What are the five key components involved in knowing a language?
- Phonology – sounds of language and rules for combining them.
- Morphology – parts of words that carry meaning (e.g., prefixes, suffixes).
- Syntax – structure or grammar (how words are combined).
- Semantics – meanings of words and sentences.
- Pragmatics – implied meaning and social use of language.
Briefly describe the two types of aphasia and the brain areas affected in each.
- Broca’s Aphasia – difficulty producing fluent, grammatical speech (nonfluent, effortful speech) Affected area: Broca’s area (left frontal lobe).
- Wernicke’s Aphasia – fluent but meaningless speech, impaired comprehension Affected area: Wernicke’s area (left temporal lobe).
Explain the concept of “immediacy of interpretation” in sentence processing.
- The immediacy of interpretation principle means people interpret sentences as they read or hear them, without waiting for the entire sentence to end.
- Evidence: garden-path sentences like “The horse raced past the barn fell” show that readers make immediate (and sometimes incorrect) interpretations that must later be revised.
Differentiate between transient and permanent ambiguity in sentences. Provide an example of each.
- Transient ambiguity: Ambiguity resolved by the end of the sentence.
Example: “The old fly for less.” - Permanent ambiguity: Ambiguity that cannot be resolved even after the whole sentence.
Example: “The bass is a dull gray.” (bass = fish or instrument)
What are the two main types of inferences we make when comprehending text?
- Backward (bridging) inferences – connect current information to previous context.
Example: “Ann’s mom used tweezers” → infer she removed the splinter. - Forward (elaborative) inferences – anticipate upcoming information.
Example: “The shuttle was fueled and ready” → infer it will launch.
What is the difference between deep structure and surface structure in language?
- Deep structure: the underlying meaning of a sentence.
- Surface structure: the specific wording or syntax used to express that meaning.
- Two sentences can have the same deep structure but different surface structures.
How does the concept of “constituents” help us understand parsing?
- Constituents are the basic syntactic units (phrases or clauses) in a sentence’s surface structure.
- Parsing involves identifying these constituents to interpret meaning.
→ Understanding where constituents begin and end helps explain pauses and comprehension effort during reading.
What do N400 and P600 ERP recordings indicate about sentence processing?
- N400: signals difficulty in semantic processing (word meaning problems).
Example: “Lena clapped the kitten to Vick.” - P600: signals difficulty in syntactic processing (grammar problems).
Example: “Gave Lena to kitten the Vick.”
How does the use of passive voice affect sentence comprehension?
- Passive voice sentences (“The man was bitten by the dog”) are harder to comprehend than active ones (“The dog bit the man”).
- They require extra processing to identify who did what to whom.
Explain how eye-tracking studies provide evidence for the immediacy of interpretation principle.
- Eye-tracking shows fixation patterns that change as readers encounter ambiguities.
- In garden-path sentences, fixation times increase right when the ambiguity is detected—demonstrating that comprehension happens immediately, not delayed until the sentence ends.
What is a sentence verification technique and why is it used?
- A sentence verification technique asks participants to judge whether a sentence matches what they previously read or heard.
- It’s used to determine which aspects of a sentence (meaning vs. exact wording) are retained in memory.
Aphasia
A language disorder caused by brain damage, resulting in impairments in speaking, understanding, reading, or writing.
Arbitrariness
The principle that there is no inherent connection between the sounds or words of a language and the meanings they represent.
Broca’s Aphasia
A type of aphasia characterized by difficulty in producing fluent and grammatically correct speech.
Center-embedded Sentence
A sentence in which one clause is embedded within another clause.
Constituent
A basic unit in a sentence’s surface structure, representing a meaningful grouping of words.
Deep Structure
The underlying meaning of a sentence.
Displacement
The ability of language to communicate about things that are not present in time or space.
Garden-path Sentence
A sentence with a transient ambiguity that leads the reader to initially make an incorrect interpretation.
Generativity
The ability to use a limited number of words and grammatical rules to produce an infinite variety of novel expressions.
Immediacy of Interpretation
The principle that people attempt to extract meaning from each word as it arrives, rather than waiting for the end of a sentence or phrase.
Inference
A conclusion or interpretation that is drawn from available evidence or information.
Linguistic Universals
Features or properties that are common to all human languages.
Morphology
The study of the internal structure of words and how they are formed.
