Language

1
Language

• PSY 421 Fall 2004

2
Overview

• Defining Language
• Language Dichotomies
• Studying Language
• Sentence Production
• Conversation
• Reading
• Word Recognition
• Dyslexia
• Writing

3
Defining Language

• Set of symbols and principles for the combination
  of these symbols for communication and
  comprehension
• Mental lexicon all the words you know
• http//www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Spring_2004/ling
  001/hw06.html - Question 3
• Language is/has
• Arbitrary not representative of the concepts
• Semanticity meaningfulness
• Displacement talk about time through language
• Productive new words and letters in combination
• Psycholinguistics study of psychological
  processes involved in using language

4
Language Dichotomies

• Production vs Perception
• Using and producing language production
• Hearing and comprehending language perception
• Performance vs Competence
• Execution of language abilities performance
• Knowledge of language and its rules competence

5
Studying Language

• Phonology analysis of basic speech sounds
• Phoneme categories of speech sounds that are
  different and that change the meaning of a spoken
  signal
• Morphology rules for manipulating and changing
  phonemes to produce different words and word
  forms
• Morpheme smallest unit of language that carries
  meaning
• Grammar syntax (rules) and semantics (meaning)
• Sentence Production
• Conversation

6
Sentence Production

• 4-stage information-processing model Levelt
  (1989).
• Conceptualizing not much research on this
• Planning studyg through errors
• Articulating study through errors
• Slips of the tongue (speech errors)
• Shift one speech segment disappears from its
  appropriate location and appears elsewhere
• Exchange two segments change places
• Anticipation when a later segment replaces an
  earlier segment but does not disappear
• Perseveration - when an earlier segment replaces
  a later segment but does not disappear
• Deletion leaving something out
• Addition inserting something
• Substitution something replaces an intended
  segment
• Blend two words combine into one
• Self-monitoring processes whereby we keep track
  of what we are saying and change it on line if
  necessary

7
Conversation

• Pragmatics practical knowledge we need to use
  language effectively
• Structure fairly consistent involve
  turn-taking
• Unwritten rules Grices (1975) maxims
• Quantity say as much as you need to not more
• Quality only speak truths
• Relation be relevant to the topic
• Manner be clear avoid obscurity and ambiguity
• Gender Lakoff (1975)
• Women tend to be more polite than men
• Women use more qualifiers and tag questions at
  the end of sentences
• Mens conversations have more interruptions
• Both genders adapt based on who they are talking
  to (Thomson et al. 2001)

8
Reading

• Mix of top-down and bottom-up processes
• Eye-movements during reading
• Saccades and fixations
• Word skipping predictable based on word length
• Regressive saccades (10-15 of all saccades)
• Perceptual span amount of text the eyes can
  cover effectively to the right of any given
  fixation (like peripheral vision to the right)
  differs with difficulty of reading material
• Speed Reading speed/accuracy tradeoff

9
Word Recognition

• Orthography look of the written word
• Direct Access View
• Orthography provides the major route to word
  recognition
• Words are recognized by using the written label
  to access the appropriate meaning and
  representation in memory
• Indirect Access View
• Word recognition goes through the phonological
  (sound) representation of the word prior to its
  identification
• Has a great deal of support in the research
  literature

10
Dyslexia

• Severe reading difficulties (and difficulties in
  word recognition)
• Not a problem of emotion or motivation
• Not a problem of intelligence
• 5-15 of US population
• Types of Dyslexia
• Surface dyslexia have to rely on the
  indirect-access route to word recognition have
  difficulty with words that have irregular
  pronunciations
• Phonological dyslexia selective inability to
  read pseudowords (e.g., bleer) indirect-access
  problem
• Deep dyslexia have surface and phonological
  problems in addition to semantic errors and
  difficulty in understanding abstract words (e.g.,
  love)
• Spelling evidence of issues with phonological
  assembly
• Reading is slower with more pronunciation errors
  for dyslexics vs. nondyslexics

11
Try this

• I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty
  uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal
  pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to rscheearch
  at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deson't mttaer in
  waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny
  iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer
  be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl
  mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
  Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed
  ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
  Amzanig huh?

12
Writing

• Type of language production
• Kellogg (1994) writing is a prototype of the
  thinking process
• Quality writing requires quality thinking
• Poorly written papers indicate that you didnt
  comprehend the material well
• Writing is a tool for thinking forces you to
  decide what you know and dont know
• Writing involves a lot of cognitive effort and
  metacognition
• The writing process
• Collecting and planning
• Translating and reviewing/editing
• Writing environment is also important