PSY 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Speed Reading, Sign Language, Vocal Tract

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 102
• Professor: Kosha Bramesfeld

Document Summary

What is language: language a largely arbitrary system of communication that combines symbols (such as words or gestures) in rule-based ways to create meaning. Maintaining relationships: language is highly practiced and automatic, language develops early. ________________: prefer speech to non speech, recognize native language(s). ________________: recognize own name and simple words (mommy, daddy) ________________: combine words into meaningful phrases (more juice) Language involves five areas of the cortex! Language involves four levels of analysis: phonemes the sounds of our language, morphemes the smallest units of meaning (semantics, syntax grammatical rules, extralinguistic information context & interpretation. Phonemes sounds produced by elements of our vocal tract. ~ 100 phonemes across the world (~ 40-45 in english) Babies < 10 months share same basic phoneme category. Babies > 10 months phonemes resembles native language. Morphemes: morphemes smallest meaningful unit of speech, babies understand morphemes starting ~ 6 months of age, babies produce first morphemes ~ 12 months of age.