LANGUAGE STUDIES (L6-10)

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Questions and Answers

What is the primary focus of the conceptualization stage in language production?

Moving the mouth or hands to produce words

Finding the right words to express an idea

Determining the order of information and what to leave out (correct)

Assembling sounds needed for articulation

What is the purpose of lexicalization in the formulation stage?

To put words in the right order

To assemble sounds needed for words

To find content words that carry the message meaning (correct)

To make adjustments for context in articulation

What type of error occurs when there is an accidental deletion or interchange of sounds between words?

Semantic error

Sound error (correct)

Word error

Mixed error

What is the name of the type of error that involves the accidental replacement of words with semantically related words that share phonological content?

Mixed error Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary purpose of the execution/articulation stage in language production?

To move the mouth or hands to produce the words Signup and view all the answers

What can word errors demonstrate about the formulation process?

How we retrieve content words and build sentence frames Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic of word exchange errors?

They result in words that share grammatical properties Signup and view all the answers

What do speech errors suggest about the storage of word information?

That we distinguish between the form and meaning of words Signup and view all the answers

What is a common characteristic of non-fluent aphasia?

Damage to anterior speech zones of the brain Signup and view all the answers

What is the continuity thesis in relation to aphasia?

That errors made by people with aphasia are similar to those made in normal speech Signup and view all the answers

What type of aphasia is characterized by good semantics but poor phonology?

Conduction aphasia Signup and view all the answers

What is a type of error that is more common in low-frequency words and is usually preceded by a pause?

Neologism Signup and view all the answers

What is a difference between word exchange errors in normal speech and aphasia?

Only occur in content words in normal speech Signup and view all the answers

What is a possible reason for errors in normal speech?

All of the above Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic of lemmas?

They are abstract and amodal grammatical words Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of word exchange errors?

They result in non-words that don't share grammatical properties Signup and view all the answers

What type of errors are associated with a loss of representational integrity at one or more levels?

Form, semantic and mixed errors Signup and view all the answers

What is the term used to describe the phenomenon where speakers can access syntactic information even when the full phonological form of the word is inaccessible?

Tip of the tongue Signup and view all the answers

What is the reason why speakers can often identify the grammatical context of a word even when they cannot remember the exact word?

Syntax and phonology are processed separately to some extent Signup and view all the answers

Why do speakers often experience multiple words being activated at the same time?

Because of the automatic spreading of activation across a network of lemmas Signup and view all the answers

What type of words are more difficult to find in tip of the tongue states?

Abstract words with complex meanings Signup and view all the answers

What is the term used to describe the phenomenon where the activation of semantically related words slows down picture naming?

Picture-word interference Signup and view all the answers

What is the consequence of producing a word once, making it easier to produce again later?

Repetition priming Signup and view all the answers

What is the term used to describe the phenomenon where naming times increase with each additional picture from one category?

Cumulative semantic interference Signup and view all the answers

What type of language disorders can affect representational integrity?

All of the above Signup and view all the answers

What can speech errors reveal about assembling words?

All of the above Signup and view all the answers

What is the phenomenon where naming times increase with each additional picture from one category?

Category-based naming effect Signup and view all the answers

What is the process by which we assign segments to syllables and syllable positions in a word?

Prosodification Signup and view all the answers

What is the effect where knowing the beginning of a word allows speakers to prepare a response earlier?

Onset preparation effect Signup and view all the answers

What is the stage of grammatical encoding where lemmas are retrieved and tagged for functions?

Functional processing Signup and view all the answers

What is the process by which words are stored in memory?

Incremental coding Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the process of assigning grammatical functions to nouns?

Functional assignment Signup and view all the answers

What is the study that found early segments are more rapidly accessed during the phonological assembly process?

Wheeldon + Levelt (1995) study Signup and view all the answers

What is the phenomenon where syllable boundaries are sensitive to context and can change?

Re-syllabification Signup and view all the answers

What is the stage of grammatical encoding where structural relationships between words are established?

Positional processing Signup and view all the answers

What is the effect where knowing the ending of a word does not allow speakers to prepare a response earlier?

Offset preparation effect Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary conclusion of the 1989 study on the priming effect of structural vs semantics?

The priming effect appears to be driven by syntactic structure rather than semantic meaning Signup and view all the answers

According to the 1989 study on the priming effect of constituent structure vs surface similarities, what is the primary influence on priming?

Constituent structure of the sentences Signup and view all the answers

What is the conclusion of the 1989 study on lexical interactions in priming?

Abstract lexical items drive lexical interactions Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary role of syntactic priming in language production?

To reuse structures we have recently encountered Signup and view all the answers

What type of error occurs when the main verb of the sentence does not share the same number feature as the subject of the sentence?

Agreement error Signup and view all the answers

What is the implication of the similar error rates for statements and questions in agreement errors?

Agreement is calculated before linear order is determined Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of the result that there was no difference in error rates for 'the player on the courts' and 'the player on the course'?

Phonological cues have no impact on agreement errors Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary factor that influences the rate of agreement errors?

Semantic meaning of the noun phrases Signup and view all the answers

What is the implication of the findings on syntactic priming and agreement errors for the two-stage theory of language production?

The findings provide evidence for the two-stage theory Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary conclusion that can be drawn from the studies on syntactic priming and agreement errors?

Language production is a two-stage process with separate functional and positional processing Signup and view all the answers

What is the main cognitive disadvantage of being bilingual?

They have more difficulty with lexical retrieval and take longer to name common objects. Signup and view all the answers

What is a dialect?

A regional or social variety of a language, distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary. Signup and view all the answers

What is the maxim of quantity in conversational maxims?

Speakers should make their contributions as informative as required, no more. Signup and view all the answers

What are conversational implicatures?

Inferences made by listeners to maintain the sense and relevance of the conversation. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary difference between early and late learners in terms of language acquisition?

Early learners rely on word association, while late learners rely on direct connections to the conceptual system. Signup and view all the answers

What is audience design?

Speakers and listeners achieve success in communication by maintaining detailed models of what the other person knows. Signup and view all the answers

What is the main finding of the Costa 2000 study?

Bilingual participants named cognates faster than non-cognates. Signup and view all the answers

What is common ground in communication?

Mutual knowledge between speakers and listeners that at least one of them is aware of. Signup and view all the answers

What is a cognate in language acquisition?

A word that sounds similar in two languages and means the same thing. Signup and view all the answers

What is the main finding of the Isaacs and Clark (1987) study?

Speakers quickly determine whether the listener shares their background and adjust their descriptions accordingly. Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the Wardlow and Lane (2006) study?

To investigate whether audience design is necessary for successful dialogue. Signup and view all the answers

What is the main finding of the Dijkstra 1998 study?

Decision times were longer for homographs than non-homographs. Signup and view all the answers

What is the main hypothesis supported by the Costa 2000 study?

Non-selective activation hypothesis. Signup and view all the answers

What is the characteristic of the visual world in language production?

It is a theoretical framework that explains how speakers and listeners achieve success in communication. Signup and view all the answers

What is the main idea of Grice's conversational maxims?

Speakers and listeners should cooperate to make the conversation meaningful and purposeful. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary purpose of the Marian and Spivey 2003 study?

To determine whether the non-target language is active during language production. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary difference between early and late learners in terms of translation and picture naming?

Late learners who had studied L2 for less than two years were faster at translation than picture naming. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary implication of the developmental hypothesis of translation?

Learners establish associations between words early in the acquisition process, and later transition to direct connections between words and the conceptual system. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary difference between cognates and homographs?

Cognates are words that sound similar in two languages and mean the same thing, while homographs are words that sound similar in two languages but mean different things. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary conclusion of the Dijkstra 1998 study?

Both languages are active simultaneously during language production. Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of semantic cues in agreement errors?

They can play a role when phonological cues do not. Signup and view all the answers

What does the two-stage theory suggest about phonological assignment and semantic retrieval?

They occur at different stages. Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of incrementality in sentence production?

It suggests that sentences are produced in stages, from start to end. Signup and view all the answers

What did the Griffin and Garton (2003) study find about sentence production?

Speakers begin speaking before having the entire sentence planned out. Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of choice in language production according to Ferreira (1996)?

Choices make sentence production faster. Signup and view all the answers

What is the difference between an early bilingual and a late learner?

Early bilinguals were exposed to both languages as a child, while late learners learned their second language after mastering their mother tongue. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary finding in the study that presented instructions in L2 (English) and L1 (Russian)?

Language dominance plays a crucial role in determining the direction and extent of interference from the non-target language. Signup and view all the answers

What is the difference between proficiency and fluency in language ability?

Proficiency refers to the ability or skill level, while fluency refers to the ease, speed, and accuracy of language production. Signup and view all the answers

What is the main idea behind concept mediation?

We must access a word's meaning in order to translate it. Signup and view all the answers

What is the language-specific hypothesis suggesting?

Both systems are active, but the language not needed is ignored. Signup and view all the answers

What is the main way to study bilinguals using word association and concept mediation?

Comparing reaction times for translation from L1 to L2 and picture naming in L2. Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of the picture-word interference study by Hermans (1998)?

The non-target language (L1) is active during L2 processing and can influence performance. Signup and view all the answers

What is the conclusion of the study by Allport (1999)?

Bilingual language switching involves cognitive processes such as task switching and inhibitory control. Signup and view all the answers

What did the Kroll and Curley (1988) study investigate?

Reaction times for translation from L1 to L2 and picture naming in L2. Signup and view all the answers

What is the characteristic of switch costs in late learners?

Switch costs are asymmetrical. Signup and view all the answers

What is the difference between the language non-specific hypothesis and the language-specific hypothesis?

The language non-specific hypothesis suggests inhibition, while the language-specific hypothesis suggests ignoring. Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of language dominance in determining the direction and extent of interference from the non-target language?

Language dominance plays a crucial role in determining the direction and extent of interference. Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of the study by Hermans (1998) regarding the naming of pictures in L2?

Naming the picture was slower when participants heard a phonologically related distractor spoken in their L1. Signup and view all the answers

What is the characteristic of balanced bilinguals in terms of switch costs?

Balanced bilinguals exhibit symmetrical switch costs. Signup and view all the answers

What is the implication of the study by Allport (1999) on language production?

Language production involves cognitive processes such as task switching and inhibitory control. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary conclusion of the study by Horton and Gerrig (2002) regarding speakers and audience design?

Speakers learn to adjust their communication strategies through experience and feedback. Signup and view all the answers

According to the study by Clark (1983), what influences how listeners interpret ambiguous references?

The shared knowledge and context between the speaker and listener. Signup and view all the answers

What is the difference between early and late perspective-taking?

Early perspective-taking involves taking the speaker's perspective as soon as common ground becomes available, while late perspective-taking involves first engaging in egocentric processing. Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of the study by Keysar (2000) regarding early vs late perspective-taking?

Participants were more likely to look at the slot where the smallest candle had been, indicating they considered the hidden candle as a potential referent. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary finding of the study regarding the use of modifiers in the contrast condition?

The use of modifiers increased when participants were instructed to conceal the occluded object's identity. Signup and view all the answers

What is the conclusion of the study regarding speakers' consideration of the listener's perspective?

Speakers generally consider the listener's perspective, but the extent of this consideration varies. Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the study by Horton and Gerrig (2002) regarding speakers and audience design?

To examine how speakers adjust their communication strategies based on the listener's perspective. Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of the study by Clark (1983) regarding common ground and comprehension?

It demonstrates the role of common ground in effective communication. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary methodology used in the study by Keysar (2000) regarding early vs late perspective-taking?

A referential communication task with a confederate as the director/speaker. Signup and view all the answers

What is the implication of the study regarding speakers' consideration of the listener's perspective?

Speakers should consider the listener's perspective when it is relevant to the communication. Signup and view all the answers

What percentage of participants ultimately chose the correct candle that was visible to the director?

80% Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary goal of interlocutors in a dialogue?

To align their mental states Signup and view all the answers

What is the name of the method used in linguistic research that involves tracking eye movements to observe responses to visual and auditory stimuli?

Visual World Paradigm Signup and view all the answers

What is the main benefit of using the Visual World Paradigm in research?

It can be used to study processing in populations that have difficulty reading Signup and view all the answers

What is the term that explains how context may affect syntactic ambiguity resolution?

Referential Theory Signup and view all the answers

What is the prediction of Referential Theory in relation to attachment ambiguity?

The preferred interpretation will be the one that leads to the smallest number of unsatisfied presuppositions Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the Tanenhaus (1995) study?

To study the effect of context on syntactic ambiguity resolution Signup and view all the answers

What is the characteristic of the instruction given to participants in the Tanenhaus (1995) study?

It was a verb phrase attachment Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of priming in alignment during dialogue?

It is used to align lexical representations Signup and view all the answers

Why are eye movements used to measure language processing?

Because they reflect processors' response to stimulus Signup and view all the answers

What is the main finding of the study that used the two-referent condition with instructions like 'put the apple on the towel'?

Participants looked at the empty towel less frequently. Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of visual context in real-time language processing?

It is quickly integrated with linguistic information to guide interpretation. Signup and view all the answers

In the study by Altmann and Kamide (1999), what was the effect of the verb 'eat' on the participants' eye movements?

It led to more anticipatory eye movements on the cake. Signup and view all the answers

What is the conclusion of the study by Huettig and Altmann (2005)?

Semantic feature overlap between objects guides visual attention rapidly. Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of the integration of visual context and linguistic information during real-time language processing?

More accurate interpretation of instructions. Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of the verb's semantic constraints in the study by Altmann and Kamide (1999)?

It constrains the direct object to a specific one. Signup and view all the answers

What is the effect of the instruction 'put the apple on the towel' on the participants' eye movements in the two-referent condition?

Fewer fixations on the empty towel. Signup and view all the answers

What is the main difference between the selective and non-selective sentences in the study by Altmann and Kamide (1999)?

The verb's semantic constraints. Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of the interaction between context and instruction type in the study?

It shows that context influences attachment preferences. Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of the rapid integration of visual context and linguistic information during real-time language processing?

More accurate interpretation of instructions. Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Language Production: Stages and Errors

Language production involves 4 stages: conceptualization, formulation, execution, and articulation
Conceptualization: determining what to say and what not to say, and ordering the information
Formulation: selecting the right words to express the idea, including lexical and grammatical encoding
Execution: putting the words in the correct order to form a sentence
Articulation: producing the sentence through speech

Errors in Language Production

3 types of errors:
- Sound errors: accidental deletion or interchange of sounds between words
- Word errors: accidental replacement of words
- Mixed errors: errors involving 2 semantically related words that share phonological content
Word errors can demonstrate how formulation works, e.g., switching words (e.g., "maniac" for "weekends") suggests that we retrieve content words and build a frame representing the sentence

Characteristics of Word Errors

Sounds switch in the same word position (e.g., beginnings with beginnings, ends with ends)
Can result in non-words and don't share grammatical properties
Word exchanges involve same grammatical features (e.g., nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs)

Syntactic Category Constraint

Word exchange errors occur between words with the same syntactic and grammatical features
Indicates that syntactic category is crucial during word selection, but not in sound assembly

A Model of Language Production

Grammatical information about a word (lemma) links to its phonological or written properties (lexemes)
Syntax and phonology are processed separately to some extent

Aphasia

Disorder that impairs language processing, usually caused by a stroke or brain injury
2 types of aphasia: non-fluent (anterior speech zone damage) and fluent (posterior regions damage)
Classifying aphasia: conduction, anomia, transcortical sensory, and global aphasia

Continuity Thesis

Errors made by people with aphasia are similar to those made in normal speech
Errors in aphasia are similar to those in normal speech, with the same characteristics of sound and meaning

Word Selection and Retrieval

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: speakers can access syntactic information even when the full phonological form of the word is inaccessible
Factors that ease word retrieval: clear semantics, concrete/imageable meanings
Activation of many word options: alternative words are active and can impact word selection

Picture-Word Interference

Task where pictures are displayed with visual or auditory distractor words
Semantically related distractor words slow down picture naming relative to unrelated distractors

Constrained Competition

Lemma activation is restricted to representations that share grammatical features
Only related words can be in competition with one another

Lasting Consequences of Word Selection

Distinction between activating a word and selecting it
Producing a word once makes it easier to produce again later (repetition priming)

Speech Errors and Word Assembly

Speech errors reveal how we assemble words
Re-syllabification: how syllable boundaries are sensitive to context and can change

Phonological Syllable Priming

Phonologically related distractor words facilitated picture naming
Lack of syllabic priming effect suggests words are not stored as syllables

Prosodification

Part of the word assembly process: assigning segments to syllables and syllable positions
Phonological priming helps in word retrieval

Positional Levels and Function Assignment

Create the constituent structure of the sentence
Function assignment: when grammatical functions (e.g., subject, direct object) are assigned to nouns

Two-Stage Model of Grammatical Encoding

First stage: functional processing (lemma retrieval and tagging for functions)
Second stage: positional processing (establishing structural relationships and building slots for function words and inflections)

Main Evidence for the Two-Stage Model

Speech errors indicate a distinction between functional and positional processing
Syntactic priming shows how priming influences picture descriptions
Agreement errors demonstrate specific situations in which these errors occur### Language Production and Bilingualism
Agreement errors in language production suggest that speakers calculate agreement before determining linear order, supporting a separation between functional and positional processing.
Fake plural nouns do not affect the number of agreement errors, while semantic cues can influence error rates.
Two-stage theory of language production: phonological assignment and semantic retrieval happen at different stages.

Incremental Language Production

Sentences are produced in stages, from start to end, without having a fully formed sentence in mind.
Experimental evidence from picture matching tasks shows that speakers exhibit incremental planning, making decisions as they proceed.

Bilingualism

Types of bilingualism: early, late, and balanced bilingualism, depending on the age of language acquisition and proficiency.
Language 1 (L1) and Language 2 (L2) refer to a person's native and non-native languages, respectively.
Proficiency, competence, and fluency are distinct aspects of language ability.

Concept Mediation and Word Association

Concept mediation: the idea that we must access a word's meaning to translate it.
Word association: the idea that we can translate a word without accessing its meaning via its associated lexeme in another language.
Most studies support the concept mediation model, suggesting that translation and picture naming tasks require similar processing times.

Language Acquisition and Development

Developmental hypothesis: early in language acquisition, learners establish associations between words, and later, they transition to establishing direct connections between words and the conceptual system.
Selection activation hypothesis: bilinguals prevent massive interference from the language not in use by restricting activation to one system only.
Non-selective activation hypothesis: bilinguals cannot restrict activation to the language they are using, and both systems are always active.

Language Processing and Interference

Bilinguals activate and access multiple meanings of homographs simultaneously during language processing.
Language dominance plays a crucial role in determining the direction and extent of interference from the non-target language.
Two theories for how bilinguals prevent interference from the language not in use: language non-specific hypothesis and language-specific hypothesis.

Cognitive Disadvantages of Bilingualism

Bilinguals have more difficulties with lexical retrieval than monolinguals, experiencing slower naming times, fewer words in free recall, and more tip-of-the-tongue occurrences.

Conversational Implicatures and Audience Design

Conversational implicatures: inferences made by listeners to maintain the sense and relevance of the conversation.
Audience design: speakers craft their speech based on the listener's knowledge and perspective.
Common ground: mutual knowledge shared by speakers and listeners, which provides a critical background for communication.

Studies on Audience Design and Common Ground

Isaac and Clark (1987): speakers adapt their descriptions based on the listener's background and knowledge.
Wardlow and Lane (2006): audience design is necessary for successful dialogue, but the extent of consideration varies depending on the situation.
Horton and Gerrig (2002): speakers use common ground specific to certain listeners, adjusting their communication strategies over time.
Clark (1983): listeners use common ground to interpret ambiguous references.

Perspective-Taking in Language Comprehension

Two options for perspective-taking: early perspective-taking involves taking the speaker's perspective immediately, while late perspective-taking involves initial egocentric processing followed by incorporating the speaker's perspective.
Keysar (2000): early vs. late perspective-taking in language comprehension.### Referential Communication
In referential communication tasks, listeners initially consider all possible referents, including those not visible to the speaker, showing an early stage of egocentric processing.
Despite this, listeners eventually use common ground information to correctly identify the referent, indicating that common ground is applied at a later stage of processing.

Role of Alignment in Dialogue

Interlocutors use language to align their mental states, not just to encode and decode messages.
Alignment is a direct and automatic process, mainly egocentric at an early stage, and later involves modeling the interlocutor's mind through audience design.
Listeners make predictions driven by the production system.

Eye Movements in Language Processing

Eye movements reflect language processing in real-time, making them a useful measure of language processing.
The visual world paradigm is a method that tracks eye movements to observe responses to both visual and auditory linguistic stimuli.
The linking hypothesis suggests that eye movements reflect both visual and auditory processing at any given time.

Role of Structural Ambiguity in Discourse Contexts

In certain situations, listeners assume something not explicitly stated based on modifiers, which can lead to incorrect assumptions.
Referential theory explains how context may affect syntactic ambiguity resolution, predicting that the preferred interpretation will be the one that leads to the smallest number of unsatisfied presuppositions.

Referential Theory

Tanenhaus (1995) demonstrated that referential context influences attachment preferences in ambiguous instructions.
Visual context is rapidly integrated with linguistic information, guiding participants' interpretation of instructions.

Predicting Objects in Sentences

Altman and Kamide (1999) found that listeners use verbs' semantic constraints to predict the most likely object rapidly.
Anticipation occurs during the processing of the verb itself, indicating early integration of visual context and linguistic input.

Semantic Similarity in Word Understanding

Huettig and Altman (2005) demonstrated that semantic feature overlap between the target and competitor objects influences visual attention.
Semantic feature overlap is activated during the input of the target word, guiding visual attention towards semantically related objects.

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Description

This quiz covers the stages of language production, including conceptualization, formulation, and more. Learn about the process of creating meaningful language and how it's structured.