse
analysis of the sounds that make up
the word → more interesting for – Discourse involves units of language
children larger than individual sentences;
passages of discourse
c. the whole-language approach:
words are pieces of sentences are structured systematically
and reading should therefore be → sentences influence the
taught in connection with entire interpretation of other sentences
sentences
→ meanings of pronouns, ellipses,
3.3 When Reading Is a Problem— definite articles, event references, and
Dyslexia other local
= difficulty in deciphering, reading, elements within sentences usually
and comprehending text depend on the discourse structure
– Different processes may be impaired: 4.1 Comprehending Known Words:
Retrieving Word Meaning from Memory
a. Phonological awareness: awareness
of the sound structure of spoken – Semantic encoding = the process by
language which people translate sensory
information into a
(recognizing the different sounds that
make up a word). meaningful representation → reader
needs to know what a given word
b. Phonological reading: reading words means to
in isolation (often have more trouble
recognizing semantically encode it
– People with larger vocabularies are 4.5 Representing the Text in Mental
able to access lexical information more Models
rapidly than
– After semantic encoding → Creation
those with smaller vocabularies of a mental representation/ mental
model (internal
4.2 Comprehending Unknown Words:
Deriving Word Meanings from Context working model of the situation
described in the text, as the reader
– Using context cues, we can understands it) that
formulate the meaning of an unknown
word based on the contains the main elements of a text
existing information stored in memory. → Elements are simpler and more
concrete than the text itself
→ Most of the vocabulary is learned
indirectly through context information – To form mental models one must
make at least tentative inferences
– High-verbal people (people with about what is meant by
large vocabulary) perform a deeper
analysis of the the text → passages of text that lead
to a single mental model are easier to
possibilities for a new word’s meaning; comprehend
they use a well-formulated strategy for
figuring out than are passages that may lead to
multiple mental models
word meanings; Low-verbal people
seem to have no clear strategy to – Bridging inference = an inference a
decipher the meaning reader/ listener makes when a
sentence seems not to
of an unknown word
follow directly from the sentence
4.3 Comprehending Ideas: preceding it
Propositional Representations
– minimalist hypothesis = readers
– Kintsch - model of text make inferences based only on
comprehension: information that is easily
→ People extract the fundamental idea available to them and only when they
from groups of words and store them need to make such inferences to make
in a sense of
simplified representational form in adjoining sentences
working memory
→ Representational form: propositions;
working memory holds propositions
rather than
words
→ Propositions that are thematically
central to the understanding of a text
(=macropropositions) will remain in
working memory longer than
propositions that are
irrelevant to the theme; overarching
thematic structure = macrostructure
4.4 Comprehending Text Based on
Context and Point of View
– Varying the retrieval situations or
cues can cause different details to be
remembered