PSY100Y5 Lecture Notes - Ice Cream Cone, Deep Structure And Surface Structure, Phoneme

• School: UTM
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY100Y5

Document Summary

Symbols - written or acoustical codes that make reference to and stand for real objects and actions, often displaced. Sign - a mark or movement that is used to represent something or some action. Phonemes - are the basic units of verbal language. English contains ~45, most languages vary between 20 & 80. Semantics - is the study of the meaning behind language as communication. Morphemes - are the basic units of meaning that compose linguistic communication. Humans appear to be infinitely generative in the production of novel expressions. Meaning is often implicit - sarcasm, irony, metaphor, even "make me an ice cream cone. " Syntax - involves the rules governing the use of language units in conveying meaning (the grammar). Skinner (1957) contends that language is learned like anything else, through operant conditioning. "tacts" and the association of a verbal stimulus become its foundation. Challenges to this approach: reference to class or category not specific object.