Highlight Notes Chapter 10

Language: General Principles and Speech Processing

1. What is Language?
Clearly describe the main design features of language.  Do dolphins have language by this definition?

Can language be taught to non-human primates?

What does it mean to say that language is “modular”? Describe a neurocognition experiment that addresses this issue.

	How do the fields of linguistics and psycholinguistics differ?

2.  Phonology: The Basic Elements of Spoken Language
What is the difference between a phone and a phoneme? What are the three dimensions on which a consonant phoneme may differ from other consonant phonemes?

Describe the concepts of coarticulation and categorical perception.  How are these terms related to the issue of invariance?  Describe the two main theories used to explain the phenomenon of invariance.

Describe individual differences research in categorical perception for language that use or do not use click consonants.

3. From Sounds to Words
What is the mental lexicon? What factors influence the speed/accuracy of mental lexical access?

It is amazing to think that we can hear individual words in a speech stream.  How do children learn to “hear” individual words in a speech stream?

What are mondegreens and what do they tell us about how people cognitively process language?

4.  Syntax and semantics.
Describe transformational grammar, the psychological plausibility of TG, and a current evaluation of this theory.

	Describe an alternative explanation of how syntax and semantics develops.

5. Sentence Planning and Production.
	Describe the four stages involved in speech production.  

Provide a theoretical account for slips of the tongue.

What structure is inherent in conversations?  How do men and women differ (if at all) when engaging in conversations?

Do all of the STOP and THINK exercises on pages 384, 395, 403, 408, 409, 411, 421, 423 and 425.
Do all of the STOP and REVIEW sections (pages 298, 392-393403, 409, 415 and 425).  Define all of the key terms on page 426-427 and try the “flashcards” found on the textbook web site.

BONUS  Language Crosswords:  using the key terms and key researchers discussed in Chapter 10, create a crossword puzzle with a minimum of 25 questions and answers. Hand in one clues and blank crossword and the corresponding answer key.  All bonus assignments for CHs 6-8, 10-12 are due last day of classes. A maximum of 3 bonus assignments will be accepted.  Bonus marks will be added to you final exam mark (whether you do the exam or paper).