Language PSYC 211: Language Acquisition

Language acquisition is learned through trial and error, reinforcement, and observation, without innate language structures.

Language acquisition is driven by innate knowledge about language ('Universal Grammar') which allows children to quickly learn language rules.

The idea that children are exposed to insufficient language data to account for their language acquisition abilities.

An innate system of rules and principles that underlie all human languages, enabling language acquisition.

Simplified languages used for communication among people who speak different languages, lacking a complete grammar.

Languages developing from Pidgin languages, exhibiting full grammatical structure.

AI systems that aim to mimic human language abilities through machine learning.

Individuals born with a complete absence of hearing.

The most common meaning of a word is usually the first one that comes to mind.

The meaning of a word can change depending on the surrounding text or situation.

A test where participants see strings of letters and decide if they are words or not.

Some words have multiple meanings; this task tests whether multiple meanings are activated before settling on one.

A study showing that multiple meanings of a word are initially activated, but only the relevant meaning remains active after context.

A measure of how long it takes someone to respond to a stimulus, used to infer cognitive processes.

How words are represented and stored in our minds.

The degree of 'energized' state of a word's representation in our minds, reflecting its familiarity and recent use.

The ability to identify and manipulate the sounds (phonemes) and meaningful units (morphemes) of a language. It's crucial for understanding speech.

The challenge of separating continuous speech signals into individual words or meaningful units. Speech is a stream of sound, not neatly divided words.

The process of accessing and understanding the meaning of words. It involves recognizing words, retrieving their meanings, and considering context.

The frequency of a word's appearance affects processing time. Common words are processed faster than rare words.

The surrounding words and phrases help us understand the meaning of a word.

The process of analyzing the grammatical structure of a sentence to determine its meaning. It involves assigning roles to words and phrases.

A model of parsing that suggests we initially interpret sentences based on the simplest structure, but may need to revise our understanding if it doesn't fit the context.

Semantics (meaning) interacts with syntax (grammar) to understand sentences. The order of words and the meaning of those words work together to determine the overall meaning.

A category that includes items of different colors, like a category for 'fruits' that includes both red apples and green pears.

A category that includes items of the same color, like a category for 'red fruits' that only includes red fruits.

A language disorder caused by brain damage, disrupting the ability to comprehend or produce language.

A type of aphasia affecting speech production, causing difficulty speaking fluently and forming grammatically correct sentences.

A type of aphasia affecting language comprehension, making it difficult to understand spoken or written language.

The process of analyzing and interpreting the grammatical structure of a sentence to understand its meaning. It involves identifying the relationships between words, phrases, and clauses.

A principle of the Garden-Path Model that suggests we initially favor interpretations that involve the fewest syntactic nodes or connections, resulting in the simplest grammatical structure possible.

A principle of the Garden-Path Model stating that we tend to attach new words to the current phrase being processed, delaying the closure of a phrase until more information becomes available.

Semantic processing involves understanding the meaning of words and sentences, whereas syntactic processing involves identifying the grammatical structure of a sentence.

The Garden-Path Model might be overridden when semantic information, or the meaning of the sentence, conflicts with the initially preferred syntactic interpretation. This suggests that our understanding of language is not solely driven by grammar, but also by meaning.

Receptive aphasia is a language disorder that mainly affects comprehension. People with this disorder have trouble understanding spoken language, written language, and even gestures. While they may still produce speech, it often doesn't make sense.

Initially, researchers believed damage to Wernicke's area was the primary cause of receptive aphasia. However, current research suggests deeper brain structures are also involved.

This is a white matter tract that connects Wernicke's area to Broca's area. Essentially, a communication pathway for language processing.

Two perspectives on music and language are whether they share general cognitive abilities or have specialized systems. Domain-general suggests shared resources, while domain-specific suggests they are separate.

Music and speech share certain features that help them be processed. These include rhythm and pitch, creating a foundation for both.

Pitch plays different roles. In music, it creates melody. In speech, it conveys intonation (like a question or statement).

Both music and language follow rules for combining elements. Music uses tones, chords, and keys, while language combines phonemes, words, and phrases.

A key question is whether music and language utilize the same cognitive resources (brain areas) and how they interact. This area of research is ongoing.