Psychology of language 2020
Lecture 1
The science of Language
Definition of language:
Language = a tool for solving certain problems that all humans have and to transmit information to each
other.
A way to express yourself, your feeling, emotion, opinion with many variations.
Language happens automatically and each human speaks at least one language fluently.
A system of form-meaning pairings that can be used to intentionally communicate meaning
System: there is structure to the madness
Form-meaning pairings: of different size, at various levels or specificity
Use: different modalities, production and perception
Intentionally: producer want to achieve something
Communicate meaning: various communicative goals
Spoken language is the starting point of language. Children start with learning spoken language. Not all
language is informative. Could be emotional, convincing, persuading etc.
Language as a system
Usually thought of as ‘rules’, but (psycho)linguists are not prescriptivists. We describe and try to
understand and perhaps predict systematicities at different levels: sounds, words, phrases, clauses,
sentences
Form-meaning pairings
The form in form-meaning pairings are sounds, signs, letters where the meaning is fixed. A chair is
always a chair, for example.
• The intuitive form-meaning unit is a word, but we will see that there are units of different sizes:
• Some units are smaller than words; Un- in unpleasant
• Some units are bigger than words: Work hard, strong coffee (and not work strong, hard coffee)
• Some unites are larger and do have flexibility; The X-er the Y-er (the sooner the better; the
more you pay attention, the more you’ll remember)
Language use
• Language is spoken and heard, signed and seen, and written and read.
• Language is acquired, learned, and sometimes forgotten or lost.
,Psychology of language looks at the mental processing.
Type of data this field looks into; (evidence)
- Actual language use (production and perception)
- Language processing data; eye tracking, brain activity
- Behaviour as influenced by language
- Attitudinal measures
- Errors, problems in language use
International communication
• We know that we can use language
• We don’t necessarily know how we do it: there is much about which we are unaware (how do you
move your tongue when you speak?)
Communicating meaning
• We use language to exchange information, to express emotions, to convince others etc.
• This makes language very relevant for students of communication sciences
Linguistics-the study of language
Language can be studied in a number of different ways, at different levels and with different foci
• Phonetics (the study of raw sounds)
• Phonology (the study of how sounds are used within a language)
• Morphology (the study of words and word formation)
• Semantics (the study of meaning)
• Syntax (the study of word order)
• Pragmatics (the study of language use)
• Discourse studies (the study of language in interaction)
… and this is not an exhaustive list
Components of language
List goes from stores in lexicon to generated using grammar
- Phonemes: minimal units of sound
- Syllables: sequence of phonemes
- Morphemes: smallest meaningful unit (can be a single letter -s)
- Words: have meaning in isolation
- Phrases/clauses
- Sentences: convey a complete thought
Psychology of language
• The study of language in mind and brain
• Focus on acquiring and processing language
• Often from a cognitive point of view (memory, perspective etc.)
• Approaching language from a functional perspective
Evidence
If this is the field of study, what types of evidence would we need and value when we research it?
• Actual language use (production and perception)
, • Language processing data: eye tracking, brain activity
• Behavior as influenced by language
• Attitudinal measures
• Errors, problems in language use
Lots of experimental data (e.g. reaction times in lexical decision tasks)
• Tightly controlled for many factors, but…
• Not very realistic / close to what people do in real life
So be critical! Keep asking yourself (and us): what does this experimental result imply for how we store
and use language?
Psycholinguistics:
A field that uses experimental methods to study the psychological machinery that drives:
• Language learning
• Language comprehension
• Language production
1. Theoretical linguistics: provide detailed descriptions and analyses of the structure of language.
-patterns found in languages
-examining intricate constraints
-come up with generalizations
2. Computational linguistics: write and implement computer programs to explore
Word list:
Theoretical linguists: provide detailed descriptions and analyses of the structure of language.
Computational linguists: write and implement computer programs to explore the data structure of
human language or to simulate how humans might learn and use language.
Neurolinguists and cognitive neuroscientists: study the brain and how this complex organ carries out
the mental operations that are required for learning or using language.
Biolinguists: look deeply into our biological makeup to understand why our species seems to be the only
one to use language to communicate
Language typologists are like naturalists, collecting data samples from many different modern
languages, and historical linguists are like archeologists, reconstructing extinct ancestors and
establishing the connections and relationships among existing languages.
Psycholinguistics: The study of the psychological factors involved in the perception, production, and
acquisition of language.
, Lecture 2
Origins of Human Language
Language is one of the few things about us that
appears to be a true defining feature of what it
means to be human
Nativism:
“the view that not only are humans genetically programmed to have a general capacity for language,
particular aspects of language ability are also genetically specified”
➔ Yes+yes in table
➔ Actually not the case
Is language uniquely human?
Depends on the definition of language
Lots of studies looking at animals (dances, songs, can communicate, request things)
➔ But do we count them as language?
Anti-nativist view
The view that the ability of humans to learn language is not the result of a genetically programmed
“language template” but is an aspect (or by-product) of our extensive cognitive abilities, including
general abilities of learning and memory
Hockett: shares an anti-nativist overview of characteristics all human languages share.
Primate vocalizations → Humans learn words through the process of cultural transmission, but velvets
learn by being genetically wired to make specific sounds that are associated with specific meanings.
Evolutionary adaptation → a genetically transmitted trait (trekje) that gives its bearers an advantage.
Specifically, it helps those with the trait to stay alive long enough to reproduce and/ or to have many
offspring.
Differences between apes and humans
Human Apes
When looking at children, language is universally Apes. Primates and dolphins do not learn a
learned (some restrictions) language is not something all animals learn
Children experiment and innovate Apes copy
Children babble, make sound Apes do not babble
Language becomes more complex Signs are repeated (repetition)
Grammatical rules are consistent Grammatical rules are inconsistent
Use of words to comment and express Use signs and tools
Do not interrupt. People take in communicating. Do interrupt
One produces, ne perceives
