9 language nc

7/27/2019 9 Language NC

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LANGUAGE


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Language

Language e use o an organ ze means o com n ng wor s n

order to communicate

around us and to think about things and processes wecurrently cannot see, hear, feel, touch, smell

Communication

Exchange of thoughts and feelings Not all communication is through language (gestures,

glances, touches, pictures)


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Properties of Language Communicative

Language permits us to communicate with one or morepeople who share our language

Arbitrarily symbolic

Language creates an arbitrary relationship between a symboland its referent: an idea, a process, a relationship, or a

escr pt on

Arbitrary relationship - lack of any reason for choosing apar cu ar sym o o re er o a par cu ar ng


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Properties of Language

Generative, productive

Within the limits of a lin uistic structure lan ua e

users can produce novel utterances, and the

ossibilities for creatin new utterances are virtuall

limitless

Languages constantly evolve and change


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Levels of Analysis

Phonology:The system of sounds in a language Semantics: Examines the meanings of words and

sentences

Syntax: Grammatical rules that govern how we

Pragmatics: Knowledge of the

soc a ru es t at govern anguage

use.


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Levels of Analysis

Phonology Phoneme the smallest unit of speech sound that can be

used to distin uish one utterance in a iven lan ua e

from another Different languages use different numbers and combinations of

phonemes

Phonemics the study of the particular phonemes of a language


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Levels of Analysis

Lexicon

the entire set of mor hemes in a iven lan ua e or in

a given persons linguistic repertoire; contains the

information about meanin honolo ical form

orthographic form and syntactic properties of aarticular word

Vocabulary the repertoire of words created by combining

morphemes


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Levels of Analysis

Syntax

The wa in which users of a articular lan ua e utwords together to form sentences

A sentence comprises at least two parts

oun p rase w c conta ns at east one noun

Verb phrase which contains at least one verb and whatever


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Level of Analysis Semantics

The study of meaning in language How words express meaning

How lan ua e interacts with conce tual structure

Discourse

sentence, such as in conversation, paragraphs, stories

language


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Comprehension

Factors effecting comprehension: Negatives

P i i

Nested structures

m gu ty


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Comprehension

Passive Voice: Passive voice requires more processing time

EXP: Th m n i h

The dog was bitten by the man


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Comprehension

Nested Structures: A phrase that is embedded within another

sentence.

EXP: The plane that I want to take when I go toDenver after he returns from Washin ton leaves

at 9.00


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Comprehension

Ambiguity: We are good at resolving ambiguities

Clinton wins budget; more lies ahead

Miners refuse to work after death

Kids make nutritious snacks Local high school dropouts cut in half


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LANGUAGE

PRODUCTION


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Speaking

Word production Sentence production

Discourse production

Social context of speech


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Speech Production

Speech is produced by interrupting airflow as we

breathe out place of articulation: tongue, lips, and teeth move

to various ositions to restrict the airflow

manner of production: air flow may be

,

different cavities (m sound flows through the

voicing is produced by vibrating the vocal folds

as w e e er


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Word Production Most active topic in language research

Retrieving grammatical, semantic and phonologicalinformation

Independent access ERP evidence that we access grammatical information before

phonological

Simultaneous access

Gestures might help us retrieve this information

Worse roduction when estures were restricted.


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Sentence Production Linearization

arranging words in an ordered, linear sequence

Melody, intonation and stress pattern of an utterance


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Speech Errors nt c patory errors are more common

When we slip we tend to create a word rather than a non-word

We tend to create a common pronunciation

Errors occur across items from the same category Vowels, prefixes, nouns


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Speech Errors Dell et al (1997) Model

Spreading activation She sells sea shells on the sea shore

Inappropriate phonemes are activated and cause thetongue s p.


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Discourse Production Narratives:

Discourse in which you describe a series of events


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Social Context of Speech Common Ground

People who are communicating share a similarbackground knowledge, schemas, experiences thatare necessary for mutual understanding

Study by Clark et al (1986)


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Clark et al (1986)

Subject 1 tires tocommunicate subject

2 which fi ure to

choose.ecomes more

efficient over trials


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Social Context of Speech Lexical Entrainment

Specific pattern that two communicators developand use regarding a certain object or concept.

Sub ects even with different first

languages, easily form lexical

of chairs


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Speech Acts

Direct speech acts e speec act s expresse rect y e.g. ut t edoor!)

We accomplish our goals in speaking in an obliquefashion e. . Could ou lease shut the door?


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Speech Acts Directives

A sentence that requests someone to do something. EXP: Lend me your car.

EXP: Could you lend me your car?

EXP: Could you possibly by any chance lend me your carfor just a few minutes please?

n rect rect ves

What are you talking about?

w s a a cup o ea.


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Speech Acts ,

Representative

given proposition is true

E. . M students are smart.

Directive An attem t b a s eaker to et a listener to do somethin ,

such as supplying the answer to question

E.g. Shut the door!


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Speech Acts Taxonomy of direct speech acts (Searle, 1975)

Declaration A speech act by which the very act of making a statement

brin s about an intended new state of affairs

E.g. I now pronounce you husband and wife


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Conversational Postulates (Grice, 1967)

The maxim of quantity

Make our contribution to a conversation asinformative as required but no more informative

than is a ro riate

The maxim of quality

our contr ut on to a conversat on s ou e

truthful

You are expected to say what you believe to be the

case


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Conversational Postulates (Grice, 1967)

The maxim of relation

You should make our contributions to aconversation relevant to the aims of the

conversation

The maxim of manner

ou s ou try to avo o scure express ons, vague

utterances, and purposeful obfuscation of your point


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9 language nc

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