lecture recording on 02 December 2024 at 12.30.15 PM

Study of Human Sounds

  • Focuses on the sounds humans make and how they classify these sounds within a system.

  • Highlights that not all possible human sounds are used in every language.

    • Example: Approximately 14 sounds are not utilized in English.

Communication without Meaning

  • Some sounds do not carry inherent meaning and often serve a direct communicative purpose.

  • Stating "I am hearing you" can be represented by various phrases that ultimately convey the same sentiment.

Importance of Language in Development

  • Language is crucial for understanding how children develop language skills.

  • Recognizing this development is significant for broader educational and psychological contexts.

Clauses and Sentence Structure

Independent Clauses

  • Can stand alone as complete sentences.

    • Example: "She runs fast."

Dependent Clauses

  • Cannot stand alone and depend on an independent clause for meaning.

    • Example: "Because she runs fast."

Constituency

  • Refers to the organization of words into larger meaningful units called constituents.

Agreement

  • Addresses how elements in sentences must correspond with each other.

    • Focuses on agreement in terms of number, gender, etc.

Form of Meaning

  • Discusses the relationship between sentence structure and its conveyed ideas.

    • Example: "The cat chases the mouse" vs. "The mouse chases the cat" conveys different meanings due to word arrangement.

Universal Grammar

  • Suggests all languages have fundamental grammatical structures, including pronouns.

  • Highlights the commonality of language features across different communities.

Transformational Grammar

Surface Structure

  • The structure of sentences as they are produced or written in specific forms.

Deep Structure

  • The abstract grammatical rules and meanings that underlying ideas convey to a native speaker.

    • Example: Understanding "The match takes the cap" relies on deep structure knowledge even if the sentence is nonsensical.

Application in Graduate School

  • For applying to graduate programs:

    • Compile data including university name, program degree, and relevant GPA or GRE scores.

    • Understand the requirements for recommendation letters (e.g., whether they must be sent in paper form).

Career Paths in Psychology

  • Discusses different branches within the field:

    • Research Psychology

    • Mental Health Psychology

    • Clinical Psychology