PSYCH 1F03 Lecture 5: Language
8 Feb 2017
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Language influences our thoughts and the way we perceive and experience the world: study of the brazilian tribe, (cid:862)o(cid:374)e(cid:863) (cid:862)t(cid:449)o(cid:863) (cid:862)(cid:373)a(cid:374)(cid:455)(cid:863) language lacked words for fine distinctions, struggles with numbers greater than 3. Over 3000 languages in the world today. All human languages use sounds, words, symbols. Morpheme: smallest unit of sound that contains information: words can be made of more than one morpheme, example: table (1 morpheme) vs. tablecloth (2 morphemes, tables (2 morphemes) Phonemes: smallest unit of sounds in a word. Syntax/grammar: the rules that govern how sentences are put together: example: gendered words in french. Semantics: meaning of each individual word: a sentence can have perfect syntax, but lack semantic structure. Babbling progress to making real words: may sound like real question or sentence. 1. 5 6 years: language explosion, vocabulary increases very rapidly: over course of childhood, continues to improve.
