PSYA02H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Psychological Nativism, Function Word, Frontal Lobe

• School: UTSC
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYA02H3
• Professor: Steve Joordens

Document Summary

Refer to intangible things, like a unicorn. To name, categorize, describe things to ourselves when we think, which influences how. Language is a system for communicating with others using signals combined according to rules f grammar and convey meaning, Grammar is a set of rules that specify how the units of language can be combined to produce meaningful messages, Language allows to exchange information about the world, coordinate group action, and form strong social bonds. Complex structure of human language distinguishes it from simpler signaling systems. Humans use words to: knowledge is organized in brain. Relatively recent evolution, emerging from no more than 1-3 million years ago. Smallest units of sound that are recognizable as speech rather than as random noise are phonemes. Every language has phonological rules that indicate how phonemes can be combined to produce speech sounds. Phonemes are combined to make morphemes, smallest meaningful units of language.