1 / 136

Language

Language. Language. Definition Taxonomy Perception Critical Window & Stages of Development Language in Animals. Definition of Language. Communication : transfer of information between individuals

makridge
Download Presentation

Language

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Language

  2. Language • Definition • Taxonomy • Perception • Critical Window & Stages of Development • Language in Animals

  3. Definition of Language • Communication: transfer of information between individuals • Arbitrary: no relationship between the symbols (words) used to represent an object and the object • Structured: the pattern of the symbols is meaningful. • Two kinds of patterns to think about • Morphological structures (e.g., Latin, Arabic) • Syntax e.g., the boy ran from the angry dog the boy ran from the dog angry

  4. Definition of Language • Generative: The basic units can be used to build a limitless number of meanings. • Dynamic: Languages change by word absorption, and grammar rules shift.

  5. Definitions of Language • Critical period • Developmental stages • Pattern of cognitive ability • Recursive or Self-Reflexive • The dog is chasing its tail • It’s cold outside, isn’t it? • Displaced reference: Language can refer to things not present in the here and now • The ancient Greeks deduced the size of the Earth, Moon and Sun, and the distances amongst each, using simple geometry.

  6. Recursion: automatic self-pointing repetition – two mirrors reflecting each other • Self-reference: is about information – using information in a system for the system. • Unraveling a hose by running water through it. • Self-reflexive: is about process – using a process in a system to fix the same process. • Using the water in a fire hose to put out the fire on the hose.

  7. Language • Definition • Taxonomy • Perception • Critical Window & Stages of Development • Language in Animals

  8. Taxonomy of Language • Phonemes • the smallest units of sound that are considered part of the language • one letter like /t/ will have several variants the are aspirant or percussive (or non-aspirant) which are called allophones.

  9. Phoneme (phonemic) • Speech sound represented by a single symbol • letters • Contain no meaning • Phonemic differences do change the meaning of a word • About 200 phonemes across all known languages • 44 in English

  10. Vowels • Vocal tract is open • Formed by varying placement of the tongue • Vertical: high – mid – low • Horizontal: front – central – back

  11. /p/ • Perceiving phonemes Despite coarticulation…. • Categorical Perception • Tendency to perceive phones within a phoneme category as the same • Phonemes are invariant across different contexts /p/at /p/et /p/it /p/ot /p/ut

  12. Taxonomy of Language • English has 44 phonemes, World average is 31 • 70% of World’s between 20 and 37 • Fewest is 11 (Rotakas, Indo-Pacific L.) • Most is 141 (!Xu, southern Africa) • Minimum number of vowels: 3, eg. Arabic • Some have 24 vowels • 13 language have more than 16 vowels, • most languages have about 5 vowels • English has around 11-12 vowels

  13. Taxonomy of Language • Morphemes • String phonemes together and you get morphemes, the smallest units of meaning like /dog/ which is one morpheme or /doggy/ which is two. • There are plural morphemes like /s/, /z/, /zez/ or tense morphemes like /t/, /d/. There are irregular patterns for plurals which any native listener would be able to recognize when hearing them for the first time.

  14. Taxonomy of Language Man-eating Shark • Syntax – Word order in sentences – Native speakers know what is not grammatical even if they have never heard the sentence before. – Hierarchical structure • Subject – Object – Verb (Japanese, Maninka) • Subject – Verb – Object (English, Spanish) • Verb – Subject – Object (Jacaltec, Gaelic) • Verb – Object – Subject (Malagasy, Madag.; Huave, Mx) • Object – Subject – Verb (Xavante) Man Eating Shark

  15. Taxonomy of Language • Suprasegmentals – • Pitch, amplitude, duration, Cadence of sentences • Prosody, information conveyed through tone • Onomatopoeia , • eg. Umph, ouch, • /woof/ in English, /a-wau/ in Arabic

  16. Language • Definition • Taxonomy • Perception (Bottom-Up / Top-Down) • Critical Window & Stages of Development • Language in Animals

  17. Phonology: The Sounds of Language • Analysis of the basic speech sounds • / / represents the sound, apart from spelling • Acoustic structure can be viewed with the use of a speech spectrograph, which produces a spectogram • Plots sound waves of differing frequencies that result from speech

  18. Sound spectrogram

  19. Formants Peak in the speech spectrum. With resonant peaks below. Vowels have distances between the highest peak frequency and the lower peak frequencies. Labeled by number, from lowest to highest (F1, F2, F3) Different Vowels have different (proportional) distances

  20. Formants Peak in the speech spectrum. With resonant peaks below. Vowels have distances between the highest peak frequency and the lower peak frequencies. Labeled by number, from lowest to highest (F1, F2, F3) Different Vowels have different (proportional) distances

  21. Phonemes also differ by suprasegmental factors • Rate, stress, and intonation • Coarticulation • A given phoneme sounds different depending on neighboring phonemes • Phonemes are articulated simultaneously

  22. Bottom-Up / Top-Down

  23. Bottom-Up: McGurk Effect • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73LE1vKGfy4&feature=related

  24. Bottom-Up: McGurk Effect • Lip movements to one sound “ga” • Soundtrack indicates “ba” • What do you hear? • McGurk & MacDonald (1976) found that people make a comprised sound “da” • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73LE1vKGfy4&feature=related

  25. Bottom-Up Uses Bayesian Integration • Bayesian probability uses prior likelihoods • Wave patterns (formants) /Ba/ /Da/ & /Ga/ exist on a continuous spectrum • But we perceive abrupt boundaries between formants. How? • Partially, by experience within one modality. Spectrogram of vowels that sound differently due to surrounding sounds Spectrogram of pure vowel sounds

  26. Bottom-Up Uses Bayesian Integration • But we perceive abrupt boundaries between formants. How? • Partially, by Bayesian integration across modalities Prob of detecting Ba Hi: AudBa+ VisBa Med: AudBa only Low: AudGa +VisBa

  27. Top-Down: Phoneme Restoration Effect • Warren & Warren (1970) • It was found that the *eel was on the axle • It was found that the *eel was on the shoe • It was found that the *eel was on the orange • It was found that the *eel was on the table • * was a cough but it was heard as the missing phoneme implied by the context

  28. Top-Down: Word Superiority Effect

  29. Demonstration Based on Reicher (1969) • On the next several slides, a row of six letters will appear. • You will then see two letters, one above and one below a letter that appeared • Guess which of the two letters actually appeared in the appropriate location

  30. XXXXXX

  31. JBDVLM

  32. ----B- XXXXXX ----L-

  33. XXXXXX

  34. SOKDHR

  35. --K--- XXXXXX --R---

  36. XXXXXX

  37. FATHER

  38. ---T-- XXXXXX ---H--

  39. XXXXXX

  40. CGZIFW

  41. ----F- XXXXXX ----G-

  42. XXXXXX

  43. POSTER

  44. --R--- XXXXXX --S---

  45. XXXXXX

  46. RCHUQV

  47. --H--- XXXXXX --U---

  48. XXXXXX

  49. STRIPE

More Related