Podcast
Questions and Answers
What is the primary function of parsing in language comprehension?
What is the primary function of parsing in language comprehension?
Which term refers to the smallest meaningful units of a linguistic expression?
Which term refers to the smallest meaningful units of a linguistic expression?
What distinguishes globally ambiguous sentences from locally ambiguous sentences?
What distinguishes globally ambiguous sentences from locally ambiguous sentences?
What aspect does pragmatics study in language use?
What aspect does pragmatics study in language use?
Signup and view all the answers
Why is it challenging for researchers to study parsing directly?
Why is it challenging for researchers to study parsing directly?
Signup and view all the answers
Which group of participants showed almost no agreement in describing odors?
Which group of participants showed almost no agreement in describing odors?
Signup and view all the answers
What type of description do English speakers typically use when they want to assign fault in an accident?
What type of description do English speakers typically use when they want to assign fault in an accident?
Signup and view all the answers
How do Guugu Yimithirr speakers identify locations?
How do Guugu Yimithirr speakers identify locations?
Signup and view all the answers
In the study involving vase breaking, which group recalled fewer details about unintentional actions?
In the study involving vase breaking, which group recalled fewer details about unintentional actions?
Signup and view all the answers
What is a key difference in spatial perception between English & Dutch speakers and Guugu Yimithirr speakers?
What is a key difference in spatial perception between English & Dutch speakers and Guugu Yimithirr speakers?
Signup and view all the answers
What does the weaker version of the Whorfian hypothesis suggest about language and thought?
What does the weaker version of the Whorfian hypothesis suggest about language and thought?
Signup and view all the answers
How many color terms does the Dani language have?
How many color terms does the Dani language have?
Signup and view all the answers
What is a distinctive feature of languages that have four color terms?
What is a distinctive feature of languages that have four color terms?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following reflects the structure of languages with six color terms?
Which of the following reflects the structure of languages with six color terms?
Signup and view all the answers
What is a shared characteristic of the focal points in color categories across language groups?
What is a shared characteristic of the focal points in color categories across language groups?
Signup and view all the answers
What is one way metaphor comprehension is facilitated according to Kintsch's model?
What is one way metaphor comprehension is facilitated according to Kintsch's model?
Signup and view all the answers
Which brain activity is associated with understanding metaphorical sentences referring to body parts?
Which brain activity is associated with understanding metaphorical sentences referring to body parts?
Signup and view all the answers
Why is the statement 'My lawyer is a shark' harder to understand when literal properties of sharks are activated?
Why is the statement 'My lawyer is a shark' harder to understand when literal properties of sharks are activated?
Signup and view all the answers
What does the predication model suggest about metaphor comprehension?
What does the predication model suggest about metaphor comprehension?
Signup and view all the answers
What was speculated about the activation of numerous semantically similar words in metaphor comprehension?
What was speculated about the activation of numerous semantically similar words in metaphor comprehension?
Signup and view all the answers
Study Notes
Introduction
- Syntax is a set of rules for word order to create well-formed sentences.
- Grammar governs language structure, including syntax and inflections.
- Inflections are grammatical changes to words (e.g., adding -s for plural nouns, -ed for past tense verbs).
- Parsing involves analyzing the grammatical structure of sentences.
- Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units of language; morphology studies their formation.
- Many languages have richer morphology than English.
Parsing: Overview
- Parsing helps determine who did what to whom.
- Morphemes can be broken down, like "incoming" into "in," "come" and "-ing."
- Syntax and grammar are productive; we can create infinitely many well-formed sentences.
- Sentences can be ambiguous, which means they have multiple interpretations.
- Ambiguity arises from effort-saving tendencies and how context clarifies meaning.
- Researchers study parsing by presenting ambiguous sentences and analyzing understanding difficulties.
Pragmatics
- Pragmatics studies how language is used and understood in real-world situations, considering intended meaning.
- Sentence comprehension involves syntactical analysis and semantic analysis.
- Intended meaning often differs from literal meaning (e.g., "The weather's great" when raining).
- Context influences sentence meaning and is not captured by dictionaries.
- Figurative language includes metaphors, irony, and idioms and uses similar brain regions as literal language.
- Individuals with autism may have problems understanding figurative language, possibly due to weak central coherence.
- Children with Asperger's often show normal language development but have pragmatic comprehension challenges.
Figurative Language: Metaphors
- Metaphor comprehension can be complex.
- Working memory capacity impacts how quickly metaphors are comprehended.
- Traditional pragmatic model involves several sequential stages for processing figurative language.
- This model hypothesizes that people first interpret literal meaning, assess its relevance to the context, and then search for figurative meaning.
Metaphor Interference Effect
- Studies on metaphor interference suggest that finding a literal meaning takes more time than a literal one, and literal and figurative meaning are processed simultaneously.
Kintsch's Predication Model
- Predicates (such as "sharks") have relevant semantic components, inhibiting irrelevant features (like swimming).
- Metaphor comprehension involves inhibiting meanings irrelevant to meaning.
- Comprehension is facilitated by similar meanings between words in the metaphor.
Common Ground
-
Common ground refers to shared knowledge and beliefs between speaker and listener.
-
People expect conversational partners to use common ground.
-
The egocentric heuristic involves judging messages based on personal knowledge, which might cause misunderstandings.
-
Listeners will often attempt correcting their interpretation if it differs from the speaker’s intended one.
Discourse Processing: Inferences
- Discourse is language spanning multiple sentences.
- Discourse processing often requires making inferences to fully understand meaning.
- Logical inferences are based on identifying implied meanings through word and sentence interpretation.
- Bridging and elaborative inferences add details to enhance the text's coherence.
- Predictive inferences build on expected events or descriptions present within a discourse.
Theoretical Perspectives
- Readers construct mental models of situations.
- Inferences, automatic or strategic, are made to achieve coherence.
- Minimalist hypothesis suggests fewer inferences than the constructionist approach.
Bridging Inferences: Anaphors
- Anaphors are words or phrases referring to earlier words or phrases (pronouns).
- Anaphor resolution involves coordinating inferences with earlier references in a text.
- Working memory processing helps accurately determine referents of anaphorical pronouns.
Linguistic Relativity
-
The Whorfian hypothesis suggests language structure influences thought.
-
A weaker form suggests language can affect perception and conceptualization.
-
Studies examining color perception across languages show that different color categorizations exist, and these differences affect perception of colors.
Linguistic Relativity and Order Perception
- People using absolute spatial markers (e.g., Guugu Yimithirr) understand space differently from those using relative locations.
- Speakers of industrialized cultures often use relative-position references for spatial understanding.
- Researchers exploring the relationship between space, time, and language use argue for culture and language being interconnected in spatial understanding.
Numerical Cognition
- Societies with limited number terms (like the Piraha) show some number understanding abilities with limited numbers.
- Number words may guide how concepts are linked.
Language Processing and Decision-Making
- Using a foreign language might impact intuitive decisions.
- The foreign-language effect involves altering system 1 and system 2 processes when language changes.
- Differences can arise in decision-making processes and risks-benefit evaluations when using different languages to make similar decisions.
Trends in Cognitive Psychology
- Non-linguistic cues might influence interpretation and cognitive organization more than language.
- Language can affect cognitive function.
- Language and culture interplay to construct cognition.
Trends in Cultural Psychology
- Culture and language can shape perception, behavior, and categorization.
- Culture, as cultural values, influence how beliefs and information processing strategies are used to construct knowledge.
- Cognitive processes are shaped by cultural and linguistic environments to reflect common beliefs that may influence interpretation and processing of events and information.
Interaction between Culture and Language
- Studies have shown that culture may shape the way language operates.
- Language is fundamental for cognitive development.
Studying That Suits You
Use AI to generate personalized quizzes and flashcards to suit your learning preferences.
Related Documents
Description
Explore the foundations of syntax and grammar in this quiz. Understand the essential concepts of morphemes, parsing, and the role of ambiguity in sentences. Test your knowledge on how well-formed sentences are created and analyzed.
