Language is considered unique among humans. Language, as defined below, occurs only among the human species and does not exist elsewhere in the animal kingdom. Therefore, the study of how humans learn, process, and create meaning from linguistic utterances and the written word is a central feature of cognitive psychology. The many questions that arise from this line of research include whether language is a separate faculty apart from cognition or if language is a product of our general cognitive abilities (Harris, n. d.).
To examine language in the context of cognition, it is necessary to arrive at a working definition of language. From there, it will be possible to examine the relationship between language processing and cognitive psychology. Definitions and Key Features
There is no one standard definition for the term language, however as the term is used in psychology, certain criteria must be met for vocalizations to be considered language. The critical components of language are that it be communicative, arbitrary, structured, generative, and dynamic. The communicative property of language allows individuals to verbalize and exchange thoughts and ideas. The arbitrary property is that a given sound or symbol represents a certain thing, but it does not matter which sound or symbol is applied to which thing as long as the application is used consistently. The structure of language means that utterances must follow a pattern of established grammatical rules. The generative property of language allows for the combination of words to generate an unlimited number of meanings. The dynamic aspect means that the language is constantly growing and changing, with new words being added.
The Essay on Personal Opinion of Human Psychology and Dr Buscaglia
The questions posed to me are what I think of Human Psychology and the views of Dr. Buscaglia. My answers are no where near as easy as the questions. I don't know very much about Human Psychology, but from what I do know I think it is a great way to learn about people. I feel this way because I believe the self is a very important part of life. Dealing with a persons troubles in a conscious way ...
With the said criteria met, language may then be broken down into four levels. At the most basic level are the simple sounds that words are formed from called phonemes of which 46 occur in the English language (Willingham, 2007).
At the next level, phonemes are combined to form words. The next level is the combination of words to form sentences and the highest level is the combination of sentences to form texts. At the level of text, there is the expectation that the sentences will be logically ordered. “The expectation of logical connectivity is very important in text comprehension because it prompts us to make inferences about missing information” (Willingham, 2007, p. 416).
Language Processing
The ambiguities that are introduced at each level cause language processing and perception to be a difficult task for the learner. Phonemes can be ambiguous due to regional variations in accent or to coarticulation. Coarticulation occurs as the result of changing the form of the mouth in anticipation of an upcoming phoneme or because of a prior phoneme. The ambiguities continue at the level of words because speech does not occur in discreet units. One hearing speech does not hear words individually as they are spoken but as a stream of phonemes. The ambiguity of words is furthered by the fact words often have more than one meaning. Often, because words have multiple meanings, a sentence can be interpreted in a number of ways. The meaning, though is usually derived correctly and few people would note the presence of an ambiguity.
At the level of text, people begin to make inferences, filling in information that is not specified in the text. Most people reading a block of text will probably make similar inferences. Even though this is a well-studied phenomenon, the reason why inferences are made and why they tend to be consistent among individuals is not clear (Willingham, 2007).
The resolution of the ambiguities that occur at all levels of language processing is integral to communication and therefore to cognitive functioning.
The Essay on Vocabulary Word Sherman Krakatoa Text
The 21 Balloons A report by Chapters 1-5 Schema Text to Self: When Professor Sherman was taking off in his hot air balloon people started running down the streets to look. People were also running down the streets to get Ichiro bobble heads at a Mariners game. Text to Text: When Mr. Sherman saw the mines full of diamonds it made me think about the book Treasure Island when Jim Hawkins finds all ...
The brain has evolved a number of mechanisms for resolving language ambiguities, which operate below the level of our awareness. Context, visual perception, and categorical perception serve to disambiguate phonemes. Words are also interpreted in terms of context. In addition, “people recognize words through a matching process in which a spoken word is compared with a mental dictionary called a lexicon that contains representations of all the words they know (Willingham, 2007 p. 453).
This important to cognitive system because once a phoneme string is found to match an entry in the lexicon, other properties including spelling and meanings can then be accessed. Lexical decisions are subject to priming. The lexicon can be primed by a word so that related words will more quickly come to mind.
Disambiguation of sentences first requires that the words be placed in a logical order. Changing the order of the words can radically alter the meaning of a sentence. Psychologists refer to the psychological mechanism that recognizes phrase structure as the parser. It is the function of the sentence parser to process phrase structure. The parser may be guided by “syntactic factors (key words, minimal attachment, recency), frequency, and semantics (i.e., meaning) (Willingham 2007 p. 460).
According to Willingham (2007), the two key aspects that help people to understand text are making inferences from the text and seeking coherence within the text. Making inferences is a process of filling in information not specifically stated within the text. The inferences are generally made based on the reader’s prior experiences. The search for coherence is the process comparing sentences within the text to determine their relevance to each other and to establish continuity.
Conclusion
Humans are social animals that require interaction through language. Interaction through language is integral to the survival of the species. The human brain has evolved a highly elaborate, sophisticated, high-speed processing system for the learning, interpretation, and expression of language in vocal or written form. Humans have an innate inclination to learn language and are predisposed to learn language as young children. The most basic elements of language are phonemes. Series of phonemes make up words. Words form sentences and sentences form text. Ambiguities can and do occur at all levels. The complexities and ambiguities are resolved by several psychological mechanisms. Language processing reveals how people relate ideas one to another which serves as tool for cognitive psychologists to use in an effort to understand how the human mind works, for without language there is no meaning. As Helen Keller observed of her own life, “When I learned the meaning of ‘I’ and ‘me’ and found that I was something, I began to think. Then consciousness first existed for me”(Allott, n. d.).
The Essay on Word Fag Faggot Meaning Fasces
In popular culture words are often taken out of context to mean something other than what you will read in a dictionary, commonly referred to as slang. Classic examples of this throughout recent history is the word "bad" meaning good, or "sucks" implying bad, or "blows" also, oddly enough meaning bad. If it is not already evident slang almost never makes any matter of the original meaning of a ...
References
Allott, R. (n. d.).
Helen keller: Language and consciousness. Retrieved September 9, 2007, from http://www.percepp.com/hkeller.htm Harris, C. L. (n. d.).
Language and cognition. Retrieved September 9, 2011, from http://people.bu.edu/charris/encyclopedia.html Willingham, D. T. (2007).
Cognition: The thinking animal (3rd ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
