Chapter 9 Key Term Vocabulary

psycholinguistics

The interdisciplinary study of how language is acquired, produced, understood, and represented in the mind

phoneme

The smallest unit of sound that can distinguish meaning in a language

morpheme

The smallest unit of meaning in a language, which may be a word or a prefix/suffix

morphology

The study of the structure and formation of words

syntax

The rules that govern the structure of sentences and the arrangement of words

grammar

A system of rules that enables us to communicate and understand language, including syntax and morphology

semantics

The study of meaning in language, including word and sentence interpretation

semantic memory

A type of long-term memory involving the capacity to recall general knowledge and facts

pragmatics

The study of how context and social factors influence language use and interpretation

surface structure

The literal word arrangement in a sentence, as opposed to the underlying meaning

deep structure

The underlying, abstract meaning of a sentence

transformational rules

Rules that convert deep structure into surface structure in sentence formation

cognitive‐functional approach

A theory that emphasizes the function of language and the cognitive processes that support language use in context

incremental interpretation

The idea that listeners interpret language input word-by-word as it is heard

on‐line language processing measures

Methods used to track real-time language processing as it happens, often during reading or listening

self‐paced reading task

A method where participants read sentences one word or phrase at a time, used to measure reading time and comprehension

lexical ambiguity

When a word has multiple meanings and the context must determine which is intended

syntactically ambiguous sentences

Sentences that can be parsed in more than one grammatical way, leading to multiple interpretations

eye‐tracker

A device that records eye movements to study how people read or view visual stimuli

good‐enough approach

The idea that people often form incomplete representations of sentences that are sufficient for understanding

heuristic

A mental shortcut or rule of thumb used to simplify decision making or language comprehension

neurolinguistics

The study of the brain mechanisms and structures that underlie language processing

aphasia

A language disorder caused by brain damage that affects speaking, understanding, reading, or writing

Broca’s area

A region in the left frontal lobe involved in speech production and grammar

Broca’s aphasia

A language disorder characterized by slow, halting speech and grammatical difficulty, with relatively good comprehension

Wernicke’s area

A region in the left temporal lobe involved in language comprehension

Wernicke’s aphasia

A language disorder marked by fluent but nonsensical speech and poor comprehension

Stroop effect

A delay in reaction time when the color of the word and the word itself are incongruent, demonstrating interference in processing

language‐localizer task

A neuroimaging task used to identify brain regions specialized for language processing

lateralization

The tendency for certain cognitive functions to be more dominant in one hemisphere of the brain, especially language in the left hemisphere

mirror system

A network of neurons that respond both when an action is performed and when it is observed, potentially involved in language learning and empathy

saccadic eye movement

A rapid eye movement between fixations during reading or visual scanning

fovea

The central part of the retina with the highest visual acuity, where visual input is sharpest

fixation

A moment when the eyes pause to take in visual information during reading

perceptual span

The number of letters and words perceived during a single fixation in reading

parafoveal preview

The ability to obtain some visual information from words just outside the foveal focus before directly fixating on them

regressions

Eye movements that go backward in text, usually to reprocess misunderstood material

dual‐route approach to reading

The theory that reading involves two pathways: one direct for familiar words and one indirect that uses phonological decoding

direct‐access route

The pathway where readers recognize a word by sight and access its meaning directly without sounding it out

indirect‐access route

The pathway where readers convert written letters into sounds (phonology) before accessing word meaning

whole‐word approach

A method of reading instruction focusing on recognizing entire words by sight

phonics approach

A reading method that emphasizes teaching the relationship between letters and their sounds

whole‐language approach

A reading instruction philosophy that promotes learning words and meaning in context through literature and real-life experiences