Cognitive Processes PSY 334 Chapter 11 Language Structure

Cognitive Processes PSY 334 Chapter 11 – Language Structure

Linguistics o Linguistics – studies the structure of natural language. o Psycholinguistics – studies the way people process natural language. o Linguistics focuses on: n n Productivity – an infinite number of utterances are possible in any language. Regularity – utterances are systematic in many ways.

Grammar o Words can be combined into trillions of novel sentences, but not randomly. n From runners physicians prescribing a states joy rests what thought most. o Grammar is a set of rules that generates acceptable sentences and rejects unacceptable ones.

Three Kinds of Grammar o Syntax – word order and inflection (where emphasis is placed). n Did hit the girl the boys? o Semantics – meaning of sentences. n n Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. Sincerity frightened the cat. o Phonology – sound structure of sentences (pronunciation).

Prescriptive vs Descriptive o Linguistic intuition – speakers can make judgments about utterances without knowing the explicit rules. o Ambiguities: n n They are cooking apples – structural. I am going to the bank – lexical. o Everyday speech (performance) does not conform to linguistic theory (competence).

Phrase Structure o Important to both linguistics and psychology of language processing. o Phrase structure – the hierarchical division of the sentence into phrases. n n Verb phrase Noun phrase o Rewrite rules – rules for generating sentences out of the parts.

Pauses o When people produce sentences, they generate a phrase at a time. n n Pauses occur at the boundaries of phrases. Pauses are longer at boundaries of major phrases compared to minor ones. o Pauses occur at the smallest level above the word that bundles coherent semantic information (meaning).

Speech Errors o Errors show the reality of phrase structure. n When people repeat themselves they tend to repeat or correct a whole phrase. o Anticipation – an early phoneme is changed to a later phoneme (toin coss) n n Occurs within a phrase – 13% across phrases Word errors can occur across phrases – 83%

Transformations o Some constructions seem to violate phrase hierarchy: n n Whom is the dog chasing down the street? The dog is chasing whom down the street? o A transformational grammar has been proposed which hypothesizes a deep structure that guides such violations. n This idea about grammar is controversial.

Behaviorist Approaches o Watson – utterances are learned behaviors reinforced by environment. n n Thinking is just subvocal speech or other body movement. Smith et al. used curare to inhibit muscle movements and still were able to think. o Evidence that thought is more than language comes from memory studies. n Animals are able to think.

Whorfian Hypothesis o Linguistic determinism – the claim that language strongly determines thought or perceptions of the world. n n Do eskimos have more words for snow? Do they perceive snow differently because of it? o Rosch’s study of Dani color cognition: n Focal vs non-focal colors.

Navajo-Speaking Children o Compared Navajo-speaking children with English-speaking Navajo children. n n Yellow stick, blue rope, yellow rope. Different verb form used for rigid items compared to flexible ones. o Navajo-speakers preferred form to color. o English-speaking children from Boston preferred form to color o Evidence does not support Whorf’s idea.

Language and Thought o Developmentally and evolutionarily, thought occurs before language. n Language depends on thought, not vice versa. o Language is shaped to fit the thoughts it must communicate. n n n Propositions are reflected in phrases. Colors determined by visual system. Subject always precedes object in sentence.

Modularity Position o Chomsky, Fodor propose that language and thought are independent of each other. n Separate linguistic module processes language – encapsulated. o Is language acquired using special processes? o Does language work without using general cognitive processes?

Language Acquisition o By age 10 children learn all major rules of a natural language, implicitly. o Children learn in the same manner all over the world: n n From birth – increasing vocalizations. 6 mo – babbling – sounds with intonation. 1 yr – first one-word utterances (concrete). 1 -1/2 to 2 yrs – two-word utterances, telegraphic speech (no function words).

Language Acquisition (Cont. ) o Children start out speaking all kinds of utterances imperfectly: n n Do not distinguish singular and plural. Later, add s to everything, without recognizing irregular forms (foot, feet). Difficulties with transformational word order Difficulty comprehending some forms (John promised Bill to leave. ) o By 6 yrs, 10, 000 words, many special cases.

Irregular Past Tenses o Does a child learn a past tense rule or are the past and present tenses learned as an association (kick, kicked)? o Sequence of learning answers this question: n n n First, use irregular correctly – sang. Second, over-generalize rule – singed. Third, learn irregular form as an exception and use it correctly again – sang.

Connectionist Models o Rumelhart & Mc. Clelland used a PDP model to produce this developmental sequence using associations not rules. o Pinker’s criticism: n n n Too many irregulars needed during training Production of “membled” for “mailed. ” The way a past tense is formed depends on its meaning, not just its base word – ring/rang vs ring/ringed.

Neural Evidence o Studying language acquisition may not settle the question. o Some people with aphasias are impaired forming irregular past tenses, others regular past tenses (Broca’s area). o PET imaging shows activity in Broca’s area only when processing regular past tenses. o Only regular verbs may be rule-based.

Language is Not Taught o Children are not directly taught language n No feedback about their errors. n Learning is inductive – infer acceptable utterances from experience. o How do they avoid being misled by wrong sentences they hear? o Motherese use is uncorrelated with language development. o Language develops under adversity too.

Critical Period o Do young children learn a second language faster? n Controlling for amounts and types of exposure and motivation, older children (11+) learn faster than younger ones. o However, mastery of the fine points, speaking without an accent, depends on learning at a younger age. o It is better to learn a language before 10.

Language Universals o Chomsky – special innate mechanisms underlie the acquisition of language. n n Competence not performance. Study by seeking universals across languages. o Universals -- adjectives appear near the nouns they modify. n May be based on cognitive constraints not language mechanisms.

Parameter Setting o Variability among natural languages can be accounted for by setting about 100 parameters. o Language learning consists of acquiring the settings for these parameters. n Also, acquiring vocabulary. o Pro-drop parameter: n I go to the cinema (does not drop pronoun) n Voy al cinema esta noche (drops pronoun).