psycholinguistics心理語(yǔ)言學(xué)

1、Language and thought, culture, society and computer,essentials,psycholinguistics; Schema theory; Types of speech error; Sapir-Whorf hypothesis; Language and culture, and the causes leading to difficulties in cross-culture communication; The social attribute of language and language diversity as a to

2、ol of communication in social context; Definition of computational linguistics and functions of corpus in linguistic studies;,psycholinguistics,Psycholinguistics studies the storage, comprehension, production and acquisition of language in any medium (spoken or written). Its subjects are adults and

3、children as well as aphasics, people with speech disorders.,psycholinguistics,The study of psychological aspects of language, or language-processing mechanisms, the relationship between language and the human mind. E.g. how word, sentence, and discourse meaning are represented and computed in the mi

4、nd. It usually studies psychological states and mental activity associated with the use of language.,Scope of psycholinguistics,the unconscious application of grammatical rules that enable people to produce and comprehend language production Spoonerism (when a later segment takes the place of an ear

5、lier one): bake my bike; Substitution (one segment is replaced by an intruder): At low speeds its too light (heavy); Blend (more than one word is being considered and the two intended items fuse or blend into a single item): That child is looking to be spaddled (spanked/paddled).,Interpretations of

6、speech errors: Freuds view: errors occur because we have more than a single plan for production and that one such plan competes with and dominates the other. psycholinguistic interpretation: we produce speech through a series of separate stages, each devoted to a single level of linguistic analysis.

7、 Errors typically occur at one level during the production processes (spoonerism).,articulation,to use vocal organs to produce desired sounds to execute the linguistic plan.,self-regulation,to monitor our performance by competence to ensure the production is accurate. According to some psycholinguis

8、ts, errors are committed only by non-native speakers, whereas native speakers often make mistakes and correct themselves immediately.,Ways to self-correct speech mistakes,at the very beginning or the conceptualization stage, when native speakers find their speech inappropriate, they would start the

9、utterance all over again. at the formulation stage or articulation stage, speakers will only renew the sentence in part from the point. speech production or written production is not a one-way linear process; it is parallel, two-way system involving production and self-regulation in the process.,dis

10、cussion,Consider the following slips of tongue. What does each reveal about the process of language production? (a) They laked across the swim. (b) The spy was gound and bagged. (c) I will zee you in the bank.,Language and cognition,Chomskys Syntactic structures (1957) Piaget: commonalities between

11、language and cognition In the 1970s and 1980s, there was a growing tendency for linguists to emphasize language and cognition as a special field (Cognitive linguistics), and for psychologists to emphasize commonalities between language and cognition (Psycholinguistics and Psychology of language).,Co

12、gnition,In psychology, it means mental processes of an individual, with relation to the view that the mind has internal mental states (beliefs, desires and intentions) and can be understood in terms of information processing, which may involve a lot of abstraction or concretization, knowledge, exper

13、tise or learning at work. Mental process or faculty of knowing, including awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment.,Three approaches to the study of language and cognition,The formal approach: mainly addresses the structural patterns of overt language structures, including the study of morphol

14、ogical, syntactic, and lexical structure. The psychological approach: language from the view of general systems ranging from perception, memory, attention, and reasoning. The conceptual approach: how language structures (processes T determines L.,Language and culture,“dog” in American, it conjures u

15、p an image of a furry, domesticated family pet. in Hong Kong, it is considered to be a culinary amenity and often is be eaten. Language use is heavily tinted with its culture.,The relationship between language and culture,Language expresses cultural reality. Language embodies cultural identity. Peop

16、le are identified via their use of language . Different discourse accents suggest different social status. Culture affects its peoples imagination or common dreams which mediated through the language and reflected in their life. Thus, language is not only intrinsically related to what the culture is

17、 and what it was, but also related to the culture of imagination governing peoples decisions as well as actions.,Language to culture is part to whole,Linguistic competence is one variety of cultural competence and speech behavior is one variety of social behavior.,Sum up,Language as an integral part

18、 of human being, permeates his thinking and way of viewing the world, language both expresses and embodies cultural reality. Language, as a product of culture, helps perpetuate the culture, and the changes in language uses reflect the cultural changes in return.,Sapir Whorf hypothesis,Edward Sapir (

19、1884 - 1939) and Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897-1941) Language and thought issues After studying American Indian languages, Sapir acknowledged the close relationship between language and culture, maintaining that they were inextricably related so that you could not understand or appreciate the one without

20、 knowledge of the other.,Sapir and Whorf believe that the way people view the world is determined wholly or partially by the structure of their native language. Thats to say, our language helps mould our way of thinking and, consequently, different language may probably express our unique ways of un

21、derstanding the world.,The hypothesis has two important points: Linguistic determinism/ strong version: language may determine our thinking and behavior; Linguistic relativity/ weak version: similarity between languages is relative, the greater their structural differentiation is, the more diverse t

22、heir conceptualization of the world will be.,linguistic determinism,linguistic structure determines cognitive structure. Leaning a language changes the way a person thinks. Language is a “tyrant”, it not only reflects but defines our experiences. - Ones thinking is completely determined by his nativ

23、e L because one cannot but perceive the world in terms of the categories and distinctions encoded in the language. - The categories and distinctions encoded in one language are unique to that system and incommensurable with those of other systems. If Aristotle had spoken Chinese, his logic would hav

24、e been different.,Linguistic relativity,the varying cultural concepts and categories inherent in different languages affect the cognitive classification of the experienced world in such a way that speakers of different languages think and behave differently because of it. There is no limit to the st

25、ructural diversity of languages.,understanding of this hypothesis,People tend to sort out and distinguish experiences differently according to the semantic categories provided by their different codes.,understanding of this hypothesis,There is nowadays recognition that language, as a code, reflects

26、cultural and preoccupations and constrains the way people think. Even in Whorfs days, however, we recognize how important context is in complementing the meanings encoded in the language.,Culture-loaded words,kill the goose that lays the golden eggs” vs.“殺雞取卵” Cold words vs. 冷言冷語(yǔ) Constant dropping w

27、ears the stone. 滴水穿石 Diamond cut diamond. 棋逢對(duì)手 Kill a man when he is down. 落井下石,Cultural overlap and diffusion,Through communication, some elements of culture A enter culture B and becomes part of culture B. Loan words in Chinese and English. 肥皂劇、卡通、布丁、蘋果派、雀巢、巴士、耐克、因特網(wǎng)、KTV、EMAIL Typhoon, gongfu, etc

28、.,Cross-cultural communication,Nidas five types of sub-culture: ecological culture, linguistic culture, religious culture, material culture and social culture. Different culture features produce different linguistic features.,Kinship terms,Rich in Chinese, limited in English The kinship field is gen

29、erally built around the lexical differentiation of three fundamental human family relations: filiations, consanguinity and spouseship. English: words are used primarily to distinguish the sex of kin relations. Brother-sister aunt-uncle etc. Chinese: distinction is also made lexically between members

30、 of kin who are older or younger than the speaker, or his parents, who are on the maternal side or on the paternal side, and who are in-laws or not. Eg. Aunt -gu shen yima jiuma bomu,Horse words,Rich in English, limited in Chinese Horse play an important role in the life of English people. Horse; ge

31、e (a term for a horse used by children); horseflesh (horses considered as a group, especially for driving, riding, or racing); steed (a spirited horse); mare (a female horse); foal (the young offspring of a horse); colt (a young male horse); filly (a young female horse); pony (a horse small in size

32、when full grown); thoroughbred (a purebred or pedigreed horse); bay (a reddish brown horse);,address,To stranger: Sir/ Madam (English) shifu (Chinese) Address reflects social status, regional difference and intimacy. eg. By title -by name “chairman mao” “XX” south -north “ahua” “huahua” childrens wo

33、rds “l(fā)aoma” instead of “mama”,Definition of cross-cultural communication,Intercultural communication It is communication between people whose cultural perceptions and symbols systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event. It is frequently used to refer to communication between people

34、from different cultures, which implies a comparison between cultures. It centers on significant differences regarding social relations and concept of universe from different perspectives such as language, food, dress, attitude towards time, work habits, social behavior that can cause frustration in

35、communications and contacts.,Definition of cross-cultural communication,As a newly-established discipline, intercultural communication makes multi-disciplinary study of politeness across cultures in great deals. It helps to bridge the gap between both cultural and linguistic differences. As the worl

36、d is becoming a “global village”, its significance in international communication in various aspects and in language learning is becoming more and more self-evident.,principles,to look at things from the speakers point of view, to know each others intention, to adopt a dynamic dialogue pattern.,when

37、 in Rome do as the Romans do put yourself in others shoes one cultures meat is another cultures poison honesty and sincerity,Three points required,To get familiar with cultural differences; To transcend their own culture and see things as the members of the target culture will; To emphasize the inse

38、parability of understanding language and understanding culture through various classroom practices.,discussion,Use theory to interpret the situation below. A Chinese girl Xiao Chen was studying in Yale University with Maria, a local girl who shared the same apartment with Chen. One day, Maria quarre

39、led with a classmate called Peter. Xiao Chen drew Maria away from the quarreling and walked her back to their apartment. Then, Xiao Chen said outrageously to console Maria: “just take it easy,dear. In fact, it is no necessary for you to quarrel with such an awful ass! Ive never liked him at all” at

40、these words, Maria stopped weeping, turned to stare at Chen and said angrily: “who gives you the right to speak ill of others behind?”,Language and society,Language is not always used to exchange information as is generally assumed, but rather it is sometimes used to fulfill an important social func

41、tion to maintain social relationship between people. Language is both a scientific system and a social activity. It is the major bond of peoples communication in society.,Users of the same language in a sense all speak differently. What each of them chooses to use is in part determined by ones socia

42、l background. When we speak we cannot avoid giving our listeners clues about our origin and our background. The social environment can also be reflected in language, and can often have an effect on the structure and the vocabulary.,Sociolinguistics,The sub-field of linguistics that studies the relat

43、ion between L and society, between the uses of L and the the social structures in which the users of L live. Micro-studies Macro-studies,Micro-studies: To look at society from the point of view of an individual member within it, or a worms-eye view of language in use. Macro-studies: To look at socie

44、ty as a whole and consider how language functions in it and how it reflects the social differentiations, a birds eye view of the language used in society.,Sociolinguistics at a macro level of investigation,- interested in bilingualism or multilingualism, -language attitudes, -language choice, -langu

45、age maintenance and shift, -language planning and standardization, -vernacular language education.,Sociolinguistics at a micro level of investigation,Micro linguistic phenomena such as structural variants, address forms, gender differences, discourse analysis, Pidgin and Creole languages and other m

46、ore language related issues.,Speech community,In sociolinguistic studies, speakers are treated as members of social groups. The social group isolated for sociolinguistic study is called the speech community. A group of people who form a community (which may have as few members as a family or as many

47、 member as a country), and share the same language or a particular variety of language.,The important characteristic of a speech community,The members of the group must, in some reasonable way, interact linguistically with other members of the community. They may share closely related language varie

48、ties, as well as attitudes toward linguistic norms.,Language as a society activity,Internal authority refers to the acquisition of a language or dialect by an individual when mixed with his fellow speakers of the same speech community. External authority means that society, through language teachers

49、, institutions, mass media, textbooks and dictionaries, imparts the knowledge of language to learners at schools or in controlled environments.,Institutional linguistics,The study of language planning. It refers to the systematic attempt to solve communication problems by studying the various langua

50、ges or dialects people use in the same one community and by developing a realistic policy concerning the proper selection and appropriate use of the these languages and varieties.,Language and variation,Language variation : the differences in pronunciation, grammar, or word choice, etc. within a lan

51、guage.,Language varieties,Variationist perspective: the users of the same language do not speak the language in the same manner. Language changes according to region, social group and individual. The products of such changes are the varieties of language. These include standard language, dialects, r

52、egisters, pidgins, creoles, and so on. Varieties related to the user are normally known as dialects and varieties related to use as registers.,A standard language is usually a prestige dialect/ language widely accepted. A national language is the language to be used nationwide in a newly liberated c

53、ounty or a multinational one. An official language, similar to a standard or national language, is used in formal, official situations.,dialect,varieties arising from differences among users. The study of dialects is called dialectology. a dialect is not necessarily less complete, less logical than

54、a language, it is a variation of language different enough to be classed as a separate entity, but not different enough to be classed as a separate language. a dialect may become the standard variety of the country.,Social dialect,It refers to a dialect associated with a given demographic group (e.g

55、. women versus men, older versus younger speakers, or members of different social classes). Members of a speech community (a group of people speaking a given language or dialect) , in order to strengthen their solidarity, tend to use the same variety characteristic of social division, such as class,

56、 professional status, age and sex.,Women in many countries are more status-conscious than men, and therefore more aware of the social significance of linguistic variables.,Eg. Male: Shit, damn, darn it, the hell Female: Oh dear, dear me, goodness me, my goodness,Regional variation,The language varia

57、tion according to the particular area where a speaker comes from. The most distinguishable linguistic feature of it is its accent. Accent: a way of pronunciation which tells the listener something about the speakers regional or social background.,idiolect,The language variation according to personal

58、 way of speaking (idiolect). What makes up ones idiolect includes such factors as voice quality, pitch and speech rhythm, which all contribute to the identifying features in an individuals speech.,idiolect,Varieties of a language used by individual speakers, with peculiarities of pronunciation, gram

59、mar and vocabulary. Idiolect is a personal dialect of an individual speaker that combines elements regarding regional, social, gender, and age variations. no two speakers speak exactly the same dialect. Lu Xuns langague,Stylistic variation,The language variation according to a variety of styles. It usually ranges on a continuum from casual or colloquial to formal or polite according to the type of communicative situation. E.g. I require your attendance to be punctual/ I want you to come on time. 冷凍體正式體商洽體隨意體親切體,register,Varieties of language classif