1. Language
PSY 421 – Fall 2004

2. Overview Defining Language Language Dichotomies Studying Language
Sentence Production
Conversation
Reading
Word Recognition
Dyslexia
Writing

3. Defining Language
Set of symbols and principles for the combination of these symbols for communication and comprehension
Mental lexicon – all the words you know
- Question 3
Language is/has
Arbitrary – not representative of the concepts
Semanticity – meaningfulness
Displacement – talk about time through language
Productive – new words and letters in combination
Psycholinguistics – study of psychological processes involved in using language

4. Language Dichotomies Production vs Perception
Using and producing language = production
Hearing and comprehending language = perception
Performance vs Competence
Execution of language abilities = performance
Knowledge of language and its rules = competence

5. Studying Language Phonology – analysis of basic speech sounds
Phoneme – categories of speech sounds that are different and that change the meaning of a spoken signal
Morphology – rules for manipulating and changing phonemes to produce different words and word forms
Morpheme – smallest unit of language that carries meaning
Grammar – syntax (rules) and semantics (meaning)
Sentence Production
Conversation

6. Sentence Production
4-stage information-processing model – Levelt (1989).
Conceptualizing – not much research on this
Planning – studyg through errors
Articulating – study through errors
Slips of the tongue (speech errors)
Shift – one speech segment disappears from its appropriate location and appears elsewhere
Exchange – two segments change places
Anticipation – when a later segment replaces an earlier segment but does not disappear
Perseveration - when an earlier segment replaces a later segment but does not disappear
Deletion – leaving something out
Addition – inserting something
Substitution – something replaces an intended segment
Blend – two words combine into one
Self-monitoring – processes whereby we keep track of what we are saying and change it on line if necessary

7. Conversation
Pragmatics – practical knowledge we need to use language effectively
Structure – fairly consistent; involve turn-taking
Unwritten rules – Grice’s (1975) maxims
Quantity – say as much as you need to; not more
Quality – only speak truths
Relation – be relevant to the topic
Manner – be clear; avoid obscurity and ambiguity
Gender – Lakoff (1975)
Women tend to be more polite than men
Women use more qualifiers and tag questions at the end of sentences
Men’s conversations have more interruptions
Both genders adapt based on who they are talking to (Thomson et al. 2001)

8. Reading Mix of top-down and bottom-up processes
Eye-movements during reading
Saccades and fixations
Word skipping – predictable based on word length
Regressive saccades (10-15% of all saccades)
Perceptual span – amount of text the eyes can cover effectively to the right of any given fixation (like peripheral vision to the right) – differs with difficulty of reading material
Speed Reading – speed/accuracy tradeoff

9. Word Recognition Orthography – look of the written word
Direct Access View
Orthography provides the major route to word recognition
Words are recognized by using the written label to access the appropriate meaning and representation in memory
Indirect Access View
Word recognition goes through the phonological (sound) representation of the word prior to its identification
Has a great deal of support in the research literature

10. Dyslexia
Severe reading difficulties (and difficulties in word recognition)
Not a problem of emotion or motivation
Not a problem of intelligence
5-15% of US population
Types of Dyslexia
Surface dyslexia – have to rely on the indirect-access route to word recognition; have difficulty with words that have irregular pronunciations
Phonological dyslexia – selective inability to read pseudowords (e.g., bleer); indirect-access problem
Deep dyslexia – have surface and phonological problems in addition to semantic errors and difficulty in understanding abstract words (e.g., love)
Spelling – evidence of issues with phonological assembly
Reading is slower with more pronunciation errors for dyslexics vs. nondyslexics

11. Try this…
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deson't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

12. Writing Type of language production
Kellogg (1994) – writing is a prototype of the thinking process
Quality writing requires quality thinking
Poorly written papers indicate that you didn’t comprehend the material well
Writing is a tool for thinking – forces you to decide what you know and don’t know
Writing involves a lot of cognitive effort and metacognition
The writing process
Collecting and planning
Translating and reviewing/editing
Writing environment is also important