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LANGUAGE
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Language
Language e use o an organ ze means o com n ng wor s n
order to communicate
around us and to think about things and processes wecurrently cannot see, hear, feel, touch, smell
Communication
Exchange of thoughts and feelings Not all communication is through language (gestures,
glances, touches, pictures)
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Properties of Language Communicative
Language permits us to communicate with one or morepeople who share our language
Arbitrarily symbolic
Language creates an arbitrary relationship between a symboland its referent: an idea, a process, a relationship, or a
escr pt on
Arbitrary relationship - lack of any reason for choosing apar cu ar sym o o re er o a par cu ar ng
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Properties of Language
Generative, productive
Within the limits of a lin uistic structure lan ua e
users can produce novel utterances, and the
ossibilities for creatin new utterances are virtuall
limitless
Languages constantly evolve and change
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Levels of Analysis
Phonology:The system of sounds in a language Semantics: Examines the meanings of words and
sentences
Syntax: Grammatical rules that govern how we
Pragmatics: Knowledge of the
soc a ru es t at govern anguage
use.
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Levels of Analysis
Phonology Phoneme the smallest unit of speech sound that can be
used to distin uish one utterance in a iven lan ua e
from another Different languages use different numbers and combinations of
phonemes
Phonemics the study of the particular phonemes of a language
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Levels of Analysis
Lexicon
the entire set of mor hemes in a iven lan ua e or in
a given persons linguistic repertoire; contains the
information about meanin honolo ical form
orthographic form and syntactic properties of aarticular word
Vocabulary the repertoire of words created by combining
morphemes
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Levels of Analysis
Syntax
The wa in which users of a articular lan ua e utwords together to form sentences
A sentence comprises at least two parts
oun p rase w c conta ns at east one noun
Verb phrase which contains at least one verb and whatever
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Level of Analysis Semantics
The study of meaning in language How words express meaning
How lan ua e interacts with conce tual structure
Discourse
sentence, such as in conversation, paragraphs, stories
language
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Comprehension
Factors effecting comprehension: Negatives
P i i
Nested structures
m gu ty
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Comprehension
Passive Voice: Passive voice requires more processing time
EXP: Th m n i h
The dog was bitten by the man
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Comprehension
Nested Structures: A phrase that is embedded within another
sentence.
EXP: The plane that I want to take when I go toDenver after he returns from Washin ton leaves
at 9.00
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Comprehension
Ambiguity: We are good at resolving ambiguities
Clinton wins budget; more lies ahead
Miners refuse to work after death
Kids make nutritious snacks Local high school dropouts cut in half
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LANGUAGE
PRODUCTION
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Speaking
Word production Sentence production
Discourse production
Social context of speech
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Speech Production
Speech is produced by interrupting airflow as we
breathe out place of articulation: tongue, lips, and teeth move
to various ositions to restrict the airflow
manner of production: air flow may be
,
different cavities (m sound flows through the
voicing is produced by vibrating the vocal folds
as w e e er
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Word Production Most active topic in language research
Retrieving grammatical, semantic and phonologicalinformation
Independent access ERP evidence that we access grammatical information before
phonological
Simultaneous access
Gestures might help us retrieve this information
Worse roduction when estures were restricted.
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Sentence Production Linearization
arranging words in an ordered, linear sequence
Melody, intonation and stress pattern of an utterance
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Speech Errors nt c patory errors are more common
When we slip we tend to create a word rather than a non-word
We tend to create a common pronunciation
Errors occur across items from the same category Vowels, prefixes, nouns
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Speech Errors Dell et al (1997) Model
Spreading activation She sells sea shells on the sea shore
Inappropriate phonemes are activated and cause thetongue s p.
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Discourse Production Narratives:
Discourse in which you describe a series of events
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Social Context of Speech Common Ground
People who are communicating share a similarbackground knowledge, schemas, experiences thatare necessary for mutual understanding
Study by Clark et al (1986)
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Clark et al (1986)
Subject 1 tires tocommunicate subject
2 which fi ure to
choose.ecomes more
efficient over trials
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Social Context of Speech Lexical Entrainment
Specific pattern that two communicators developand use regarding a certain object or concept.
Sub ects even with different first
languages, easily form lexical
of chairs
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Speech Acts
Direct speech acts e speec act s expresse rect y e.g. ut t edoor!)
We accomplish our goals in speaking in an obliquefashion e. . Could ou lease shut the door?
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Speech Acts Directives
A sentence that requests someone to do something. EXP: Lend me your car.
EXP: Could you lend me your car?
EXP: Could you possibly by any chance lend me your carfor just a few minutes please?
n rect rect ves
What are you talking about?
w s a a cup o ea.
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Speech Acts ,
Representative
given proposition is true
E. . M students are smart.
Directive An attem t b a s eaker to et a listener to do somethin ,
such as supplying the answer to question
E.g. Shut the door!
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Speech Acts Taxonomy of direct speech acts (Searle, 1975)
Declaration A speech act by which the very act of making a statement
brin s about an intended new state of affairs
E.g. I now pronounce you husband and wife
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Conversational Postulates (Grice, 1967)
The maxim of quantity
Make our contribution to a conversation asinformative as required but no more informative
than is a ro riate
The maxim of quality
our contr ut on to a conversat on s ou e
truthful
You are expected to say what you believe to be the
case
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Conversational Postulates (Grice, 1967)
The maxim of relation
You should make our contributions to aconversation relevant to the aims of the
conversation
The maxim of manner
ou s ou try to avo o scure express ons, vague
utterances, and purposeful obfuscation of your point
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