Lecture: Psycholinguistics Professor Dr. Neal R. Norrick _____________________________________

1
Lecture Psycholinguistics Professor Dr. Neal R.
Norrick_____________________________________

• Psycholinguistics

• Universität des Saarlandes
• Dept. 4.3 English Linguistics
• SS 2009

2
1. Introduction

• Psycholinguistics the study of language
  and mind
• mind versus brain
• mind as understanding, senses, spirit, psyche
• mind as total of cognitive capacities

3

• Psycholinguistics is
• study of language production comprehension
• reflecting distinction of
• competence versus performance
• Psycholinguistics versus neighbor disciplines
• Sociolinguistics, Neurolinguistics,
• Cognitive Linguistics

4

• 2. Biological foundations of speech
• 2.1 Organs of speech
• humans have no specific organs of speech,
• but we find specialization for speech in
• many parts of system

5
(No Transcript)
6

• 2.2 Nervous system
• central versus peripheral
• descending, versus ascending,
• motor sensory
• but both systems function together in
• complex activity, so that brain gets
• feedback on effects
• nerve development from birth to two years
• reflects growth in motor and language skills

7

• special areas of brain for language skills
• organization of perception, language
• and articulation in the brain

8
motor cortex
9

• 2.3 Brain Lateralization
• specialization of function in left and right
• hemispheres as part of evolutionary
• development in brain
• still, corpus callosum connects the two
• hemispheres

10

• 3. Linguistics and mental entities
• 3.1 Words and concepts
• word meaning as mental image
• words as signs of concepts, labels for concepts
• concepts might be figures, images, models etc
• concepts include perceptual and functional
• information

11
Miller Johnson-Laird's concept
12

• 3.2 Sounds and phonemes
• phonemes as psychologically real entities
• abstract phoneme /p/
• versus positionally variant allophones
• aspirated ph word-initial, as in pill
• preglottalized ?p word-final, as in lip
• unaspirated p- after initial s, as in spill

13

• these allophones are predictable variants
• they don't distinguish meanings
• ability to distinguish meanings defines
• phonemes
• hence minimal pair test
• pill - bill

14

• but experiments show
• words are recognized faster than phonemes
• we recognize the letter b and the sound /b/
• faster in the word bat than in isolation
• words are more salient than phonemes
• suprasegmental features are also
• psychologically salient

15

• intonation distinguishes statements
• and questions
• Sally's here. versus Sally's here?
• stress focuses on any constituent in questions
• Sally gave the new car to Judy today?
• can question whether it was Sally (not Suzy),
• whether she gave (not loaned) the car,
• whether it was the new (not the old) car etc

16

• 3.4 Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
• Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis sees language and
• human cognition as related in non-arbitrary
• ways
• Sapir 1921, 1929, 1949, Whorf 1950, 1956
• proposed a relationship between language,
• meaning, culture, and personality, generally
• called the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

17

• The strong version of the hypothesis says
• our language determines our perception. We
• see the things and processes our language
• has names for and ignore or cannot see
• what our language doesn't name.
• The weak version of the hypothesis says our
• language influences our perception. We attend
• to the things and processes our language has
• names for and tend to ignore or find it difficult
  to
• attend to what our language doesn't name.

18

• Slobin's thinking for speaking notes that any
• language system enforces certain choices in
• grammar and lexis, no matter how our underlying
• thought patterns work,

19

• Compare
• I like it, mir gefällt es,
• mi piace, I'm cold,
• mich friert, mir ist kalt,
• isch hann kalt, j'ai froid
• If we must always attend to certain distinctions
• and ignore others, in speaking and thinking,
• shouldn't that influence the way we think?

20

• 4. Words in the Mental Lexicon
• Mental Lexicon versus dictionary
• words accessible via sound, meaning,
• related words
• Mental Lexicon versus encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia contains all kinds of knowledge,
• usually unnecessary for normal word use,
• e.g. for dog

21

• 4.1 Word Association Tests (WATs)
• Experiments show
• we recognize concrete words like table
• faster than abstract words like trouble
• table ? chair faster, more consistent
• trouble ? bad lower, less consistent

22

• WATs also show paradigmatic versus
• syntagmatic relations
• paradigmatic apple, pear, banana, plum
• syntagmatic apple, red, juicy, eat
• in WATs
• adults respond paradigmatically pillow ? bed
• children respond syntagmatically
• pillow ? soft

23
WATs show faster recognition after associated
words we recognize roof faster after house than
after some unrelated word like apple so Lindsay
Norman (1972) postulate lexical networks
24

• 4.2 Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomena
• Thinking on Tip-of-the-Tongue (TOT)
• phenomena begins with James (1890)
• James speaks of a gap that is intensively
• active in consciousness when we try to recall a
• forgotten name.
• Meringer and Mayer (1895), Fromkin (1973) kept
• personal catalogues of error types to gather
  natural
• data.

25
Brown and McNeill (1966) collected intuitions on
remembering in diary studies, e.g. unable to
recall the name of the street on which a
relative lives, one of us thought of Congress
and Corinth and Concord and then looked up the
address and learned that it was Cornish.
26

• Burke et al. (1991) write, When a TOT occurs, a
• lexical node in a semantic system becomes
• activated, giving access to semantic information
• about the target word, but at least some
• phonological information remains inaccessible.
• Subjects in the TOT state often report that a
  word
• related to the target comes repeatedly and
• involuntarily to mind, yielding
  blockers,interlopers
• or persistent alternates, e.g.
• sexton or sextet for sextant

27

• Burke et al. (1991) identify a semantic system or
  
• network of nodes connecting concepts
• the concept chastity is connected with is a
  virtue,
• take a vow of etc
• the concept baker with bake bread get up
  early
• sell cakes knead dough etc

28

• 4.3 Discourse, frames, prototypes
• Cognitive linguists look at discourse contexts
  where
• words occur, e.g. if, for an item like roof,
• The house needs a new roof
• Then "house has a roof" is part of discourse
  frame
• Consider also frame effects
• We saw an old house.
• The roof was in need of repair.

29

• Consider typical collocations and metaphors
• she has no roof over her head
• - for 'no house'
• we're finally under one roof
• - for 'in the same house
• Moreover, Rosch and her co-workers have shown
• some properties are more salient than others
• some members of a category are more typical

30

• it may be impossible to define certain words
  without
• exemplification,
• e.g. colors, fruits, games etc
• instead of "a fruit is the edible part of a
  plant etc"
• we find "a fruit is like an apple, a peach or a
  banana"
• word meanings and categories are generally not
  
• defined by features or propositions, but by
• prototypes

31

• Testing for prototypes
• A. Ask subjects to identify the most typical bird

32

• Prototype Effects
• prototype A trout is a typical fish
• marginal A tadpole is a kind of a fish
• non-member Their daughter is a regular fish
• Note real members don't fit here
• This trout is a regular fish

33

• 5. First Language Acquisition
• Natural acquisition with no special learning
  necessary
• critical period resulting from a combination of
  factors
• development of connections between nerve cells
• myelination of nerve cells

34

• lateralization of brain functions
• dominance of left hemisphere
• corresponding development of motor skills
• general cognitive stages of development
• (Piaget)

35

• 5.1 Developmental sketch
• Age Language General
• (months)
• 9 babbling crawling
• 10 first words standing,
• recurrent, maintained

36

• Age Language General
• (months)
• 11 5-10 recurrent words first steps,
• fulfills requests like recognizes
• bring me the blue ball pictures in
• show me the big red dog books
• 12 5 distinct vowels starts walking
• 5 distinct consonants

37

• Age Language General
• (months)
• 13 recognizable words running,
• daddy nein ball climbing furniture
• allgone
• 14 imitations horse, train simple puzzles,
• reduplications turns book pages
• choochoo,
• byebye, taktak clock

38

• Age Language General
• (months)
• 16 recognizes own name points to himself
• 20 words Where's Nicky?
• 18 vocabulary explosion climbs stairs
• 2-word units without rail
• ducky allgone
• Nicky haben

39

• Age Language General
• (months)
• 20 3-word units hangs on monkey
• Nicky cookie haben bars, points to
• also eyes, nose, mouth
• haben Nicky cookie

40

• Age Language General
• (months)
• 22 verb particle dramatic
• lock up / deck zu play,
• 4-word units stuffed Mami Auto fahren
  kauft animals,
• Inni gute Nacht sagen dolls

41

• Age (months) 24
• Language General
• verb endings Inni spuckt bisschen kicks
  soccer ball,
• statement Nicky auch essen plays
  hide-n-seek,
• question Nicky auch essen, ja?
  draws details
• command Nicky auch essen ears,
  tails, wheels
• word-formation cutter knife
• auskleben tear apart
• umwärts

42

• Age Language General
• (months)
• 32 first real narrative builds Legos,
• It was a wooden lamby draws people
• and it was on the floor and house
• in a barn with chimney
• and they took it home and windows
• and they washed it
• and it wasn't ugly

43

• Age (months) 36
• Phonetics
• voiced th initial okay in the this etc
• medial v in other
• voiceless th initial s in sing
• final f in both
• vocalizes final l and r
• mispronunciations amimals, cimamon, pasketti

44

• Morphology
• double plurals mens, feets, mices
• double preterites sawed, stooded
• regularized preterites goed, sitted
• reverse word-formations popcorner, mowgrasser
• Syntax
• negation I see it not, That doll sits not
  right
• questions What it did? What the lady said?
• counting 1 2 3 4 5 6 20 14 fiveteen 16

45
Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) as standard
measure of first language development as opposed
to age
46

• 5.2 Natural order of acquisition
• 5.2.1 "Why mama and papa?
• Jakobson's order for phoneme acquisition
• in babbling, children produce all kinds of
• sounds and sound combinations many
• children produce imitations after babbling
• but around age 2, children narrow their sound
• repertory and begin to produce sounds of
• their language in fixed order

47

• order reflects an attempt to create the clearest
  possible set of distinctions at any given point,
  within the given physiological limits
• this order of acquisition also reveals parallel
  
• between different languages
• most salient distinction is between Vowels (V)
  and
• Consonants (C)

48

• Vowels are characteristically open and resonant
• the prototypical V is a
• Consonants are characteristically closed and
  obstruent
• stops are prototypical Cs
• the prototypical stop is p
• the prototypical syllable is CV maximizing the
  C-V distinction, a child's first syllable should
  be pa
• ? given children's tendency to reduplication,
• a child's first real word should be papa

49

• after the Cs p and m , the child usually acquires
  t , then the third voiceless stop k and so on
• p m t k
• child moves on to ever larger patterns with
• increasing numbers of distinctive
  features

50

• 5.2.2 Order of acquisition for syntax
• at first, kids produce
• one-word utterances with holistic meaning
• two-word utterances with no fixed word order
• three-word utterances without inflections
• prepositions or other markers
• then they begin to acquire syntax

51
Brown's (1973) order of acquisition for syntax
1. present progressive girl playing
2. prepositions ball in water
3. plural toys, dishes 4. irregular past
tense went, told 5. possessive Ann's toys
6. articles a dog, the dog 7. regular past
tense jumped, hugged, wanted
52
8. regular 3rd person she goes, talks, watches
9. irregular 3rd person she does, has 10.
auxiliary be I am, you are, she is 11.
contracted auxiliary I'm, you're, she's ?
order of acquisition as reflecting general
learning strategies and stages of
development (Piaget) or as evidence of
innate language acquisition device
(Chomsky)
53

• 5.4 Innateness Debate
• Chomsky (1986 150) writes
• What we "know innately" are the principles of the
• various subsystems phonology, syntax, thematic
• structure etc. of S0 the initial state of the
  child's mind
• and the manner of their interaction, and the
• parameters associated with these principles. What
  
• we learn are the values of the parameters and the
• elements of the periphery (along with the lexicon
  to
• which similar considerations apply).

54

• That is
• We "know innately" as part of Universal Grammar
  (UG)
• that sentences will have noun phrases and verb
• phrases in some order, but we have to learn the
  order.
• ? Chomsky argues children must know innately what
  
• they can not learn by observation.

55

• Poverty of Stimulus Argument (POS)
• Some patterns in language are unlearnable from
• positive evidence alone (due to the hierarchical
• nature of languages)
• You are happy. Are you happy?
• possible rules
• 1) the first auxiliary verb in the sentence moves
  
• to the front
• 2) the main auxiliary verb in the sentence moves
• to the front

56

• but compare
• The girl who is on the bus is happy.
• Is the girl who __ on the bus is happy?
• Is the girl who is on the bus __ happy?
• Children don't see sentences like this enough to
  
• decide which rule works but nobody ever
  chooses
• the wrong rule

57

• Grammaticality judgments
• Who do you think Mary knows?
• Who do you think that Mary knows?
• Who do you think knows Mary?
• Who do you think that knows Mary?
• ? Note translations!

58

• Consider the acquisition of vocabulary
• Websters dictionary 500,000 words
• Average educated persons vocabulary 40,000
  words
• ( another 40,000 proper names, idioms, sayings)
• thus monolingual speakers acquire about 4,000
  words per year or about 10 words every day to
  age 20

59
5.5 Slobin's Operating Principles
Universals of Acquisition Whether parts of
language acquisition are innate or not,
developing kids seem to follow specific
strategies and their acquisition processes
reveal universals Operating Principles A.
Identify word units. B. Forms of words may be
systematically modified. C. Pay attention to the
ends of words. D. There are elements which
encode relations between words.
60

• Universal 1
• postposed forms learned before preposed
• forms
• articles before nouns less salient than noun
  suffixes

61
6. Second Language Acquisition 6.1
Contrastive Analysis ? growing out of work by
Fries (1945) and Weinreich (1953) most work
on Second Language Acquisition in the
40's and 50's shared the assumptions of
Contrastive Analysis (Lado 1957)
62

• Contrastive Analysis based on transfer
• from Native Language (NL) to Target Language
  (TL)
• or First Language (L1) to Second Language(L2)
• shared structures facilitate acquisition
• distinct structures cause problems
• positive transfer when L1 and L2 share
  structures
• e.g. Det Adj N structure in NP in English
• and German
• the mean dog - der böse Hund

63

• negative transfer when L1 and L2 have
• different structures
• e.g. Adv V NP in German versus
• Adv NP V in English
• Morgen fahren wir nach Hause
• Tomorrow we go home
• so research in Second Language Acquisition
• tended to revolve around comparison of
  language
• pairs

64
Language Acquisition was seen as developing a set
of habits to be practiced in accordance with
Behaviorist Theory but researchers found errors
not predictable by language differences, and the
psycholinguistic process of language acquisition
can't be described solely in terms of linguistic
products
65

• 6.2 Approximative Systems and Interlanguage
• In the 1960's, linguists rejected Behaviorism and
  
• became interested in mentalistic theories
• evidence was mounting for a third system between
• L1 and L2
• Nemser (1971) recognized an Approximative System
• for the learner with features of both L1 and L2

66

• Selinker (1972) introduced the term Interlanguage
• for this individual language system
• Interlanguages are highly variable, due to
• limited cognitive attention, given so much to
  learn
• and remember simultaneously
• Learners lack of knowledge of rules
• simultaneous pull from L1 and L2
• they represent transitional stages of development

67

• but L2 tends to fossilize at some stage, due to
• 1. Negative transfer from L1
• e.g. putting temporal Adv before locative Adv
• They went last week to Berlin.
• 2. Overgeneralization of L2 rules
• e.g. extending progressive pattern to stative
  verbs
• I'm knowing him a long time

68
6.3 Error Analysis concern with interlanguage
and errors it contains and their relation gave
rise to research in Error Analysis 1.
Researchers first look for idiosyncrasies in
learner's production
69

• Error Analysis ends up as a method of describing
  
• data, but not a psycholinguistic theory of
  language
• acquisition
• Error Analysis loses sight of the whole picture
  of
• developing competence in L2 by focusing on
  errors
• we could instead equate knowledge of L2 with
  fluency and understandability rather than lack of
  errors
• or we could instead focus on what learners do
  right
• and test to see if they do it right intuitively

70

• 6.4 Innateness, Input, Natural Order of
• Acquisition in L2
• The Innateness Debate from Child Language
  Research
• carries over to research in Second Language
  Acquisition
• Does the Language Acquisition Device (LAD) work
  for
• L2 as for L1?
• If the LAD is at work, there should be a Natural
  Order of
• Acquisition in L2 as in L1.
• Could L2 learners simply reset the parameters
  from L1?

71

• Dulay Burt (1973) posit natural order of
• acquisition in L2 parallel to what Brown (1973)
• found for L1
• at least learners with the same L1 background go
• through the same stages in acquiring L2
• 1. plural -s on nouns the books
• 2. progressive -ing on verbs they driving
• 3. forms of main verb be this is London,
• she was there

72

• 4. forms of auxiliary be she's driving
• 5. articles a and the a cat, the dog
• 6. irregular past tenses went, ate, came
• 7. 3rd person sing pres -s she waits
• 8. possessive -s Sally's truck

73

• 6.5 Krashen's Input Hypothesis and
• the Monitor Model
• Language Acquisition versus Language Learning
• ? subconscious acquisition like children's L1
• acquisition
• not affected by correction
• not based on formally learned rules

74
(No Transcript)
75

• Input Hypothesis
• We acquire i 1, the next rule along the natural
  order,
• by understanding messages containing i 1.
• (a necessary but not sufficient condition for
  acquisition)
• i current level in phonology, morphology,
  syntax, lexis

76

• 7. Bilingualism
• individual bilingualism versus societal
  bilingualism
• Compare bilingualism versus diglossia
  (Ferguson)
• balanced versus unbalanced
  bilingualism

77
dominant, usually first, native language
versus weaker, second or foreign language
(second or foreign language for special purpose)
78
7.4 Two languages in one brain 7.4.1 Types
of bilinguals Weinreich (1953) distinguished
three kinds of bilingualism

• A. Coordinate L1 and L2 acquired
• in separate contexts
• each system is complete in itself
• person functions as monolingual in both
  communities

79

• B. Compound L1 and L2 acquired in same context
• the two systems are merged
• person doesn't function as monolingual in
• either community
• person may experience interference from
• L1 to L2 and from L2 to L1

80

• C. Subordinate L2 acquired based on L1
• only one system
• person functions as monolingual only in L1
• person experiences interference only from
• L1 to L2

Notice that Weinreichs typology works only at
the lexical level, but bilinguals may experience
interference at all levels from phonetics up to
semantics.
81

• As Paradis (1979, 1985) shows, bilinguals come in
  
• many types
• Bilinguals may differ with regard to
• manner of acquisition (formal, informal)
• mode of acquisition (oral, written)
• method of acquisition
• (deductive, inductive, analytic, global)
• age of acquisition (during or after critical
  period)
• stage of acquisition
• degree of proficiency

82

• frequency and modes of use
• language-specific features of L1 L2
• sharing features and rules at various levels
• on every linguistic level, structures might be
• shared or separate
• e.g. if L1 speaker produces L2 perfectly, except
  for
• phonetics, i.e. has lots of interference from L1
  to L2
• at the level of phonetics, we could model the
• situation as follows

83

• 8. Language comprehension
• ? means understanding what we hear and read
• comprehension as active search for coherence and
• sense based on expectations arising from context,
• not a passive item-by-item recording and analysis
  of
• words in a linear sequence.

84

• meaning and real-world expectations play a more
• important role than grammar
• top-down versus bottom-up processing
• Until the age of four, kids interpret a-d the
  same way
• even adults require longer to respond to c, d
• a. The cat chased the mouse.
• b. The mouse was chased by the cat.
• c. The mouse chased the cat.
• d. The cat was chased by the mouse.

85

• 8.1 Comprehension of words
• Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP)
• separate, simultaneous and parallel processes
  work
• to identify words

86

• by pronunciation to recognize homophones
• leadN and ledV pst
• by spelling to recognize homographs
• windN and windV
• by grammar to recognize smell as noun or verb
• while hear can only function as verb
• by semantics synonyms like little and small
• antonyms like little and big
• hyponyms like car versus vehicle etc

87

• Bathtub Effect
• recall is best for beginnings and ends of words,
  like
• the head and feet of a person which are visible
• though the middle remains submerged in the tub

88

• 8.2 Comprehension of sentences
• Chomsky proposed Generative Transformational
• Grammar (TG) as a model of Competence,
• suggesting that psycholinguists should figure out
  how
• Performance could be related to his model
• Psycholinguists began to test for
  transformational
• complexity

89

• Sentences involving more transformations like
• PASSIVE, NEGATION, QUESTION FORMATION etc
• should be harder to comprehend than sentences
• involving fewer transformations
• processing time should increase for sentences
  a-e
• a. Judy called the boy.
• b. Judy didn't call the boy.
• c. The boy was called by Judy.
• d. The boy was not called by Judy.
• e. Wasn't the boy called by Judy?

90
They found that negatives were harder to process
than either passives or questions, even though
negation seemed like a simpler transformation Sub
jects seemed to have difficulty processing
negatives generally. Consider the difficulty
of It's not true that Wednesday never comes
after a day that isn't Tuesday.
91

• Subjects also processed passives more easily than
  
• actives, if the passives made more sense, e.g.
• The struggling swimmer rescued the lifeguard.
• The struggling swimmer was rescued
• by the lifeguard.
• Apparently, semantics was more important than
• derivational complexity as predicted by TG
  analysis

92
Garden Pathing is most obvious when we have to
backtrack after an unexpected switch, as in
sentence a the addition of this in sentence b,
or a comma, as in sentence c, eliminates the
problem a. Since Jay always jogs a mile
seems like a short distance to him. b. Since
Jay always jogs a mile this seems like a
short distance to him. c. Since Jay always
jogs, a mile seems like a short distance to
him.
93
Tests revealed other syntactic processing
differences. Right-branching constructions are
easy to process This is the cat that chased
the rat that stole the cheese that lay in the
cupboard. Here each construction is closed
before the next is added.
94

• But left-branching constructions are difficult.
• The rat the cat chased stole the cheese.
• Left-branching requires that the listener keep
  the first
• construction open (in short-term memory) while
• processing the second. Adding a third makes
• processing impossible because of the demands it
• places on short-term memory.
• The cheese the rat the cat chased stole lay
• in the cupboard.

95

• 8.3 Comprehension of metaphor
• metaphors consist of three parts
• tenor, vehicle, ground
• tenor vehicle
• billboards are warts on the landscape
• ground (tertium comparationis)
• 'ugly protrusions on some surface'

96

• 8.4 Comprehending sentences
• Given-New Contract (Clark Clark 1977)
• Listeners expect information in a regular
  pattern.
• Coherent texts generally exhibit a characteristic
  information flow
• begin each utterance with given information
• then move on to new information

97
e.g. The ballerina captivated a musician
during her performance. The one who the
ballerina captivated was the trombonist. (with
the ballerina as given and the rest of the first
sentence as new) In the second sentence, all
the information is given, except the fact that
the musician was a trombonist. Hearing the first
sentence reduces processing time for the second.
98
(No Transcript)
99

• REMINDER
• Klausuranmeldung
• Neue Studiengänge
• ? on HIS LSF POS - July 01-10, 2009
• Alte Studiengänge / ERASMUS / exchange students
• ? Please write me an email _at_ Mattes.Heyne_at_gmx.de
• (including full name, Matrikelnummer,
  Studiengang,
• information on your requirements
• if you do need a Schein)

100

• PREPARING FOR THE EXAM
• review of this semesters topics in
• todays lecture
• additional tutorial session on July 21, 09
• during the regular lecture time in the regular
• Hörsaal (Matthias Heyne)
• ? Please prepare questions or topics youd like
  to
• revisit!

101

• EVALUATION
• Thank you for your participation!