PSYC 251 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Transformational Grammar, Generative Grammar, Deep Structure And Surface Structure
22 Jun 2018
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Ch.7 Language
ď‚· Language
o Systematic means of communicating information by the use of conventionalized
sounds, gestures, marks, or signals having understood meanings
o The function of human language is to influence people's behaviour by changing what
they know, think, believe or desire
o Problem
 How to efficiently and expressively communicate information
o Importance
 Language is the bass of society
 It allows us to interact with eachother in a way that goes beyond out
immediate surroundings
o Challenge
 The power of language lies in he seemingly conflicting needs for it to be shared
between people and yet capable of expressing novel ideas
ď‚· Power of Human Language
o Coomunicates information quickly
o Facilitates an interactive social network
o Storres knowledge outside individuals
o Allows wisdom to accure over generations
o Refers to any time or place, real or imaginary
o Enables creative expression, due to generativity and compositionality
Language Organization
ď‚· Sentence -> Phrase -> Word -> Morpheme -> Phoneme
ď‚· Phonemes
o Smallest unit of percieved speech
o Different phonemes in different languages
 /l/ vs. /r/ english but not japanese
 tonal differences (eg. chinesse)
 cllick sounds (eg. Xhosa)
o 10-150 per language
 ~44 (english), ~11 (Rotokas), ~109 West !Xoon
o Phonology: language specific rules for combining
 "pritos" okay, "fpitos" not okay
ď‚· Morphemes
o Smallest unit that signals meaning
o Combinations of phonemes
o prefixes, suffixes, roots, or entire words
o Many thousand per language
o Morphology: language specific rules for combination
 Plural in English (cat -> cats), Latvian (kakis -> kaki)
ď‚· Words
Document Summary
How to efficiently and expressively communicate information. It allows us to interact with eachother in a way that goes beyond out immediate surroundings: challenge. The power of language lies in he seemingly conflicting needs for it to be shared between people and yet capable of expressing novel ideas. Sentence -> phrase -> word -> morpheme -> phoneme. Phonemes: smallest unit of percieved speech, different phonemes in different languages. /l/ vs. /r/ english but not japanese tonal differences (eg. chinesse) cllick sounds (eg. xhosa: 10-150 per language. ~44 (english), ~11 (rotokas), ~109 west !xoon: phonology: language specific rules for combining. Morphemes: smallest unit that signals meaning, combinations of phonemes, prefixes, suffixes, roots, or entire words, many thousand per language, morphology: language specific rules for combination. Plural in english (cat -> cats), latvian (kakis -> kaki) Words: smallest stand alone units of meaning, combinations of one or more morphemes, tens or hundrerds of thousands per language, syntax: angueage specific rules apply.
