PSYCH207 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Linguistic Competence, Morpheme, Psycholinguistics
1
Chapter 9: Language
▪ Language is used as a communication system but there are other communication systems that
do’t for true laguages.
o Ex bees do dance to communicate where honey is
o the dae a ol ifor the other ees aout the food, it a’t tell the ho good it is
o only sends specific messages
o bees lack arbitrariness
Language has two characteristics:
1. it is regular (governed by a system of rules, called grammar
Grammar – a sste of rules that produes ell fored, or legal, etities, suh as setees of a
language
2. it is productive, meaning that infinite combinations of things can be expressed it in
Human language includes…
▪ arbitrariness (lack of a necessary resemblance between a word or sentence and what it refers to)
▪ discreteness (the system can be subdivided in to recognizable parts – for example, sentences into
words, words into sounds
The Structure of Language
Phonemes – the smallest unit of sounds that makes a meaningful difference in a given language
Ex. Mat vs Cat → changing m to c
▪ have to put the sounds together in some coherent way. Identifying the meaning units of
language, an aspect known as morphology
Morpheme – smallest meaningful units of language
Ex. Take vs Taking → has 2 morphemes take to taking creates 2 meanings
Syntax – rule for how to put together sentences and phrases
E. “ujet er ojet “VO The Girls ill hit the o
▪ sentence must mean something to the listener
Semantics – is the branch of linguistics and psycholinguistics devoted to the study of meaning
▪ for a conversation to work there must be some flow or give and take
▪ listeners must pay attention and make certain assumptions, and speakers must craft their own
their contributions in ways that will make the listeners job feasible
Pragmatics – the rules governing the social aspects of language
▪ our knowledge of the rules is therefore not explicit (we cannot articulate what all the rules are, nor
are we consciously aware of all of them)
▪ but implicit (Whatever the rules are, we somehow follow them)
Linguistic competence – underlying knowledge that allows a cognitive processor to engage in a
particular cognitive activity involving language, independent of behaviour expressing that knowledge
▪ competence refers to underlying linguistic knowledge that lets people produce and
comprehend their language
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Document Summary
Chapter 9: language: language is used as a communication system but there are other communication systems that do(cid:374)"t for(cid:373) true la(cid:374)guages. Ex bees do dance to communicate where honey is: the da(cid:374)(cid:272)e (cid:272)a(cid:374) o(cid:374)l(cid:455) i(cid:374)for(cid:373) the other (cid:271)ees a(cid:271)out the food, it (cid:272)a(cid:374)"t tell the(cid:373) ho(cid:449) good it is, only sends specific messages, bees lack arbitrariness. Language has two characteristics: it is regular (governed by a system of rules, called grammar. Grammar a s(cid:455)ste(cid:373) of rules that produ(cid:272)es (cid:449)ell for(cid:373)ed, or (cid:862)legal,(cid:863) e(cid:374)tities, su(cid:272)h as se(cid:374)te(cid:374)(cid:272)es of a language: it is productive, meaning that infinite combinations of things can be expressed it in. Human language includes arbitrariness (lack of a necessary resemblance between a word or sentence and what it refers to: discreteness (the system can be subdivided in to recognizable parts for example, sentences into words, words into sounds. Phonemes the smallest unit of sounds that makes a meaningful difference in a given language.