Language Unit 11 PDF

Language Unit 11 Language Are humans biologically driven to learn language? How is language organized? Why is it hard to learn a new language? How can we overcome speech complexity? Does the language you speak impact your cognitive processes? How does knowing multiple languages imp...

Language Unit 11 Language Are humans biologically driven to learn language? How is language organized? Why is it hard to learn a new language? How can we overcome speech complexity? Does the language you speak impact your cognitive processes? How does knowing multiple languages impact you? Is it too late for me to learn another language? Language is universal Language is universal All languages have certain components (i.e. see language hierarchy) Components may be realized differently e.g. specific sounds, rules, etc.  Language Two aspects of language: 1. Language production translating thought into sounds 2. Language comprehension translating sounds into meaning (understanding) Thoughts become sounds Producing Comprehending Speech Speech Sounds become thoughts  Language in the brain Left Hemisphere! Broca’s Aphasia Problems with language production Broca’s Area in Left Frontal lobe Wernicke’s Aphasia Problems with language comprehension Wernicke’s Area in Left Temporal/Parietal Language Learning Children as young as 8 months are sensitive to the statistical regularities in the language that they hear. shown in studies employing nonsense syllable streams Universal Phonemic Sensitivity We are born able to recognize all sounds (phonemes)  Within the first year of life, we are exclusively tuned to the phonemes of our language Japanese /r/ and /l/ Rake V. Lake Past the sensitive period, other language phonemes are hard to distinguish (if at all). How is language organized?  Language is organized hierarchically Each level composed of other sublevels  Language: Hierarchical Organization 1. Phoneme—smallest unit of sound LETTERS = NO! SOUNDS = YES!!! YAAAS!! /j/ɛ/s/ v. /j/a/z/  Language: Hierarchical Organization 2. Morpheme—smallest unit of meaning Can include: small words, (e.g. “truck”, “bed+room” ) prefixes, (e.g. “anti-”, “pre-”, suffixes, (e.g. “-ly,” “-ed”, “-ing”, “-s”) even phonemes (e.g. /s/,/z/)* (depends on if it carries meaning)  Language: Hierarchical Organization 3. Word—smallest free form unit (can stand alone) Can be composed of a single or multiple morphemes Language is like a living organism. It evolves! Words: New ones are made everyday; some get new meanings Generativity—the capacity to create an endless series of new combinations, all built from the same set of basic units (morphemes). New words Hungry + Angry = Hangry Selfie Old words can take on new meanings Bad=bad? Or bad=good? Troll  Language: Hierarchical Organization 4. Sentence—sequences of words that express meaning (semantics) E.g. “Mary had a little lamb” Composed of Phrases Two types of phrases: Noun Phrase Verb Phrase  Language: Hierarchical Organization 5. Syntax: Rules that govern the structure of phrases and sentences Helps us understand complex ideas and relational information E.g. Relational information: Who is doing what to whom? “The dog chased the mailman.” E.g. Rules about word order Good English Sentence: She has a red dress Bad English Sentence: She has a dress red Ella tiene un vestido roja This is a good Spanish sentence  Language: Hierarchical Organization Failure to follow rules meaningless Rule following meaningful communication communication “Mary had a little lamb” Yoda: “A little lamb Mary had”  Other Prescriptive rules: How language “should” be used rules Descriptive rules: How language is actually used  Language: Hierarchical Organization 6. Prosody—the “melody and timing” of speech; Pitch and speed Stress (e.g. “PROject”; “proJECT”) Sarcasm Personal characteristics of speech Why is it hard to learn a new language?  Speech Complexity Speech is complex, but we are surprisingly good at perceiving it Types of Speech Complexity: 1. Segmentation 2. Co-articulation Speech Complexity There are no gaps between phonemes or words. How do we over come this? Speech segmentation - the process of “slicing”the speech stream into individual words and phonemes Speech Complexity: Speech Complexity Coarticulation - the blending of phonemes within a word and at word boundaries The “cursive” of speech : The cursive of speech Each phoneme is realized differently due to context - the preceding and following sounds. How do we overcome speech complexity? Categorical perception & Top-down processing Aids to speech perception Categorical perception- categorization of phonemes shows abrupt boundaries no abrupt change in the stimuli There is a clear boundary Aids to speech perception Perception of language is constructed We use prior knowledge (top-down) to fill in missing information  Aids to speech perception Phonemic restoration effect We fill in the blanks. We “hear” phonemes that are not actually present, if they are highly likely (expected) in the context. Usually noise is placed into the missing segments Phonemic Restoration effect - Warren & Warren (1970) It was found that the #eel was on the axle. It was found that the #eel was on the shoe. It was found that the #eel was on the orange. It was found that the #eel was on the table. Aids to speech perception Pollack and Picket (1964) Recorded continuous (natural) speech Presented the words Individually (spliced out individual words from original sentence) In context of original sentence Result: Individual words hard to identify when presented in isolation Individual words are better identified/understood in the context of a sentence Recall the word superiority effect, Sentence superiority effect? Context matters Top-down processing affects perception  ZAPS: Semantic Priming in Lexical Decision Task: Lexical Decision Are both words? Yes/No IV: Word Pair relatedness Word – Associated Word (e.g., blood – red) Word – Unassociated Word (e.g., client – window) Note: These are Distractor items Non-word – Word (e.g., corld – door) Word – Non-word (e.g., town – slere) Non-word – Non-word (e.g., oorph – prunch) DV: Reaction Time Results: ZAPS: Semantic Priming in Lexical Decision (client – window) (blood – red) Does the language you speak impact your cognitive processes? E.g. perception, memory, categorization, etc. Language and Thought Linguistic relativity: Language shapes thought Different languages = Different thoughts “Whorfian hypothesis” is deterministic and too extreme Language influences thought indirectly, via attention. Other factors can cancel out this influence (e.g., intention to remember). Linguistic Relativity Color words Impact Perception Categorization Memory 36 Linguistic Relativity Spatial terminology Absolute directions (e.g., “east” or “west”) versus relative directions (e.g., “left” or “right”) Descriptions of events Active voice (“Sam made a mistake.”) versus passive voice (“Mistakes were made.”) Memory for agents in accidents 37 How does knowing multiple languages impact you? Bilingualism Bilingual children learn 2+ languages as quickly as monolingual children learn one language. But, temporarily have smaller vocabularies than monolingual children at an early age 39 Bilingualism Being raised bilingually may encourage better executive control than monolingual upbringing. Task-switching Avoiding distractions Holding information in mind This issue is still debated. Advantages may only emerge with certain tasks or in certain age groups (e.g., children, not adults). 40 Is it too late for me to learn another language? It is not too late to learn another language!