Language acquisition Essay

Chapter 1 Invitations to Linguistics 1. 1Why study language? 1. Language is very essential to human beings. 2. In language there are many things we should know. 3. For further understanding, we need to study language scientifically. 1. 2What is language? Language is a means of verbal communication. It is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. 1. 3Design features of language The features that define our human languages can be called design features which can distinguish human language from any animal system of communication. 1. 3. 1Arbitrariness Arbitrariness refers to the fact that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meanings. 1. 3. 2Duality Duality refers to the property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization. 1. 3. 3Creativity Creativity means that language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness. Recursiveness refers to the rule which can be applied repeatedly without any definite limit. The recursive nature of language provides a theoretical basis for the possibility of creating endless sentences. 1. 3. 4Displacement Displacement means that human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and space) at the moment of conversation. 1. 4Origin of language 1. The bow-wow theory In primitive times people imitated the sounds of the animal calls in the wild environment they lived and speech developed from that. 2. The pooh-pooh theory In the hard life of our primitive ancestors, they utter instinctive sounds of pains, anger and joy which gradually developed into language. 3. The â€Å"yo-he-ho† theory As primitive people worked together, they produced some rhythmic grunts which gradually developed into chants and then into language. 1. 5Functions of language As is proposed by Jacobson, language has six functions: 1. Referential: to convey message and information; 2. Poetic: to indulge in language for its own sake; 3. Emotive: to express attitudes, feelings and emotions; 4. Conative: to persuade and influence others through commands and entreaties; 5. Phatic: to establish communion with others; 6. Metalingual: to clear up intentions, words and meanings. Halliday (1994) proposes a theory of metafunctions of language. It means that language has three metafunctions: 1. Ideational function: to convey new information, to communicate a content that is unknown to the hearer; 2. Interpersonal function: embodying all use of language to express social and personal relationships; 3. Textual function: referring to the fact that language has mechanisms to make any stretch of spoken and written discourse into a coherent and unified text and make a living passage different from a random list of sentences. According to Hu Zhuanglin, language has at least seven functions: 1. 5. 1Informative The informative function means language is the instrument of thought and people often use it to communicate new information. 1. 5. 2Interpersonal function The interpersonal function means people can use language to establish and maintain their status in a society. 1. 5. 3Performative The performative function of language is primarily to change the social status of persons, as in marriage ceremonies, the sentencing of criminals, the blessing of children, the naming of a ship at a launching ceremony, and the cursing of enemies. 1. 5. 4Emotive function The emotive function is one of the most powerful uses of language because it is so crucial in changing the emotional status of an audience for or against someone or something. 1. 5. 5Phatic communion The phatic communion means people always use some small, seemingly meaningless expressions such as Good morning, God bless you, Nice day, etc. , to maintain a comfortable relationship between people without any factual content. 1. 5. 6Recreational function The recreational function means people use language for the sheer joy of using it, such as a baby’s babbling or a chanter’s chanting. 1. 5. 7Metalingual function The metalingual function means people can use language to talk about itself. E. g. I can use the word â€Å"book† to talk about a book, and I can also use the expression â€Å"the word book† to talk about the sign â€Å"b-o-o-k† itself. 1. 6What is linguistics? Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It studies not just one language of any one community, but the language of all human beings. 1. 7Main branches of linguistics 1. 7. 1Phonetics Phonetics is the study of speech sounds, it includes three main areas: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, and auditory phonetics. 1. 7. 2Phonology Phonology studies the rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables. 1. 7. 3Morphology Morphology studies the minimal units of meaning – morphemes and word-formation processes. 1. 7. 4Syntax Syntax refers to the rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences in a language, or simply, the study of the formation of sentences. 1. 7. 5Semantics Semantics examines how meaning is encoded in a language. 1. 7. 6Pragmatics Pragmatics is the study of meaning in context. 1.  8Macrolinguistics Macrolinguistics is the study of language in all aspects, distinct from microlinguistics, which dealt solely with the formal aspect of language system. 1. 8. 1Psycholinguistics Psycholinguistics investigates the interrelation of language and mind, in processing and producing utterances and in language acquisition for example. 1. 8. 2Sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics is a term which covers a variety of different interests in language and society, including the language and the social characteristics of its users. 1. 8. 3Anthropological linguistics. Anthropological linguistics studies the relationship between language and culture in a community. 1. 8. 4Computational linguistics Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which centers around the use of computers to process or produce human language. 1. 9Important distinctions in linguistics 1. 9. 1Descriptive vs. prescriptive To say that linguistics is a descriptive science is to say that the linguist tries to discover and record the rules to which the members of a language-community actually conform and does not seek to impose upon them other rules, or norms, of correctness. Prescriptive linguistics aims to lay down rules for the correct use of language and settle the disputes over usage once and for all. For example, â€Å"Don’t say X. † is a prescriptive command; â€Å"People don’t say X. † is a descriptive statement. The distinction lies in prescribing how things ought to be and describing how things are. In the 18th century, all the main European languages were studied prescriptively. However, modern linguistics is mostly descriptive because the nature of linguistics as a science determines its preoccupation with description instead of prescription. 1. 9. 2Synchronic vs. diachronic A synchronic study takes a fixed instant (usually at present) as its point of observation. Saussure’s diachronic description is the study of a language through the course of its history. E. g. a study of the features of the English used in Shakespeare’s time would be synchronic, and a study of the changes English has undergone since then would be a diachronic study. In modern linguistics, synchronic study seems to enjoy priority over diachronic study. The reason is that unless the various state of a language are successfully studied it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development. 1. 9. 3Langue & parole Saussure distinguished the linguistic competence of the speaker and the actual phenomena or data of linguistics as langue and parole. Langue is relative stable and systematic, parole is subject to personal and situational constraints; langue is not spoken by an individual, parole is always a naturally occurring event. What a linguist should do, according to Saussure, is to draw rules from a mass of confused facts, i. e. to discover the regularities governing all instances of parole and make them the subject of linguistics. 1. 9. 4Competence and performance According to Chomsky, a language user’s underlying knowledge about the system of rules is called the linguistic competence, and the actual use of language in concrete situations is called performance. Competence enables a speaker to produce and understand and indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speaker’s competence is stable while his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. So a speaker’s performance does not always match his supposed competence. Chomsky believes that linguists ought to study competence, rather than performance. Chomsky’s competence-performance distinction is not exactly the same as, though similar to, Saussure’s langue-parole distinction. Langue is a social product and a set of conventions of a community, while competence is deemed as a property of mind of each individual. Saussure looks at language more from a sociological or sociolinguistic point of view than Chomsky since the latter deals with his issues psychologically or psycholinguistically. 1. 9. 5Etic vs. emic Being etic means researchers’ making far too many, as well as behaviorally and inconsequential, differentiations, just as often the case with phonetics vs. phonemics analysis in linguistics proper. An emic set of speech acts and events must be one that is validated as meaningful via final resource to the native members of a speech community rather than via appeal to the investigator’s ingenuity or intuition alone. Following the suffix formations of (phon)etics vs (phon)emics, these terms were introduced into the social sciences by Kenneth Pike (1967) to denote the distinction between the material and functional study of language: phonetics studies the acoustically measurable and articulatorily definable immediate sound utterances, whereas phonemics analyzes the specific selection each language makes from that universal catalogue from a functional aspect. Chapter 2 Speech Sounds 2. 1Speech production and perception Phonetics is the study of speech sounds. It includes three main areas: 1. Articulatory phonetics – the study of the production of speech sounds 2. Acoustic phonetics – the study of the physical properties of the sounds produced in speech 3. Auditory phonetics – the study of perception of speech sounds Most phoneticians are interested in articulatory phonetics. 2. 2Speech organs Speech organs are those parts of the human body involved in the production of speech. The speech organs can be considered as consisting of three parts: the initiator of the air stream, the producer of voice and the resonating cavities. 2. 3Segments, divergences, and phonetic transcription 2. 3. 1Segments and divergences As there are more sounds in English than its letters, each letter must represent more than one sound. 2. 3. 2Phonetic transcription International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA): the system of symbols for representing the pronunciation of words in any language according to the principles of the International Phonetic Association. The symbols consists of letters and diacritics. Some letters are taken from the Roman alphabet, some are special symbols. 2. 4Consonants 2. 4. 1Consonants and vowels A consonant is produced by constricting or obstructing the vocal tract at some places to divert, impede, or completely shut off the flow of air in the oral cavity. A vowel is produced without obstruction so no turbulence or a total stopping of the air can be perceived. 2. 4. 2Consonants The categories of consonant are established on the basis of several factors. The most important of these factors are: 1. the actual relationship between the articulators and thus the way in which the air passes through certain parts of the vocal tract (manner of articulation); 2.where in the vocal tract there is approximation, narrowing, or the obstruction of the air (place of articulation). 2. 4. 3Manners of articulation 1. Stop/plosive: A speech sound which is produced by stopping the air stream from the lungs and then suddenly releasing it. In English, [? , ? , ? , ? , ? , ? ] are stops and [? , ? , ? ] are nasal stops. 2. Fricative: A speech sound which is produced by allowing the air stream from the lungs to escape with friction. This is caused by bringing the two articulators, e. g. the upper teeth and the lower lip, close together but not closes enough to stop the airstreams completely. In English, [?, ? , ? , ? , ? , ? , ? , ? , ? ] are fricatives. 3. (Median) approximant: An articulation in which one articulator is close to another, but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is produced. In English this class of sounds includes [? , ? , ? ]. 4. Lateral (approximant): A speech sound which is produced by partially blocking the airstream from the lungs, usually by the tongue, but letting it escape at one or both sides of the blockage. [? ] is the only lateral in English. Other consonantal articulations include trill, tap or flap, and affricate. 2. 4. 4Places of articulation 1.Bilabial: A speech sound which is made with the two lips. 2. Labiodental: A speech sound which is made with the lower lip and the upper front teeth. 3. Dental: A speech sound which is made by the tongue tip or blade and the upper front teeth. 4. Alveolar: A speech sound which is made with the tongue tip or blade and the alveolar ridge. 5. Postalveolar: A speech sound which is made with the tongue tip and the back of the alveolar ridge. 6. Retroflex: A speech sound which is made with the tongue tip or blade curled back so that the underside of the tongue tip or blade forms a stricture with the back of the alveolar ridge or the hard palate. 7. Palatal: A speech sound which is made with the front of the tongue and the hard palate. 8. Velar: A speech sound which is made with the back of the tongue and the soft palate. 9. Uvular: A speech sound which is made with the back of the tongue and the uvula, the short projection of the soft tissue and muscle at the posterior end of the velum. 10. Pharyngeal: A speech sound which is made with the root of the tongue and the walls of the pharynx. 11. Glottal: A speech sound which is made with the two pieces of vocal folds pushed towards each other. 2. 4. 5The consonants of English Received Pronunciation (RP): The type of British Standard English pronunciation which has been regarded as the prestige variety and which shows no regional variation. It has often been popularly referred to as â€Å"BBC English† or â€Å"Oxford English† because it is widely used in the private sector of the education system and spoken by most newsreaders of the BBC network. A chart of English consonants |Manner of |Place of articulation | |articulation | | | |Bilabial |Labio- |Dental | | | |dental | | | | | | | | | | | | 2. Its advantages. Through IC analysis, the internal structure of a sentence may be demonstrated clearly, any ambiguities, if any, will be revealed in that IC analysis emphasizes not only the linear structure of the sentence but also the hierarchical structure of the sentence. E. g. the sentence Leave the book on the shelf. is ambiguous. It has two meanings: (1) Put the book on the shelf; (2) Don’t touch the book on the shelf. These two meanings can be shown by the following tree diagrams. (Omitted. See the textbook p125~128. ) 3. Its problems However, IC analysis has three disadvantages. First, at the beginning, some advocator insisted on binary divisions. Any construction, at any level, will be cut into two parts. But this is not possible. E. g. Old men and women is ambiguous in that it may mean old + men and women or old men + and women. It’s impossible to combine with only the preceding part or only the succeeding part. Second, constructions with discontinuous constituents will pose technical problems for tree diagrams in IC analysis. E. g. the phrasal verbs like make up, turn on, or give up will cause problems in that when the object is expressed by a pronoun, it will interrupt the phrasal verb as in make it up. The most serious problem is that there are structural ambiguities which cannot be revealed by IC analysis. E. g. the tree diagram and the labels can only do one analysis for the love of God. 4. 2. 3Endocentric and exocentric constructions An endocentric construction is one whose distribution is functionally equivalent, or approaching equivalence, to one of its constituents, which serves as the center, or head, of the whole. It is also called headed construction. Typical endocentric constructions are noun phrases, verb phrases and adjective phrases. They may be further divided into two subtypes: subordinate and coordinate constructions. Those, in which there is only one head, with the head being dominant and the other constructions dependent, are subordinate constructions. In the coordinate construction, there are more than one head, e. g. boys and girls, in which the two content constituents, boys and girls, are of equal syntactic status, and no one is dependent on the other. The exocentric construction is defined negatively as a construction whose distribution is not functionally equivalent to any of its constituents. There is no noticeable center or head in it. Typical exocentric constructions are prepositional phrases, subordinate clauses, English basic sentences, and the verb plus object constructions. 4. 3The generative approach 4. 3. 1Deep and surface structures In transformational generative grammar (a. k. a. T-G grammar), the deep structure may be defined as the abstract representation of the syntactic properties of a construction, i. e. the underlying level of structural relations between its different constituents, such as the relation between the underlying subject and its verb, or a verb and its object. The surfaces structure is the final stage in the syntactic derivation of a construction, which closely corresponds to the structural organization of a construction people actually produce and receive. The example for the surface structure is The newspaper was not delivered today. The deep structure of the above sentence would be something like: (negative) someone (past tense) deliver the newspaper today (passive). The items in brackets are not lexical items but grammatical concepts which shape the final form of the sentence. Rules which describe deep structure are in the first part of the grammar (base component). Rules which transform these structures into surface structures (transformational rules) are in the second part of the grammar (transformational component). 4. 3. 2The standard theory and after What is the trace theory? [I think this is difficult. It is too abstract for me. – icywarmtea] After the movement of an element in a sentence there will be a trace left in the original position. This is the notion trace in T-G grammar. It’s suggested that if we have the notion trace, all the necessary information for semantic interpretation may come from the surface structure. E. g. The passive Dams are built by beavers. differs from the active Beavers built dams. in implying that all dams are built by beavers. If we add a trace element represented by the letter t after built in the passive as Dams are built t by beavers, then the deep structure information that the word dams was originally the object of built is also captured by the surface structure. Trace theory proves to be not only theoretically significant but also empirically valid. 4. 3. 3Government, binding, etc. 1. Constituent command / C-command: ? c-commands ? if ? does not dominate ? and every ? that dominates ? also dominates ? , as shown in the diagram below: | |?| | | | | | | | | | |? | |? | 2. Binding theory: Part of the government / binding theory. It examines connections between noun phrases in sentences and explores the way they relate and refer to each other. (1)An anaphor is bound in its governing category. (2)A pronominal is free in its governing category. (3)An r-expression is free. 3. Binding: The notion binding is borrowed from logic, which refers to the relation between a quantifier and a variable, that is a variable is bound by a quantifier. In the generative approach, binding refers to the relation between different referring word and the subject of a sentence  containing it. 4. Anaphor: A process where a word or phrase refers back to another word or phrase which was used earlier in a text or conversation. In a narrow sense, it used to include only reflexives like myself and reciprocals like each other. 5. Pronominal: A pronominal refers to pronouns other than reflexives and reciprocals. 6. R-expression: A r-expression, as the abbreviation of a referential-expression, covers all the other r-expressions except anaphors and pronominals, e. g. John, Bill, the man. 7. The D-structure and the S-structure. In Government / Binding theory, the D-structure is an abstract level of sentence representation where semantic roles such as an agent (the doer of an action) and patient (the entity affected by an action) are assigned to the sentence. Agent is sometimes also referred to as the logical subject and patient as the rheme of the sentence. E. g. (in simplified form) Verashootintruders Agent or logical subjectpatient or rheme The next level of sentence representation is the S-structure where syntactic / grammatical cases such as nominative / grammatical subject and accusative / grammatical object are assigned. E. g.(in simplified form)Vera (agent)shootintruders (patient / rheme) Grammatical subjectgrammatical object The phonetic form (PF) component and the logical form (LF) component are then needed to turn the S-structure into a surface sentence. The PF component presents the S-structure as sound, and the LF component gives the syntactic meaning of the sentence. 4. 4The functional approach 4. 4. 1Functional sentence perspective 1. Functional sentence perspective (FSP) The functional sentence perspective (FSP) is a type of linguistic analysis associated with the Prague School which describes how information is distributed in sentences. FSP deals particularly with the effect of the distribution of known information and new information in discourse. The known information (known as theme), refers to information that is not new to the reader or listener. The rheme refers to information that is new. FSP differs from the traditional grammatical analysis of sentences because the distribution between subject-predicate is not always the same as theme-rheme contrast. E. g. (1)Johnsat in the front seat Subjectpredicate Themerheme (2)In the front seat satJohn. Predicatesubject Themerheme John is the grammatical subject in both sentences, but theme in (1) and rheme in (2). 2. Communicative dynamism (CD) By CD Firbas means the extent to which the sentence element contributes to the development of the communication. 4. 4. 2Systemic-functional grammar 1. The material process (a process of doing): the representation of outer experience. 2. The mental process (a process of sensing): the representation of inner experience. 3. The relational process (a process of being): the relation between one experience and another. 4. The behavioral process (a process of behavioring): physiological and psychological behavior. 5. The verbal process (a process of saying): any kinds of symbolic exchange of meaning. 6. The existential process (a process of happening): a representation of something in existence or happening/ These six processes form a circle as follows: (omitted. See textbook, p. 155) Chapter 5 Meaning 5. 1Meanings of â€Å"meaning† 1. Meaning: Meaning refers to what a language expresses about the world we live in or any possible or imaginary world. 2. Connotation: The additional meaning that a word or phrase has beyond its central meaning. 3. Denotation: That part of the meanings of a word or phrase that relates it to phenomena in the real world or in a fictional or possible word. 4. Different types of meaning (Recognized by Leech, 1974) (1)Conceptual meaning: Logical, cognitive, or denotative content. (2)Associative meaning a. Connotative meaning: What is communicated by virtue of what language refers to. b. Social meaning: What is communicated of the social circumstances of language use. c. Affective meaning: What is communicated of the feelings and attitudes of the speaker / writer. d. Reflected meaning: What is communicated through association with another sense of the same expression. e. Collocative meaning: What is communicated through association with words which tend to occur in the environment of another word. (3)Thematic meaning: What is communicated by the way in which the message is organized in terms of order and emphasis. 5. The difference between meaning, concept, connotation, and denotation Meaning refers to the association of language symbols with the real world. There are many types of meaning according to different approaches. Concept is the impression of objects in people’s mind. Connotation is the implied meaning, similar to implication. Denotation, like sense, is not directly related with objects, but makes the abstract assumption of the real world. 5. 2The referential theory 1. The referential theory: The theory of meaning which relates the meaning of a word to the thing it refers to, or stands for, is known as the referential theory. 2. The semantic triangle theory Ogden and Richards presented the classic â€Å"Semantic Triangle† as manifested in the following diagram, in which the â€Å"symbol† refers to the linguist elements (word, sentence, etc. ), the â€Å"referent† refers to the object in the world of experience, and the â€Å"thought† or â€Å"reference† refers to concept or notion. Thus the symbol of a word signifies â€Å"things† by virtue of the â€Å"concept,† associated with the form of the word in the mind of the speaker of the language. The concept thus considered is the meaning of the word. The connection (represented with a dotted line) between symbol and referent is made possible only through â€Å"concept. † Concept / notion Thought / reference [pic] ———————- Symbolobject Wordstands for reality Signifierreferent. Codesignified 5. 3Sense relations 5. 3. 1Synonymy Synonymy is the technical name for the sameness relation. 5. 3. 2Antonymy Antonymy is the name for oppositeness relation. There are three subtypes: gradable, complementary and converse antonymy. 1. Gradable antonymy Gradable antonymy is the commonest type of antonymy. They are mainly adjectives, e. g. good / bad, long / short, big / small, etc. 2. Complementary antonymy The members of a pair in complementary antonymy are complementary to each other. That is, they divide up the whole of a semantic filed completely. Not only the assertion of one means the denial of the other, the denial of one also means the assertion of the other, e. g. alive / dead, hit / miss, male / female, boy / girl, etc. 3. Converse antonymy Converse antonyms are also called relational opposites. This is a special type of antonymy in that the members of a pair do not constitute a positive-negative opposition. They show the reversal of a relationship between two entities, e. g. buy / sell, parent / child, above / below, etc. 5. 3. 3Hyponymy Hyponymy involves us in the notion of meaning inclusion. It is a matter of class membership. That is to say, when x is a kind of y, the lower term x is the hyponym, and the upper term y is the superordinate. Two or more hyponyms of the same one superordinate are called co-hyponyms, e. g. under flower, there are peony, jasmine, tulip, violet, rose, etc. , flower is the superordinate of peony, jasmine, etc. , peony is the hyponym of flower, and peony, jasmine, tulip, violet, rose, etc. are co-hyponyms. 5. 4Componential analysis Componential analysis defines the meaning of a lexical element in terms of semantic components. That is, the meaning of a word is not an unanalyzable whole. It may be seen as a complex of different semantic features. There are semantic units smaller than the meaning of a word. E. g. Boy: [+human][-adult][+male] Girl: [+human][-adult][-male] Son: child (x, y) & male (x) Daughter: child (x, y) & -male (x) Take: cause (x, (have (x, y))) Give: cause (x, (-have (x, y))) 5. 5Sentence meaning 5. 5. 1An integrated theory 1. Compositionality: A principle for sentence analysis, in which the meaning of a sentence depends on the meanings of the constituent words and the way they are combine. 2. Selection restrictions: Restrictions on the choice of individual lexical units in construction with other units. E. g. the word breathe will typically select an animate subject (boy, man, woman, etc. ) not an abstract or an inanimate (table, book, etc. ). The boy was still breathing. The desk was breathing. 5. 5. 2Logical semantics 1. Prepositional logic / prepositional calculus / sentential calculus: Prepositional logic is the study of the truth conditions for propositions: how the truth of a composite proposition is determined by the truth value of its constituent propositions and the connections between them. 2. Predicate logic / predicate calculus: Predicate logic studies the internal structure of simple propositions. Chapter 6 Language Processing in Mind 6. 1Introduction 1. Language is a mirror of the mind in a deep and significant sense. 2. Language is a product of human intelligence, created a new in each individual by operation that lie far beyond the reach of will or consciousness. 3. Psycholinguistics â€Å"proper† can perhaps be glossed as the storage, comprehension, production and acquisition of language in any medium (spoken or written). 4. Psycholinguistics is concerned primarily with investigating the psychological reality of linguistic structures. 5.  The differences between psycholinguistics and psychology of language. Psycholinguistics can be defined as the storage, comprehension, production and acquisition of language in any medium (spoken or written). It is concerned primarily with investigating the psychological reality of linguistic structures. On the other hand, the psychology of language deals with more general topics such as the extent to which language shapes thought, and from the psychology of communication, includes non-verbal communication such as gestures and facial expressions. 6.  Cognitive psycholinguistics: Cognitive psycholinguistics is concerned above all with making inferences about the content of the human mind. 7. Experimental psycholinguistics: Experimental psycholinguistics is mainly concerned with empirical matters, such as speed of response to a particular word. 6. 1. 1Evidence 1. Linguists tend to favor descriptions of spontaneous speech as their main source of evidence, whereas psychologists mostly prefer experimental studies. 2. The subjects of psycholinguistic investigation are normal adults and children on the one hand, and aphasics—-people with speech disorders—–on the other. The primary assumption with regard to aphasic patient that a breakdown in some part of language could lead to an understanding of which components might be independent of others. 6. 1. 2Current issues 1. Modular theory: Modular theory assumes that the mind is structured into separate modules or components, each governed by its own principles and operating independently of others. 2. Cohort theory: The cohort theory hypothesizes that auditory word recognition begins with the formation of a group of words at the perception of the initial sound and proceeds sound by sound with the cohort of words decreasing as more sounds are perceived. This theory can be expanded to deal with written materials as well. Several experiments have supported this view of word recognition. One obvious prediction of this model is that if the beginning sound or letter is missing, recognition will be much more difficult, perhaps even impossible. For example: Gray tie—— great eye; a name—–an aim; an ice man—–a nice man; I scream—–ice cream; See Mable—-seem able; well fare—-welfare; lookout——look out ; decade—–Deck Eight; Layman——laymen; persistent turn——persist and turn 3. Psychological reality: The reality of grammar, etc. as a purported account of structures represented in the mind of a speaker. Often opposed, in discussion of the merits of alternative grammars, to criteria of simplicity, elegance, and internal consistency. 4. The three major strands of psycholinguistic research: (1)Comprehension: How do people use their knowledge of language, and how do they understand what they hear or read? (2)Production: How do they produce messages that others can understand in turn? (3)Acquisition: How language is represented in the mind and how langua.