Module 06: Language
Define: Syllabary
- A "dictionary" of frequent syllables that is used for syllable preparation in speech production.
Define: Word
- A distinct meaningful unit of speech or writing. Example: - Displayed
Define: Postlexical Code
- A from of phoneme identification. - The way speech is encoded after the words are identified. It contains semantic and syntactic information.
Define: Prelexical Code
- A from of phoneme identification. - The way speech is encoded before the words are identified. It is based merely on phonological information.
Define: Lexicon
- A mental dictionary from which the meaning and syntactic properties of each word is recalled once the word is identified.
Define: Direct Object
- A noun or pronoun that receives the action of a verb in a sentence. Example: - In the sentence "Give the book to me" the word 'book' is the direct object.
Define: Indirect Object
- A noun phrase referring to someone or something that is affected by the action of a transitive verb (typically as a recipient), but is not the primary object Example: - In the sentence "Give him the book" the word 'him' is the indirect object.
Define: Selective Errors
- A problem in retrieving a word from the lexicon. - Semantic -- Substitution - Blands -- Fusion of two words into one
Define: Mutual Intelligibility
- A relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. - Makes it so we can count how many languages there are.
Define: Lemma
- A representation of the meaning and syntactic properties of a word that does not contain its phonological features.
Define: Verb Phrase
- A syntactic unit composed of a verb and its arguments except the subject of an independent clause or coordinate clause. - Consists of a verb, or of a main verb following a modal or one or more auxiliaries. Examples: - Walked - Can see - Had been waiting
Define: Phonological Word
- A unit of prosody that contains one stressed syllable. It may consist of one lexical word, but can be longer or shorter. S Pronunciation Examples: - cats - tips - stacks - roofs - months Z Pronunciation Examples: - hands - dogs - leaves - plans - cafés IZ Pronunciation Examples: - watches - dishes - classes - noses - edges
Define: Transitive Verb
- A verb that uses a direct object, which shows who or what receives the action in a sentence. Example: - In the sentence "He saw the donkey" the word 'donkey' is the transitive verb.
Define: Noun
- A word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things (common noun), or to name a particular one of these (proper noun). - Nouns are almost always preceded by an article ("the," "a," or "an"). Examples: - John - House - Affinity - River
Define: Lexical Word
- A word as a unit of meaning; corresponds to the everyday understanding of "word." - Lexical items can be generally understood to convey a single meaning, much as a lexeme, but are not limited to single words. Examples: - cat - traffic light - take care of - by the way - it's raining cats and dogs
Define: Noun Phrase
- A word or group of words that functions in a sentence as subject, object, or prepositional object. Examples: - The big, warm coat. - Hannah's bowl of melon. - The little, pretty cottage. - The shoes with ruby jewels. - The cheeky monkey climbed on top of the car.
Define: Verb
- A word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as hear, become, happen. - A word that indicates a physical action, a mental action, or a state of being. Examples: - drive - think - exist
Define: Subject
- Any noun, pronoun or noun phrase that does the action in a sentence. Example: - In the sentence "We are watching Netflix" the subject is the pronoun 'we.'
Define: Letters
- Characters used for representing sounds in speech. Example: - d-i-s-p-l-a-y-e-d
Define: Assemblage Errors
- Correct word choice, but wrongly assembled. - Transpositions - Word order - Anticipations - Initial consonant of the first word replaced by that of a latter word - Repetitions - Preservations - Repeated sounds
What are some parts included in phoneme perception?
- Decoding - Phoneme - Categorical Perception of Phonemes - Invariance Problem - Coarticulation
Define: Segmentation
- Dividing the continuous speech signal into its underlying linguistic units like phonemes, syllables, and words.
Define: Grammatical Planning
- For each word, grammatical features become accessible by lemma selection. - Activation and conceptualization in syntactic network (or knots). - Completed sentence = Finding a pathway that connects all those knots. - Idiomatic terms (idioms) are stored as separate entries (in addition to the entries for the single words they are constituted of).
Model: Trace Model
- It was created by McClelland and Elman in 1986. - A connectionist computer model of speech recognition, which means it consists of many connected processing units.
Define: Displacement
- Language can refer to things that are not physically present, or that do not even exist. Example: - A mermaid riding an underwater unicorn.
Define: Specialization
- Language is used purely for communication, and not some other biological function. Example: - A dog panting may convey that the dog is tired, but also occurs because physically the dog is out of breath.
Define: Productivity
- Language users can create and understand novel statements. Examples: - All Quiet On The Western Front book covers - The professor used a random sentence generator to create this statement, "He embraced his new life as an eggplant." While you've likely never read this sentence before, you can understand the words and what it means!
Define: Discreteness
- Languages can be broken down into small, discrete units which combine with each other in rule-governed ways. Examples: - Looking at the word 'displayed' as a word, syllables, graphemes, morphemes, and letters. - Some examples of this are phonemes (speech sounds) and morphemes (meaningful units of speech) which are combined by rules of syntax.
Define: Arbitrariness
- Languages use arbitrary symbols. - Arbitrary symbols are words and sounds that do not resemble what the refer to. Examples: - Sign Language - Hieroglyphics - The word apple has nothing to do with an actual apple.
Define: Syllables
- Mouthfuls of words. Example: - dis-played
Define: Coarticulation
- One sound is articulated, the vocal tract is already adapting for the position required for the next sound. Coarticulation for the R sound: - Car --> Ran - Car --> Ready - Car --> Race - Car --> Rain - Car --> Ride
How many distinct languages are there worldwide?
- Over 7,000.
What are the basic building blocks of speech?
- Parts of speech like subjects, predicates, nouns, and verbs.
Define: Categorial Perception of Phonemes:
- Phonemes are categories that comprise sounds with varying acoustic properties and they differ between languages.
Define: Spoonerism
- Phonemic segments are reversed or exchanged.
Define: Articulation:
- Refers to the way a sound is made, as opposed to where it's made. Articulation can begin when: - There is phonological information of a word - Appropriate morphological form is available - Word order has been determined - Scan-Copier Models - Competitive Queuing Model
Define: Repetition Priming
- Repeating a word recently encountered.
What are some priming effects?
- Repetition Priming - Morphology Priming - Semantic Priming
Define: Speech Production
- Reverse order of listening (sentence meaning to phonological features)
What is involved with slips of the tongue?
- Selective Errors - Assemblage Errors - Spoonerism
Define: Incremental Processing
- Sequential steps of processing that takes place at the same time in a fashion that while material that has already undergone step one is going through step two, new material goes through step one.
Define: Graphemes
- Spellings of sounds (phonemes) in words). Example: - d-i-s-p-l-ay-ed
Define: Register
- The basic pitch and is influenced by the speaker's current self-esteem.
Define: Morphology
- The capability of words to adapt different grammatical forms with distinct phonological forms.
Model: The Cohort Model
- The first model was created by Marslan-Wilson and Welsh in 1978. - The second model was created, or adapted, by Marslan-Wilson in 1990. Steps: 1. Access - Individual word meanings are accessed. 2. Integration - Syntactic and semantic information is integrated; literal and nonliteral meaning are generated. 3. Selection - Momentary interference until the unintended meaning is suppressed. 4. The arrow points to this box - Intended meaning is available.
Define: Language Equality
- The idea that all languages and dialects should be treated as equal, with no one language. - Language reflects and enshrines the values and prejudices of the society in which it has evolved, and is a powerful means of perpetuating them. As communicators we have a responsibility both to give a true picture of society and to avoid discriminating against or excluding any sections of it.
Define: Allophone
- The linguistically non-significant variants of each phoneme. - The different realizations of a phoneme depending on the phonetic environment the phoneme occurs in. Example: - In English the t sounds in the words "hit," "tip," and "little" are allophones; phonemically they are considered to be the same sound although they are different phonetically in terms of aspiration, voicing, and point of articulation.
Define: Predicates
- The part of a sentence or clause containing a verb and stating something about the subject. Example: - In the sentence "John went home" the predicate is 'went home.'
Define: Recursion
- The possibility of inserting a syntactic category within the same category. - The clearest example of recursion is the insertion of one sentence within another sentence. - Consider the two sentences 'Bill left' and 'Mary said that Bill left'. The second sentence contains the first one embedded within it.
Define: Language
- The principal method of human communication, consisting of words used in a structured and conventional way and conveyed by speech, writing, or gesture. - A system of communication used by a particular country or community.
Define: Lexeme
- The representation of a word's phonological form.
Define: Invariance Problem
- The same phoneme can sound differently depending on the syllable context.
Define: Linguistics
- The scientific study of language and its structure, including the study of morphology, syntax, phonetics, and semantics. - A social science.
Define: Phoneme
- The smallest linguistic unit has an impact on the meaning. - The smallest phonological unit is perceived as a distinct sound. Example: - The element 'p' in "tap," which separates that word from "tab," "tag," and "tan." Examples of Phonemes: - 'ay' in play - 'ou' in cloud - 'ie' in tie - 'ea' in beads - 'oy' in boy - 'ir' in girl - 'ue' in glue - 'ue' in argue - 'aw' in saw - 'wh' in whistle - 'ph' in elephant - 'ew' in pew - 'ew' in screw - 'oe' in toe - 'au' in haunted - 'ey' in monkey - 'a-e' in snake - 'e-e' in even - 'i-e' in slide - 'o-e' in bone
An Example of The Cohort Model
- The stages happen over time, starting with stage 01. Stage 01: /s/ ... - soap - spinach - psychologist - spin - spit - sun - spank ... /sp/ - spinach - spin - spit - spank ... Stage 02: /spi/ - spinach - spin - spit ... Stage 03: /spin/ - spin
Define: Object
- The thing/person that the action is done to. There are Eight Object Pronouns: - me - you - him - her - it - us - them - whom Example: - In the sentence "Give the book to me" the word 'me' is the object.
Define: Key
- The variation of pitch within a phrase and is influenced by the relevance of the phrase to the speaker and his emotional involvement.
Define: Prosody
- Tonal and rhythmic figures of speech.
Define: Decoding
- Translating the acoustic speech signal into the linguistic representation.
Define: Morphemes
- Units of meaning in words. Examples: - dis-play-ed
A Look At: Monitoring of Speech Production
- We monitor our own speech like listening to others' (temporal regions).
Define: Lexicalization
- Word selection in speech production. - Lemma - Lexeme
Define: Morphology Priming
- Words that are orthographically similar.
What are the three main issues with speech production?
1. Conceptualization - Select relevant information to construct a preverbal message 2. Formulating Preverbal Message - Individual words, syntactic planning, etc. 3. Execution - Linguistic representation - Motor articulatory system
What are some reasons for slip of the tongue?
1. Interference from intended elements of the utterance. - Plan Interal Errors - Anticipation, perspiration, or transposition 2. Interference from an alternative formulation of the intended thought - Alternative Plan Error - Blends 3. Interference from an unintended thought - Competing Plan Errors - Nervousness, tiredness, anxiety, or intoxication.
What are the five features of language?
1. Specialization 2. Arbitrariness 3. Discreteness 4. Displacement 5. Productivity
What are the eight mechanisms of slips of the tongue?
1. Substitution: - When one word is substituted with another - For example, accidentally saying I am thirsty when you mean I am hungry. 2. Exchange: - When two parts of words swap places. - For example, belly jeans instead of jelly beans. 3. Shifts: - One part of a word shifts to an incorrect part of a statement. - For example, practice make perfects instead of practice makes perfect. 4. Preservation: - When part of a word from earlier in a statement repeats again later. - For example, have fun at faseball instead of have fun at baseball. 5. Anticipation: - The opposite of preservation. - When part of a word that occurs later in a statement is repeated earlier. - For example, have bun at baseball instead of have fun at baseball. 6. Addition: - Addition of an extra part of a word. - For example, bananana instead of banana. 7. Deletion: - Deletion of a part of a word. - For example, banan instead of banana. 8. Blend: - Blending two real words together to form a new word. - For example, perple when trying to say person or people.
A Look At: Acoustic Speech Parameters
Manipulation of: - Phonematic properties - Volume - Pitch - Speed Parameters depend on: - Prosody and syllable position - Key - Register
Model: Fromkin's Model of Speech Production
Stage 01: - Identification of meaning Stage 02: - Formulation of syntactic structure Stage 03: - Generation of intonation contours Stage 04: - Insertion of content words Stage 05: - Formation of affixes and function words Stage 06: - Specification of phonetic segments
Roles of Syllables for Articulation -- Two-Step Model
Two-Step Model: 1. Lexeme identification and a sequence of phonemes representing the word is drawn simultaneously. 2. Syllables, which are not part of the lexicon representation, are formed sequentially.
Define: Semantic Priming
Words that are semantically related.
"My wife got a new hairdo. She came home to show me and the words that went through my head were Awesome and Beautiful. What came out was 'Wow, your hair is awful!' Try explaining that away." What kind of speech error resulted in the word "awful" being said by mistake? a. blend b. shift c. addition d. anticipation
a. blend
Your ability to determine whether or not the two words are the same or different is explained by what concept? a. categorical perception b. top-down feedback c. prosody d. coarticulation
a. categorical perception
The honey bee waggle dance refers to movements that honey bees produce to convey information about the location of nearby flowers, water, or nest-site locations. Please watch the video below for an in-depth explanation of how honey bees use this dance to communicate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MX2WN-7Xzc&t=133s This waggle dance allows bees to communicate about non-present sources of food, water, or nesting locations. Which of the following design features of language best represents this feature of the waggle dance? a. displacement b. specialization c. productivity d. arbitrariness d. discreteness
a. displacement
Read the following tongue twister. Repeat it 3 times quickly, then 3 times from memory. Six sleek swans swam swiftly southwards. Did you make any mistakes? When I tried saying this tongue twister, I said: Six slik swans swam swiftly southwards. What kind of speech error is this an example of? a. perservation b. shift c. substitution d. anticipation
a. perservation
Now listen to these three audio clips and answer the question after each: Clip Who is in Alabama? Clip Who is in Alabama? Clip Who is in Alabama? On average, participants who hear these sentences say that for the first audio clip Paula's friend is in Alabama. But for audio clips 2 & 3, Paula is in Alabama. What is influencing how you interpret these speech segments? a. prosody b. categorical perception c. top-down effects d. segmentation
a. prosody
Please watch the following video about the communication system of vervet monkeys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ZG8Dpc8mM Each of the vervet monkey calls is used communicate about a specific predator - and isn't used for anything else (like a mating call, general scream, or just a sound made while being groomed). Which of the following design features best represents this feature of the vervet monkey calls? a. specialization b. displacement c. productivity d. arbitrariness d. discreteness
a. specialization
Watch the following video illustrating the phonemic restoration effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyvyGMkzNQc What explains the phonemic restoration effect? a. top-down processing b. categorical perception c. coarticulation d. prosody
a. top-down processing
We use many different cues to disambiguate what we hear in speech. Your reading discusses things like categorical perception, prosody, and top-down processing. This video provides another example of a cue we used to understand speech. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wat3YJ5mAFs What cue changes what you hear in the McGurk effect? a. vision b. lexicon b. semantic context d. phonemic context
a. vision
Read the following tongue twister. Repeat it 3 times quickly, then 3 times from memory. Willy's real rear wheel. Did you make any mistakes? When I tried saying this tongue twister, I said: Really's real rear wheel. What kind of speech error is this an example of? a. perservation b. anticipation c. exchange d. blend
b. anticipation
Which of the following is NOT an example of prosody? a. adding emphasis to part of a sentence b. choosing a more complex word when speaking to an advanced audience c. changing tone for part of a sentence d. pausing in part of a sentence
b. choosing a more complex word when speaking to an advanced audience
Read the following tongue twister. Repeat it 3 times quickly, then 3 times from memory. How polite is the fame of the fib to police. Did you make any mistakes? When I tried saying this tongue twister, I accidentally did not say the second 'the': How polite is the fame of fib to police. What kind of speech error is this an example of? a. exchange b. deletion c. blend d. shift
b. deletion
Watch this video of a live slip-of-the-tongue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1lgMiG6OX4&t=8s David Cameron says 'resent' instead of 'represent' - what kind of speech error is this? a. shift b. deletion c. perservation d. addition
b. deletion
The phonemic restoration effect is an example of... a. categorical perception b. top-down processing c. coarticulation d. segmentation
b. top-down processing
Which of the following examples illustrates the discreteness characteristic of a true language? a. breaking down concepts into sentences b. breaking down phonemes into morphemes c. breaking down morphemes into phonemes d. breaking down sentences into concepts
c. breaking down morphemes into phonemes
Elaine accidentally said, "I'm going to my apart," instead of "I'm going to my apartment." What speech error is this an example of? a. shift b. exchange c. deletion d. anticipation
c. deletion
What step of language production would be related to planning what morphemes and phonemes to use? a. articulation b. self-monitoring/self-repair c. formulation d. conceptualization
c. formulation
Please watch this short video on octopus communication: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edWyvaygWNA&t=6s The octopus uses four different features (size, color, climbing to higher ground, raising mantle) to show they're going to enter a confrontation and combine them in different ways. Which of the following design features best represents this feature of octopus communication? a. specialization b. displacement c. productivity d. discreteness e. arbitrariness
c. productivity
You ask Gollum where the raw fish went. He replies, "We decide to eated it" instead of the correct "We decided to eat it." What speech error is Gollum making? a. perservation b. exchange c. shift d. addition
c. shift
Here's another example of a speech error on TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WrB0vGGL1o&t=7s What kind of speech error was this? a. addition b. deletion c. substitution d. blend
c. substitution
Please watch the following video. FYI - you may hear in 'illusory' curse word: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfwF5cuAMsk Instead of hearing Grover say, "That sounds like an excellent idea" to Rosita some people hear the words "sounds like" replaced with the F-word. What is this an example of? a. speech error b. coarticulation c. the segmentation problem d. categorical perception
c. the segmentation problem
Please watch the following video of a dog using buttons to communicate with it's owner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYysVTJqFto Bunny's abilities are truly impressive! Bunny is able to communicate using the sounds we use in the English language, which do not always resemble what the represent (except for onomatopoeia). This means Bunny is demonstrating an understanding of what design feature? a. productivity b. displacement c. specialization d. arbitrariness e. discreteness
d. arbitrariness
American Sign Language (ASL) is a true human language which uses all the design features! Please watch the following video to learn more about American Sign Language (ASL): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa0nxppMJ-Q Another fact about sign language - the sentences and signs can be broken down into phonemes which consist of features like hand shape, location, movement, and more. The fact that the sentences and signs used in sign language can be broken down into components is an example of which design feature of language? a specialization b. displacement c. productivity d. discreteness e. arbitrariness
d. discreteness
Watch the following video of a spoonerism story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0tz98kt-f0 The story of "Rindercella" is an example of what kind of speech error?: a. shift b. deletion c. substitution d. exchange
d. exchange
