PSY315H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Noun Phrase, Verb Phrase, Bound And Unbound Morphemes
Document Summary
Children start to combine words: between 18 months and 2 years. Some features of adult"s knowledge of language structure. Productivity or generativity of language: speakers and hearers have the capacity to produce and understand an infinite number of novel sentences. Syntax: governs the ordering of words in sentences. Sentence john + kissed + mary: it generates only one sentence, if each rule generates only one sentence, the grammar amounts to no more than a list content. Nature of sentences: hierarchical structure, sentences are accounted for by one set of rules: Sentence noun phrase + verb phrase. Verb phrase verb + (noun phrase) Noun phrase (determiner) + (adjective) + noun: brackets mean optional. Morphology: units that are combined in language: morphemes: smallest units of meaning, bound morpheme: plurality of the noun of sentences. Sentence agent of action + action + recipient of action: allows a productive system.