Language

 
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Language

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Language Components

 
  • Phonology: The study of the sound systems of languages and how sounds function and pattern
  • Phoneme: The smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning between words
  • Morphology: The study of the structure and formation of words
  • Morpheme: The smallest meaningful unit of language that cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts
  • Syntax: The set of rules that govern how words are combined to form grammatical sentences
  • Semantics: The study of meaning in language, including the meanings of words, phrases, and sentences
  • Pragmatics: The study of how context influences the interpretation and use of language in social situations
 
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Language Processing

The cognitive and neural mechanisms used to perceive, understand, and produce both spoken and written language, primarily involving the Wernicke's and Broca's areas.
  • Lexical Access: The process of retrieving information about words from memory during language comprehension or production
  • Lexical Decision Task: An experimental paradigm in which participants decide whether a string of letters forms a real word
  • Semantic Priming: The phenomenon in which exposure to one word facilitates the processing of semantically related words
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Language Theory

Various scientific frameworks attempting to explain how language is acquired, represented in the brain, and used, such as Nativist (Chomsky) and Interactionist perspectives.
  • Noam Chomsky: Influential linguist who proposed that humans have an innate capacity for language
  • Universal Grammar: Chomsky's theory that all human languages share a common underlying structure based on innate principles
  • Critical Period Hypothesis: The theory that there is a limited time window during development when language acquisition occurs most easily
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Language Disorders

Conditions affecting the ability to understand or use language, such as Aphasia (due to brain injury) or developmental disorders like Specific Language Impairment (SLI).
  • Broca's Aphasia: A language disorder characterized by difficulty producing speech while comprehension remains relatively intact
  • Wernicke's Aphasia: A language disorder characterized by fluent but meaningless speech and impaired comprehension
  • Dyslexia: A reading disorder characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and spelling