Language from reading

Language

a system of communicating with other using signals combined according to rules of grammar that convey meaning/

grammar

Rules that govern the structure and use of language, including syntax, punctuation, and spelling.

Phoneme

the smallest unit of sound that is recognizable as speech rather than as random noise

Phonological rules

rules that dictate how phonemes can be combined to produce speech sounds

morphemes

smallest meaningful units of language

morphological

a set rules that dictate how morphemes can be used to create words

content morphemes

refers to things and events

function morphemes

grammatical functions such as trying sentences together

syntactical rules

set of rules that indicate how words can be combined to form phrases and sentences

deep structure

the meaning of a sentence

surface structure

how a sentence is worded

telegraphic speech

speech that is a devoid of function morphemes and consists mostly of content words

nativist theory

the view that language development is best explained as an innate, biological capacity

language acquisition device (LAD)

a collections of processes that facilitate language learning

genetic dysphasia

a syndrome characterized an inability to learn the grammatical structure of language despite having otherwise.

aphasia

difficulty in producing or comprehending language (associated w/damage to Broca’s area)

bilingual alter brain structure

increases gray matter in brain when learning a second language early in life

linguistic relativity hypothesis

the proposal that language shapes the nature of thought

concept

a mental representation that groups or categories shared features of related objects, events or other stimuli

family resemblance theory

the concept that members of a category have feature that appear to be characterisitic of a category have features that appear to be characteristic of category members but may not be possessed by every member

prototype

the best or most typical member of a catory

exemplar theory

a theory of categorization, that argues that we make categories by comparing a new instance with stored memories of other instances

category specific deficit

a neurological syndrome that is characterized by an inability to recognize objects that belong to a particular category, although the ability to reorganize the objects outside the category is undisturbed

rational choice theory

classical view that we make decisions by determining how likely something is to happen

availability bias

the concept that ideas are more readily available in memory judged as having accrued more frequently

herusitic

a fast and efficient strategy that may facilitate decision making but does not guarantee that a solution will be reached