Language

Question 1

How many languages are there?

Answer 1

Over 7000

Question 2

When do we start learning language?

Answer 2

In the first year of our life.

Question 3

Phonetics

Answer 3

Describes the physical nature of the speech signal

Question 4

Phonology

Answer 4

Relates to the sound structure of language

Phonemes are speech sounds and the smallest units that distinguish meaning in a given
language

Question 5

Morphology

Answer 5

Relates to morphemes, the smallest meaning-bearing units

Morphemes can be words in themselves (e.g. cat) or they can combine to create words (e.g.
beauti-ful; umpire-s; eat-ing; bed-room; police-man …)

Question 6

Syntax

Answer 6

Relates to the combination of meaningful units (morphemes
and words) to create sentences

In linguistics, “syntax” refers to the rules governing how words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences.

Question 7

Compositionality

Answer 7

Meaning of a larger unit is a function of the meanings of its component parts as well as the nature of their combination

Question 8

Semantics

Answer 8

Relates to the meaning of linguistic units

literal meaning of words, phrases, and sentences. It explores how meaning is structured, interpreted, and represented in language.

Question 9

Pragmatics

Answer 9

Relates to language use

It’s about implied meaning, tone, and situational nuances.

Question 10

Uniqueness point

Answer 10

the brain
begins to dissociate real
words from word-like
stimuli (“pseudowords”)
after 50 ms of stimulus
uniqueness point

Question 11

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs)

Answer 11

small changes in the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain that are time-locked to cognitive or sensory events
Classified via:
* latency (time after stimulus onset)
* topography (which electrodes?)
* polarity (negative or positive relative to a control
condition)
* amplitude (“strength“)

N.B. These measures are always relative to a control
condition!

Question 12

electroencephalogram (EEG)

Answer 12

An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a non-invasive test that records electrical activity in the brain.

Question 13

N400

Answer 13

The N400 is a component of time-locked EEG signals known as event-related potentials (ERP). It is a negative-going deflection that peaks around 400 milliseconds post-stimulus onset, although it can extend from 250-500 ms.

Question 14

Characteristics of language comprehension

Answer 14

• Speed and incrementality
• language understanding is fast and incremental (i.e. it proceeds step-by-step)
• Target of comprehension: a complex interpretation
• speech stream —> complex meaning
• Ambiguity
• in language, the incoming signal is ambiguous (underdefined) at all levels
• not simply a matter of mapping the physical input to an interpretation

Question 15

Speed a word is interpreted

Answer 15

500ms after the onset of a word, maybe faster

Question 16

Cues used to determine beginning and ending of words in speech

Answer 16

• sound combinations (likelihood of a particular sound sequence in a given language)
• speech rhythm
• word predictability

Question 17

Why not wait for speech to finish to deal with ambiguity? Why process meaning as it is received?

Answer 17

rapid incremental constituent structuring reduces
the no. of chunks that must be maintained in
working memory (e.g. Frazier & Fodor, 1978)

Question 18

Early experimental evidence: speed and incrementality

Answer 18

• Shadowing: Participants repeat a sentence that they hear as quickly as possible while they’re hearing it.
• Marslen-Wilson (1975):
• participants shadowed sentences spoken at 160 words per minute, mean shadowing latencies between 250 - 750 ms.
• word restoration errors mostly when 1st syllable was
  consistent with the context;
• no delay for context restoration errors
• this was the case for all participants (including fast
  shadowers, ~250 ms)
• Findings suggests some role of prediction in the
  comprehension process

Question 19

Speed and incrementality:
predicting the type of word

Answer 19

*Expectation mismatches regarding the type of upcoming word (e.g. noun or verb) manifest themselves between 100 and 200ms post word onset

Question 20

Simplicity

Answer 20

Strategy proposed to deal with ambiguity.

Question 21

Conflict resolution

Answer 21

• When an interpretation strategy turns out to be incorrect, the system needs to reanalyse the
  input.
• In most cases, this is quick and seemingly effortless: this is why we don’t notice that we’re
  constantly processing ambiguous input!

Question 22

Incrementality

Answer 22

Incrementality is made possible by interpretation strategies (e.g. simplicity), prediction and
rapid conflict resolution; similar processes as in other cognitive domains

Evidence that speech is processed incrementally because longer sentences are remembered than strings of random words. This processing and understanding chunks speech.