psycholinguistic models of language

for exam

What is conceptualisation?

Deciding what you want to say, based on context, memory, and past experience.

What is macroplanning?

Choosing the main ideas to express.

What is microplanning?

Deciding how to say it — what focus, tone, or structure to use.

What happens during verbal encoding?

Picking words and building grammar and sound structures.

What is articulation?

Physically saying the words using the mouth and speech muscles.

What is episodic memory?

Memory of events (who, what, where).

What is semantic memory?

Memory of meanings and facts.

What is procedural memory?

Memory of how to do things (like ride a bike or speak).

What is top-down processing?

Using background knowledge to understand language.

What is bottom-up processing?

Starting with sounds or letters and building up to meaning.

What are the three main components of Levelt’s model?

• Conceptualiser – forms message intent; monitors output

• Formulator – applies grammar and phonology; builds structure

• Articulator – executes motor plan for speech

What are lemmas and what do they do? (levelt’s model)

Lemmas are words in the mental lexicon with meaning and syntactic rules, used during grammatical encoding.

What does phonological encoding involve? (level’ts model)

Accessing the sound structure of words and preparing the speech plan (intonation, stress, sequencing).

What is self-monitoring in Levelt’s model?

Reviewing and correcting your own speech, usually at the conceptualiser level, using feedback and parsing (pulling apart input for meaning).

How does speech comprehension occur in Levelt’s model?

• Signal enters via hearing

• Phonological decoding happens

• Words are matched to meanings and grammar

• Conceptualiser interprets meaning and repairs misunderstandings

What is self-monitoring?

Checking and correcting your own speech.

What is parsing?

Breaking speech into parts to understand it.

What does the speech comprehension system do?

Turns sound into meaning using hearing, sound decoding, and word knowledge.

What are the 3 stages in Stackhouse & Wells’ speech production model?

• Input processing – hearing, recognising, discriminating sounds

• Representation – mental storage of phonology, semantics, motor programs

• Output processing – motor programming, planning, articulation

What is phonetic discrimination and why is it important? (S&W model)

Telling apart similar sounds; crucial for accurate speech and common breakdown point (e.g. in accents or disorders).

What are 2 key differences between Levelt’s model and Stackhouse & Wells’?

• Levelt: Explains adult, sentence-level speech; includes conceptualisation and self-monitoring.

• S&W: Focuses on children and single-word production; includes stored motor programs.

What do the two models have in common?

• Both show input/output pathways

• Both transform information across stages

• Both distinguish phonological and semantic word representations

Who is Levelt's model for?

Adults and sentence-level speech.

Who is Stackhouse & Wells' model for?

Children and single-word speech.

What do both models share?

Input and output stages, and word meaning and sound storage.

What other factors affect language?

Attention, memory, motivation, anxiety, and perception.