Language Properties and Hierarchy
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Questions and Answers

What is the lowest level of the hierarchy in language?

  • Sentence
  • Phoneme (correct)
  • Paragraph
  • Morpheme

Language comprehension involves the grouping of sounds into words.

True (A)

What is the role of phonemes in language?

Phonemes are the smallest units of speech sound that combine to form words.

The transformation of a sentence into sounds is part of the ______ process.

<p>production</p> Signup and view all the answers

Match the following language tasks to their definitions:

<p>Production = The act of creating language through speech or writing Comprehension = The process of understanding language through listening or reading</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which language-specific phoneme pairing is significant in Japanese?

<p>L and R sounds (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

English distinguishes between aspirated and unaspirated 'p'.

<p>False (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Total possible phonemes in the world can be approximately ______.

<p>100</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does the phonemic restoration effect demonstrate?

<p>The brain fills in missing sounds using top-down processing. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

The SVO assumption is that sentences are structured as Subject-Verb-Object.

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What happens when a sentence violates the SVO assumption?

<p>Comprehension is slower because we need to re-interpret the sentence.</p> Signup and view all the answers

In the Slobin Experiment, participants were faster to respond to _____ sentences than to passive ones.

<p>active</p> Signup and view all the answers

Match the following terms with their definitions:

<p>Phonemic Restoration Effect = Filling in a missing sound using context SVO assumption = Sentence structure of Subject-Verb-Object Garden Path Sentence = A sentence that misleads the reader temporarily Reversible Sentence = A sentence where either noun can be the subject</p> Signup and view all the answers

In the context of sentence parsing, which type of sentences requires reanalysis by the listener?

<p>Garden path sentences (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

When given reversible sentences, semantics are helpful in determining the subject and object.

<p>False (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the main finding of the Slobin Experiment regarding active and passive sentences?

<p>Participants responded faster to active sentences than to passive sentences.</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is a morpheme?

<p>The smallest unit of sound that signals meaning (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

The suffix '-s' typically indicates that a word is singular.

<p>False (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does the prefix 'pre-' mean?

<p>before</p> Signup and view all the answers

A ________ is an organized grouping of words that conveys a specific meaning.

<p>phrase</p> Signup and view all the answers

How many morphemes do adults typically know?

<p>50,000-80,000 (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Match the following concepts with their definitions:

<p>Morpheme = Smallest unit of sound with meaning Phrase = Organized grouping of words Syntax = System that arranges words Meaning = Concept expressed by words</p> Signup and view all the answers

Words alone are always sufficient to determine the meaning of a sentence.

<p>False (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary role of syntax in language?

<p>To arrange words into phrases and sentences</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary purpose of a phrase structure description?

<p>To show how sentence structure is organized (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Surface structure and deep structure convey different meanings in Chomsky's theory.

<p>False (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What are the two different levels of analysis proposed by Chomsky?

<p>Surface structure and deep structure</p> Signup and view all the answers

The __________ describes the fundamental underlying phrase structure from which meaning is derived.

<p>deep structure</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which example illustrates the concept of different surface structures conveying the same meaning?

<p>The boy hit the ball vs. The ball was hit by the boy (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Chomsky's phrase structure analysis can always determine the meaning of a sentence without exceptions.

<p>False (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does the term 'attitude' refer to in the context of deep structures?

<p>The stance the speaker adopts toward the proposition</p> Signup and view all the answers

What type of ambiguity occurs when a word can mean two different things?

<p>Lexical ambiguity (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Syntactic ambiguity can occur when the same sentence has different surface structures.

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What effect demonstrates the interaction between auditory and visual information in language comprehension?

<p>McGurk effect</p> Signup and view all the answers

___ ambiguity occurs when a single word or phrase can refer to multiple entities within a sentence.

<p>Referential</p> Signup and view all the answers

Match the types of ambiguity with their definitions:

<p>Lexical Ambiguity = A single word has multiple meanings. Syntactic Ambiguity = Same sentence has different surface structures. Referential Ambiguity = Same word/phrase refers to two different things. Phoneme Recovery = Identifying sounds in language for meaning extraction.</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which example illustrates syntactic ambiguity?

<p>I saw a gorilla in my pajamas. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Negation in a sentence does not change the meaning of its deep structure.

<p>False (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is one task of cognitive psychology related to language comprehension?

<p>Determining how people recover the deep structure of a sentence.</p> Signup and view all the answers

Flashcards

Phoneme

The smallest unit of speech sound, like the 'b' in 'bus'.

Speech Production

The process of transforming thoughts into words, sentences, and sounds.

Speech Comprehension

The process of understanding spoken or written language, from sounds to meaning.

Morphemes

Groups of phonemes that carry meaning, like 'un' in 'unhappy'.

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Word Formation

The combination of units of speech sound to form meaningful words.

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Speech Perception

The ability to understand speech despite overlapping sounds and variations in pronunciation.

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Language-Specific Phonemes

The concept that different languages use distinct sounds and rules for combining these sounds.

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Coarticulation

The phenomenon where the pronunciation of one phoneme can influence the sound of the next.

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Phrase Structure Description

A hierarchical representation of a sentence's structure, showing how phrases are organized.

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Surface Structure

The surface structure of a sentence refers to how the words are actually arranged in the sentence.

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Deep Structure

The underlying structure of a sentence that conveys its core meaning.

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Transformational Grammar

Rules that transform surface structures while preserving deep structure, allowing for variations in sentence formation.

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Proposition

The basic proposition of a sentence, stating the action, actor, and recipient.

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Attitude

The speaker's attitude towards the proposition, including things like questions, focus, and negation.

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Active Voice

The sentence's focus is on the actor performing the action. Example: "The boy hit the ball."

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Passive Voice

The sentence's focus is on the recipient of the action. Example: "The ball was hit by the boy."

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Word

A combination of one or more morphemes that represent a single concept and can stand alone as a unit of meaning in a sentence.

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Syntax

The rules that govern the arrangement and order of words in a language. It helps us understand how to create meaningful phrases and sentences.

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Phrase

A group of words that works together to convey a specific meaning, forming a component of a sentence.

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Sentence

A group of phrases that conveys a complete thought and usually contains a subject and a verb.

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Meaning

A word's meaning is determined by the concept it represents and can be broadly understood as the idea or concept it expresses. This meaning can be independent of the specific referent in the world, allowing words to represent abstract concepts.

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Referent

The specific thing or things in the real world that a word refers to. It represents the physical or tangible embodiment of a concept.

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Meaning of sentences

The way in which sentences are understood by considering the relationships between words, the grouping of words into phrases, and the assigned meanings of each word. This process involves understanding not just the individual words but also how they work together.

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Paraphrases

Sentences that have the same underlying meaning but different word order or structure. Think 'The dog chased the cat' and 'The cat was chased by the dog'.

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Syntactic Ambiguity

Sentences with the same surface structure but different meanings. The words are the same, but the way they're put together leads to different interpretations. Think 'They are cooking apples' and 'They are cooking apples'.

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Lexical Ambiguity

A single word can have multiple meanings, leading to different possible interpretations. Think 'The bank is by the river' vs. 'The bank is closed'.

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Referential Ambiguity

A situation where the same word or phrase refers to different things within a sentence.Think 'John grabbed his lunch, sat on a rock, and ate it'.

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McGurk Effect

Our brains use both auditory (what we hear) and visual (what we see) information to identify sounds, especially phonemes, which are the smallest units of sound in language.

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Phonemic Restoration Effect

Our brains fill in missing sounds based on context and prior knowledge. This happens when a sound is obscured, like by a cough, but we still perceive it due to our understanding of the sentence.

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Sentence Parsing

The process of breaking down a sentence into its parts to determine its grammatical structure, helping us understand the relationships between words and phrases.

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SVO Assumption

A mental shortcut we use when processing sentences, assuming they follow the Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order. This helps us quickly understand the meaning but can lead to errors when the order is different.

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Garden Path Sentences

Sentences that violate our typical SVO assumption, causing a momentary pause in comprehension as we adjust our understanding. They require re-analysis of the sentence because they are not structured in the way our brains typically expect.

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Reversible Sentences

Sentences where the meaning is easily reversible, meaning either noun could be the subject. For example, "The cat chases the dog." could also be "The dog chases the cat."

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Passive Sentences

Sentences structured in a more complex way, with the object of the verb being the subject of the sentence and the subject of the verb being the object. For example, "The dog was chased by the cat."

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Semantic Parsing

When understanding a sentence hinges on word meanings in the sentence, making us less reliant on grammatical structure assumptions (like SVO).

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Active vs. Passive Sentence Processing

The idea that we are faster at understanding sentences that follow our typical assumptions about sentence structure, like SVO. When a sentence violates these assumptions, we become slower to understand it, due to the extra processing needed.

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Study Notes

Language Properties

  • Language is comprised of two main tasks: production (speaking, writing) and comprehension (listening, reading)
  • Language uses a hierarchical structure, with different levels involved in both production and comprehension
  • Levels are arranged in a hierarchy

Language Hierarchy

  • Speaking begins with a thought or idea
  • Thought/idea is transformed into a sentence structure
  • Sentences are then transformed into sounds
  • Listening involves hearing sounds, grouping them into words, forming those words into sentences, and finally understanding the sentence's underlying meaning

Phonemes

  • Phonemes are the smallest units of speech sound
  • Language uses different phonemes to convey meaning

Examples of Phonemes

  • The word "the" contains phonemes: Th, e
  • The word "bus" contains the phonemes: B, u, s

Differences Between Languages

  • Different languages use different sounds, words, and word order rules.
  • Phoneme differences between languages are not always significant

Morphemes

  • Morphemes are the smallest units of sound signaling meaning
  • They can correspond to prefixes, suffixes, roots, or stems
  • Examples include suffixes ("-s" for plural), prefixes ("pre-"), and stems ("run")

Words

  • Words can be single morphemes or combinations of them
  • Adults typically know 50,000-80,000 morphemes

Phrases and Sentences

  • Syntax is the system for arranging words into phrases and sentences
  • Phrases are the building blocks of sentences
  • Syntax determines word order to convey meaning

Meaning

  • Meaning is the concept or idea a word or sentence conveys
  • Meanings or referents are based on organization in concepts and features in memory.
  • Words symbolize concepts and are connected through relationships between words.

Phrase Structure

  • Phrase structure descriptions aid in understanding sentence meaning, showing how sentences are hierarchically organized

Deep Structure

  • Deep structure is the fundamental underlying phrase structure from which meaning is derived
  • It includes the main proposition and the implied attitude

Transformational Grammar

  • Rules transform surface structures while preserving deep structure

Proposition

  • Propositions describe the actor, action, and recipient in a sentence

Attitude

  • Attitude describes the speaker's stance toward the proposition (e.g., question, active/passive, negation)

Ambiguity

  • Ambiguity can be lexical (word having multiple meanings) or syntactic (sentence having multiple interpretations).

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Related Documents

Language 1 Structure and Comprehension Lecture Notes PDF

Description

Explore the fundamental properties of language including production and comprehension tasks. This quiz covers the hierarchical structure of language, focusing on phonemes and the differences between languages. Test your understanding of how ideas transform into sounds and meanings.

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