Cogntion Chapter 9 Introduction to Language and Language Comprehension

7 nature of language

6,000-7,000 spoken languages languages differ in terms of:

•language abilities explained in terms of a complex system of rules and principles represented in the minds of speakers •humans have innate language skills •language is modular (language is special, not processed the same as other cognitive tasks) •surface structure vs. deep structure of sentences •ambiguous sentences

4 reactons to chomsky's theory

Usage based linguistic

•the function of human language in everyday life is to communicate meaning to other individuals •cognitive processes intertwined with language comprehension and production •children use flexible strategies to create increasingly complex language •adults use language strategically

negative statements require more processing time than affirmative statements affirmative statements produce fewer errors

active form of a sentence iseasier to understand than the passive form

can result in memory overload

- people pause longer when they are processing an ambiguous word - when people encounter a potential ambiguity, the activation builds up for all the well-known meanings of the ambiguous item

People are more likely to choose one particular mening if.. x2

• wandering down the wrong path• we can usually understand ambiguous language, but we respond more quickly and more accurately when the language is straightforward

expressive-language deficit is in what area?

receptive-language deficit is in what area>

Two types of aphasia