Greg Detre
Monday, 09 October, 2000
Psych Lecture C
what is the appropriate vocab/level of analysis for the process of sound-to-meaning?
and how do children crack the code?
psycholinguistics � acquisition, mature state + atrophy (in ageing + disorders) of language
speech articulators � delicate control of sound
different (non-verbal) forms which language can take
speech spectogram - gaps of energy within words as well as between them, and different frequencies and bands of energy
are there clearcut differences which allow us to uniquely identify different sounds?
linguistics � processes of comprehension, or describing what it is to know a language
multi-level structure of language
phonology � what constitutes a legitimate sound (sequence) in a language
semantics � meaning, the way that words relate to each other in a language
morpho-syntax � grammar: how to put the words together to make up sentences, and how to inflect and derive individual words
pragmatics � language use and language world relations (commands, promises, lies = universal to language use?), how adults come to use language in particular ways, labels vs objects
difference between goals of linguistics vs experimental psycholinguistics (nature of the processes underlying comprehension + production)
experimental evidence
structure sensitivity
processing costs
bilingualism
neural vs cognitive processing of language???
disorders - look at how the problem domain itself fractionates
language learning � one of the Seven Miracles of the Mind???
poverty of language stimulus to children � it�s like trying to see the Good from the Platonic shadows on the Cave � Chomsky�s Universal Grammar (underestimates the degree to which the child�s environment is structured)
there is clearly a genetic disposition to learn language, but also considerable plasticity (brain-damaged children will show very different language localisation in the cortex)
language as related to cognitive development