One or more morphemes combined according to specific rules • Most adults know more than 50,000 words.
Smallest meaningful unit of language • Meaning can be grammatical (e.g., suffix) • About 50,000 to 80,000 in English • Morpheme does not correspond to number of phonemes or syllables in a word
Shortest segment of speech that, if changed, can change the meaning of a word • About 47 different phonemes in English • Languages have different phonemes • Example: “bit” has three phonemes, /b/, /i/, and /t/
Language and thought are represented and processed by separate modules in the mind • Module is an informationally encapsulated, domain-specific system. • Language and thought modules operate independently but pass information to each other.
Language determines or influences the way that a person thinks or perceives the world. Also called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis Evidence comes from studies of color categorization in different languages
The psychological study of language • Comprehension: How do we understand spoken and written language? • Production: How do we produce speech and writing? • Representation: How is language represented in the mind and the brain? • Acquisition: How is language learned?
A system of communication using sounds or symbols that enables us to express our feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences Unique properties of human language • Hierarchical: Multiple small components are combined to form larger units • Rule-based: Rules indicate how various components can be ...
A new approach to studying decision making which combines research from the fields of psychology, neuroscience, and economics.
