Cognitive ProcessesPSY 334

Chapter 11 – Language Structure

August 26, 2003

Linguistics

Linguistics – studies the structure of natural language.

Psycholinguistics – studies the way people process natural language.

Linguistics focuses on: Productivity – an infinite number of

utterances are possible in any language. Regularity – utterances are systematic in

many ways.

Grammar

Words can be combined into trillions of novel sentences, but not randomly. From runners physicians prescribing a

states joy rests what thought most. Grammar is a set of rules that generates

acceptable sentences and rejects unacceptable ones.

Three Kinds of Grammar

Syntax – word order and inflection (where emphasis is placed). Did hit the girl the boys?

Semantics – meaning of sentences. Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. Sincerity frightened the cat.

Phonology – sound structure of sentences (pronunciation).

Prescriptive vs Descriptive

Linguistic intuition – speakers can make judgments about utterances without knowing the explicit rules.

Ambiguities: They are cooking apples – structural. I am going to the bank – lexical.

Everyday speech (performance) does not conform to linguistic theory (competence).

Phrase Structure

Important to both linguistics and psychology of language processing.

Phrase structure – the hierarchical division of the sentence into phrases. Verb phrase Noun phrase

Rewrite rules – rules for generating sentences out of the parts.

Pauses

When people produce sentences, they generate a phrase at a time. Pauses occur at the boundaries of

phrases. Pauses are longer at boundaries of major

phrases compared to minor ones. Pauses occur at the smallest level above

the word that bundles coherent semantic information (meaning).

Speech Errors

Errors show the reality of phrase structure. When people repeat themselves they tend

to repeat or correct a whole phrase. Anticipation – an early phoneme is

changed to a later phoneme (toin coss) Occurs within a phrase – 13% across

phrases Word errors can occur across phrases –

83%

Transformations

Some constructions seem to violate phrase hierarchy: Whom is the dog chasing down the street? The dog is chasing whom down the street?

A transformational grammar has been proposed which hypothesizes a deep structure that guides such violations. This idea about grammar is controversial.

Behaviorist Approaches

Watson – utterances are learned behaviors reinforced by environment. Thinking is just subvocal speech or other

body movement. Smith et al. used curare to inhibit muscle

movements and still were able to think. Evidence that thought is more than

language comes from memory studies. Animals are able to think.

Whorfian Hypothesis

Linguistic determinism – the claim that language strongly determines thought or perceptions of the world. Do eskimos have more words for snow? Do they perceive snow differently because

of it? Rosch’s study of Dani color cognition:

Focal vs non-focal colors.

Navajo-Speaking Children

Compared Navajo-speaking children with English-speaking Navajo children. Yellow stick, blue rope, yellow rope. Different verb form used for rigid items

compared to flexible ones. Navajo-speakers preferred form to color. English-speaking children from Boston

preferred form to color Evidence does not support Whorf’s idea.

Language and Thought

Developmentally and evolutionarily, thought occurs before language. Language depends on thought, not vice

versa. Language is shaped to fit the thoughts it

must communicate. Propositions are reflected in phrases. Colors determined by visual system. Subject always precedes object in

sentence.

Modularity Position

Chomsky, Fodor propose that language and thought are independent of each other. Separate linguistic module processes

language – encapsulated. Is language acquired using special

processes? Does language work without using

general cognitive processes?

Language Acquisition

By age 10 children learn all major rules of a natural language, implicitly.

Children learn in the same manner all over the world: 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.)

Children start out speaking all kinds of utterances imperfectly: 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.) By 6 yrs, 10,000 words, many special

cases.

Irregular Past Tenses

Does a child learn a past tense rule or are the past and present tenses learned as an association (kick, kicked)?

Sequence of learning answers this question: 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

Rumelhart & McClelland used a PDP model to produce this developmental sequence using associations not rules.

Pinker’s criticism: 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.

Primates & Language

Nim Chimpsky

Noam Chomsky

Roger Fouts and Washoe

Neural Evidence

Studying language acquisition may not settle the question.

Some people with aphasias are impaired forming irregular past tenses, others regular past tenses (Broca’s area).

PET imaging shows activity in Broca’s area only when processing regular past tenses.

Only regular verbs may be rule-based.

Language is Not Taught

Children are not directly taught language No feedback about their errors. Learning is inductive – infer acceptable

utterances from experience. How do they avoid being misled by

wrong sentences they hear? Motherese use is uncorrelated with

language development. Language develops under adversity too.

Critical Period

Do young children learn a second language faster? Controlling for amounts and types of

exposure and motivation, older children (11+) learn faster than younger ones.

However, mastery of the fine points, speaking without an accent, depends on learning at a younger age.

It is better to learn a language before 10.

Language Universals

Chomsky – special innate mechanisms underlie the acquisition of language. Competence not performance. Study by seeking universals across

languages. Universals -- adjectives appear near the

nouns they modify. May be based on cognitive constraints not

language mechanisms.

Parameter Setting

Variability among natural languages can be accounted for by setting about 100 parameters.

Language learning consists of acquiring the settings for these parameters. Also, acquiring vocabulary.

Pro-drop parameter: I go to the cinema (does not drop pronoun) Voy al cinema esta noche (drops pronoun).