CHAPTER 10CHAPTER 10

Karen Meador

The Study of Language

Linguists – study the “rules” of language (what we do when we write, speak or talk)

Psycholinguists – study verbal behavior and human cognition

Speech & ComprehensionComprehension of speech

consists of:• Recognition of words• Understanding grammatical

structure of words, phrases & sentences

• Comprehending meaning

PHONEMESPHONEMES

• THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF SPEECH!

• Smallest unit of sound with meaning

• Affected by following sounds

• Context affects strings of sounds

Meaning• Grammatical Rules-

known as Syntactical Rules

• Explicit – we can learn to express the rules & application

• Implicit – do not need to know rules to speak & understand

• Word Order• Word Class – categories (noun, adj.,

etc.)

• Function Words – a, the, some, but, etc.

• Affixes – prefixes & suffixes

• Word Meanings• Prosody – intonation & emphasis

Semantics• Word Meanings• CONTENT WORDS

help us to understand meaning of sentences

• (Whereas Function Words help us to understand syntax)

DEEP STRUCTURE• By Noam Chomsky (linguist)• Meaning of a sentence without

regard for grammatical features needed to verbally express it

• Sentences in brain formed in terms of meaning

SCRIPTS• Characteristic

s typical to a particular situation

• Assist in comprehending stories

BRAIN BRAIN MECHANISMSMECHANISMS

•SPEECH PRODUCTION

• Controlled by Frontal Lobes

BROCA’s AREA

Broca’s Aphasia•Slow, nonfluent speech•Meaningful but not

grammatical•Aggramatism•Impaired comprehension

SPEECH COMPREHENSION

• Recognition controlled by upper Left Temporal Lobe

• In the Auditory Association Cortex

• Location of Wernicke’s Area• Comprehension from surrounding

areas

Wernicke’s Aphasia

•Poor speech recognition / comprehension

•Meaningless speech production

•Fluent•Grammatical•Nonsense words

Wernicke’s Area

Perceptual only

No Meaning

Area surrounding Wernicke’s Area

Additional information from Long-Term Memory

Meaning

RECOGNITION VS.

COMPREHENSION

Pure Word Deafness –only Wernicke’s Area damaged

Ability to hear, speak and (usually) write

No comprehension of meaning of spoken words

Can comprehend reading lips, writing, nonspeech sounds, etc.

Isolation Aphasia –area around Wernicke’s Area

damaged only• Inability to

comprehend speech

• Meaningless speech

• Can repeat words

• Can learn new sequences

• Some key words -• Psycholinguistics• Phoneme• Syntactics• Semantics• Deep Structure• Script

• Broca’a Area and Aphasia

• Aggrammatism• Wernicke’s Area

and Aphasia• Pure Word

Deafness• Isolation Aphasia

READINGREADING• Writing began in Writing began in

Sumeria around Sumeria around

4000 BC4000 BC• PictographsPictographs• Phoenician > Phoenician >

Greek > Roman > Greek > Roman > Modern EuropeanModern European

Scanning TextScanning Text• Eye Tracker- monitors position of

pupil• Saccades – rapid eye jumps• Fixation – when eye does not move

– Gathering visual information– Approximately 250 milliseconds

• Longer on long or unusual words• Longer on content words than function

words

Recognition of Words• PHONETIC

– Decoding sounds that letters or groups of letters make

– “sound reading”• WHOLE-WORD

– Decoding word as a whole – needed in languages where there are irregular words (such as English)

– “sight reading”

DYSLEXIAS• Surface Dyslexia

– Deficit in whole-word reading– Pronunciation problems with irregular

words, not comprehension

• Phonological Dyslexia– Deficit in phonetic reading– Problems with unfamiliar words or

pronounceable nonwords

• Direct Dyslexia– Ability to read words aloud without

understanding them• Shows a comprehension deficit

– Cannot read pronounceable nonwords• Shows a phonetic deficit

• Dyslexia results from damage to the Left Parietal or Temporal lobe

DYSLEXIAS (Cont’d.)

Meaning – Content WordsMeaning – Content Words

Memories from Memories from experienceexperience

– VisualVisual– AuditoryAuditory– GustatoryGustatory– SomatosensorySomatosensory– OlfactoryOlfactory

Meaning – Content Words Meaning – Content Words (cont’d.)(cont’d.)

• Adjectives remembered in relation to personal experience– (such as “old” – an old man, an old

newspaper, etc.)

• Abstract words understood as adjectives first– (such as “honesty” remembered in

terms of honest people)

Meaning – Function WordsMeaning – Function Words

•Understanding is more abstract

•Most likely represented by objects in relation to one another– (such as “under” – a car driving

under a bridge)

Semantic Priming

• A facilitating effect on the recognition of words related to a previously presented word

• Similar meanings of words

• Bread > butter, meal, sandwich, cheese, etc.

• Some more key words-

• Eye tracker• Fixation• Phonetic

reading• Whole-word

reading

• Surface Dyslexia

• Phonological Dyslexia

• Direct Dyslexia• Semantic

Priming

• Infants– Prefer mother’s voice

from birth– Well-developed auditory

system– At two months, can

distinguish emotions in voices

Prespeech• At one month, crying leads to other

sounds• At six months, sounds similar to

speech begin to occur• Early communication

– Rejection– Request– Comment

• Protowords – strings of phonemes used by infants

Early Speech• Words come from

nonspeech sounds

• First words around one year of age

• Two word combinations around 18-20 months

Child-Directed Speech

Clear pronunciation and intonationRefers mostly to familiar objects,

using content wordsGradually becomes more complex

as child learnsEmphasis on keeping child’s

attentionTopics usually revolve around child’s

focus

ADULT GRAMMAR

Object words become noun phrases

Verbs are added next, along with some function words

Inflection – change in form of word (such as a suffix) to show grammatical change

Acquisition of Meaning

• Pairings of objects with words repeatedly• Overextension – the use of a word to

denote a larger class of items than is appropriate– for example, calling anything furry a dog

• Underextension – use of a word to denote a smaller class of items than is appropriate – for example, only calling his pet a dog and not

other dogs

• Finally, some more key words –

• Protowords• Child-Directed

Speech• Inflection• Overextension• Underextension

THE END!!