Business Function Outsourcing Business and Management

Question: Discuss about theBusiness Function Outsourcingfor Business and Management. Answer: Introduction: Outsourcing can be defined as the process of delegating the internal work of the company to the third party. It is required by the companies in todays world to outsource some of the functions as it provides the companies with the best quality work in an effective manner. By outsourcing the work, companies can concentrate on their important function or the exclusive processes that is more important for the company to be focused upon. The investment of the company in hiring the professional to do that outsourced work is reduced as their work is done by third party Company on fewer prices (Bustinza, Molina and gutierrez?gutierrez, 2010). The below discussion is based on some of the articles, in which authors have discussed about the advantages ad disadvantages of outsourcing in the firms. This provide a clear idea of what are the situations that the companies are facing in terms of outsourcing their work with the third arty mad what are the actual disadvantages of the outsourcing functi on. What is Outsourcing: Outsourcing is defined differently by different authors but the actual gist of the authors is almost similar. Tayauova suggests that outsourcing is the combination of two words that is out and sourcing (Tayauova, G., 2012) After the combing the words, the definition of outsourcing can be predicted as taking help of the third party to conduct one of the function of the organization that is not so important. Antonucci, Frank and James in their article have also given the definition of outsourcing in terms of IT business. This is because this article is based on IT outsourcing. The author says that outsourcing is about making contract with the companies which are specialized in the field of IT. This helps the non IT companies to conduct their IT work outside the organization in cheaper and effective way. Outsourcing is the process that focuses on a particular kind of function that is performed by the company which is specialized in that field (Antonucci, Lordi and Tucker III, 1998). Sup pose, if any of the company wants to outsource its IT functions then the company has to come in contract with any of the IT outsourcing firm which can di that work for them. This help thee outsourced company to earn revenue and the benefits the other organization as their work can be conducted in effective way. The effectiveness is high because the outsourcing firm has the potential to hire more efficient workers and employees then other firms (Wllenweber, Beimborn, Weitzel and Knig, 2008). IT outsourcing is considered as the most crucial outsourcing by the author because, in case of IT outsourcing, the firms also have to invest money in training their employees so that they can at least have the basic knowledge about the software that the firm is using. Thus, it may be possible that outsourcing the IT functions may create mess in the organization as the IT specialist are not present in the organization but are at third party place (Carettas, 2009). It increase the training cost of the company as a whole. Some of the author argues that outsourcing is not about delegating the functions of the companies but it can also be done in case of decision making. This suggests that the decision that has been taken for the company is taken by the third party organization. This can be done in order to restrict the biasness as the third party conduct in-depth research on the issue without any partiality and takes decision accordingly (Ellram, Tate and Billington, 2008). Tayauova has discussed that the process of outsourcing is based on some of the theories. The major theory is the resource based theory which argues that the company used outsourcing method in order to fight with its weakness on one or the other process or function. Another theory is related to core competencies which are considered as the most relevant theory by most of the authors (Tayauova, G., 2012). This is because this theory suggests that outsourcing is done in order to support the organization to focu s on its core competencies. As the work that is not the main focus of the company is outsourced, the company has the capital and the resources to invest on its core competencies. As far as the third theory is considered, it is named as transaction theory. It is related to the cost of the activities conducted in the organization that needs to be outsourced (Gewald and Dibbern, 2009). The cost of every activity is determined in case of in house functioning and outsourcing and then the decision has been made whether the activity needs to be outsourced or not. Outsourcing: Advantages and Disadvantages: Al-Mutairi and Abdulrahman in this article suggested that the entire manufacturing firm should outsource some of its functions so that the fir can concentrate on its manufacturing function because it is the main function of the organization to earn revenue. As every coin have two sides so as any of the processes such as outsourcing (Al-Mutairi, A.O. and Al-Hammad, A., 2015) Outsourcing has many advantages and the first advantage that is considered to be the main advantage for the any of the company is reduction in the expenses of the company for the process that is outsourced. It has been identified that the firms should associate the cost with every activity and then outsources the activities that may cost less when outsourced. Other factors should also be considered along with this. Now, the question arises that how outsourcing can save money (Haugen, Musser and Lovelace, 2009). This is because the firms need not to hire the employees for that particular function that is to be outs ourced. Other than hiring, there is training cost also associated when any new member or employee is hired in the organization. Thus, outsourcing cuts down these costs of the company that is much higher than what the company pays to the third party in some of the functions. As the cost of the organization can be saved by using this method, this cost can be invested to some other activities that are core for the company (Kurdia, Abdul-Tharim, Jaffar, Azli, Shuib and Ab-Wahid, 2011). This acts as another advantage of outsourcing. Author has argued that manufacturing firm needs to outsource its function such as HR, IT etc. so that the firm can put on all its focus on manufacturing activities. This provides two way benefits to the organization first is that the organization can effectively perform its core processes and other is the outsource function that will also be conducted effectively as the outsourcing company is specialized in that particular field. In addition to all these adva ntages and benefits, one more advantage of outsourcing is the flexibility. The company or the third party organization is caoable of adaotng the changes in the external envirinmnt of the organization (Lacity, Khan and Willcocks, 2009). Thus, it helps the organization also who have outsourced their work. After assessing the advantages of outsourcing, the author has also mentioned some of the disadvantages of the process. The first disadvantage that has been argued by the author is about the loss of control of the management. It is obvious that if any organization outsource one of its function from another organization than they cannot have direct authority to manage work and the management loss the control over their work only. This is because now the third party management has to handle all the activities. In that case, loss of data can be also a threat. As the company needs to outsource its function, they have to discuss and disclose some of its internal data with the third party c ompany which can be leaked or misused by the firm (Liou and Chuang, 2010). Such practices are considered as very unethical in the business environment but it can affect the companies in negative way. Outsourcing affects the employees of the company in negative way. If the company outsources any of its function, it needs to downsize the organization structure. This downsizing can leads to firing of the employees who were working in the function that has been unstructured from now (Mani, Barua and Whinston, 2010). Thus, this creates a negative impact on the mindset of the employees as these practices develop the threat among the minds of the employees. The articles that have been studied in this literature review are somewhat similar to each other but the differences have been observed in the industries that have been discussed in different articles (Mohr, Sengupta and Slater, 2011). Tayauova has discussed about the banking industry while Al-Mutairi and Abdulrahman has discussed about the manufacturing industry. Another article that has been taken into account for understanding the topic is about the IT industry. After analyzing these articles, it has be determined that whatever be the industries, outsourcing has advantages and disadvantages for every industry in the market. Conclusion: The above literature review provides the knowledge about different aspects of outsourcing in different industries. It has been determined that outsourcing has been given different definition but the basic meaning of the term can be defined as the process in which work or a particular function of a company is delegated to the third party in order to get the work done from out of the company (Wadhwa and Ravindran, 2007). This facilitates the company to get it work done in cheaper and effective way. The companies also needs to face some of the obstacle at the time of outsourcing such as loss of management, fault by the third party, ineffective work, loss of data and security etc. these loses can be harmful for the company at the end. Thus, it is necessary for the company to have a proper approach before outsourcing its function or any of its work. The major point that has been discussed by every author is that the main advantage of outsourcing is that the companies can focus on their co re activities (Williamson, 2008). Core activities mean the main activities of the company's business. As the other activities and functions of the company are being outsourced so the company has the opportunity to deal with its core activities. All the resources that have been available with the company can be used to concentrate on the activities that are major for the companys business. The overall discussion suggests that outsourcing is the crucial decision to be taken by any of the company. Thus, company should make analysis of the situation properly before outsourcing any of its functions. References: Al-Mutairi, A.O. and Al-Hammad, A., 2015 Advantages and Disadvantages of Maintenance Outsourcing in Manufacturing Companies: With Special References to Jubail Industrial CityKSA.European Journal of Business and Management,7(20), pp. 8-27 Antonucci, Y.L., Lordi, F.C. and Tucker III, J.J., 1998. The pros and cons of IT outsourcing.Journal of Accountancy,185(6), p.26. Bustinza, O.F., Molina, L.M. and gutierrez?gutierrez, L.J., 2010. Outsourcing as seen from the perspective of knowledge management.Journal of Supply Chain Management,46(3), pp.23-39. Carettas, K., 2009.Outsourcing, teamwork business management. New York. Ellram, L.M., Tate, W.L. and Billington, C., 2008. Offshore outsourcing of professional services: A transaction cost economics perspective.Journal of Operations Management,26(2), pp.148-163. Gewald, H. and Dibbern, J., 2009. Risks and benefits of business process outsourcing: A study of transaction services in the German banking industry.Information Management,46(4), pp.249-257. Haugen, D., Musser, S. and Lovelace, K., 2009.Outsourcing. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. Kurdia, M.K., Abdul-Tharim, A.H., Jaffar, N., Azli, M.S., Shuib, M.N. and Ab-Wahid, A.M., 2011. Outsourcing in facilities management-A Literature Review.Procedia Engineering,20, pp.445-457. Lacity, M.C., Khan, S.A. and Willcocks, L.P., 2009. A review of the IT outsourcing literature: Insights for practice.The Journal of Strategic Information Systems,18(3), pp.130-146. Liou, J.J. and Chuang, Y.T., 2010. Developing a hybrid multi-criteria model for selection of outsourcing providers.Expert Systems with Applications,37(5), pp.3755-3761. Mani, D., Barua, A. and Whinston, A., 2010. An empirical analysis of the impact of information capabilities design on business process outsourcing performance.Mis Quarterly, pp.39-62. Mohr, J.J., Sengupta, S. and Slater, S.F., 2011. Mapping the outsourcing landscape.Journal of Business Strategy,32(1), pp.42-50. Tayauova, G., 2012. Advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing: analysis of outsourcing practices of Kazakhstan banks.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,41, pp.188-195. Wadhwa, V. and Ravindran, A.R., 2007. Vendor selection in outsourcing.Computers operations research,34(12), pp.3725-3737. Williamson, O.E., 2008. Outsourcing: Transaction cost economics and supply chain management.Journal of supply chain management,44(2), pp.5-16. Wllenweber, K., Beimborn, D., Weitzel, T. and Knig, W., 2008. The impact of process standardization on business process outsourcing success.Information Systems Frontiers,10(2), pp.211-224.

Things You Will Improve Through Personal Statement Editing

Personal statement editing can make a difference in the success of your application. Even if your application looks great, with outstanding test scores, remarkable transcripts, glowing letters of recommendation, and multiple research publications, the personal statement essay could make the difference between acceptance and rejection. Having a professional editor review your personal statement essay could improve your chances of success.There are a number of things you will improve through personal statement editing. First, the editor provides a specialist’s approach to personal statement essays. The editor has experience with essay writing, which you may not have practiced in a while. The editor’s proficiency enables a skilled review and creates suggestions for ways to improve the essay. Often, the editor can suggest ways for you to develop themes or important points in the personal statement essay, resulting in improved clarity.Second, the editor is familiar with the standard prompts and requirements of the admissions committees, learned through years of personal statement editing. The editor should be able to explain what the committee is looking for in a personal statement essay, based on the editor’s experience and understanding of the details for the personal statement essays. Personal statement editing can become a practiced art, which should result in a personal statement whose ideas flow clearly throughout the essay.Improve Your Personal Statement Essay Today!Third, the organization of the personal statement essay should improve through personal statement editing. Personal statement essays often benefit from restructuring of paragraphs or sentences which place ideas in a logical order, making it easier to follow the applicant’s meaning.Fourth, editors skilled in proofreading will review your personal statement essays for mistakes in grammar, syntax, and punctuation, which, when corrected, will immediately enhance the stateme nt’s readability and impact.Fifth, personal statement editing removes writing errors which could be a distraction to the reader, such as repetition of the same words or phrases. Personal statement editing also helps to eliminate ideas which may not contribute to the overall meaning of the personal statement essay.Things you will improve through personal statement editing include: greater clarity from development of themes in response to the essay question or prompt; strong flow of ideas based on editor’s familiarity with the process; logical organization of the personal statement; excellent proofreading for mistake-proof statements; and elimination of general writing errors which could be a distraction for the reader.

Free Essays on Compare And Contrast Protagonist In A&P And A Woman On A Roof

Compare and contrast Protagonist in A&P and A Woman on a Roof A protagonist is a principal character in the story. In the stories â€Å"A & P â€Å"and â€Å"A Woman on a Roof â€Å"have some common in the character of protagonist. Harry is a protagonist in the â€Å"A Woman on a Roof† and Sammy is a protagonist in the â€Å"A & P.† Harry and Sammy’s character should be compare and contrast, because they both are protagonist in the stories. Both of these characters have leading role in the stories. While both young men learn a lesson, Tom is more heroic and who lives in a greater fantasy world. In Both of the stories â€Å"A&P† and â€Å"A woman on the roof â€Å"‘s authors have used heroism, comic contrast and narrative voice to develop the theme of the stories. In â€Å"A his attention becomes fixed on the â€Å"queen† of the three girls. He was ready to checkout those girls until his boss showed up told them they weren’t attire decently. Lengel criticize girls with the comment â€Å"this isn’t the beach†, Sammy sense of heroism is aroused and he said quit. But never wanted to quit, he just wanted to get notice by those pretty girls in bathing suit. But the irony girls never needed his help; they stand up well under the Victorianism of Lengel â€Å"we are decent† said by those girls. While on other side of the ring Tom, the narrator of â€Å"a woman on the roof† had this feeling of that woman on the roof attracted to him. He was very attracted and had a crush on her. Woman’s beauty had turned into him in a stalker. Even though that woman on the roof never liked those guys, Tom still had guts and feelings that he should go and talk to her about him being attracted to her beauty. Comparing bot h of the protagonists Tom is more heroic manner, because he protected the woman on the roof by Stanley’s anger and he went up to talk to her, while Sammy, in fact,... Free Essays on Compare And Contrast Protagonist In A&P And A Woman On A Roof Free Essays on Compare And Contrast Protagonist In A&P And A Woman On A Roof Compare and contrast Protagonist in A&P and A Woman on a Roof A protagonist is a principal character in the story. In the stories â€Å"A & P â€Å"and â€Å"A Woman on a Roof â€Å"have some common in the character of protagonist. Harry is a protagonist in the â€Å"A Woman on a Roof† and Sammy is a protagonist in the â€Å"A & P.† Harry and Sammy’s character should be compare and contrast, because they both are protagonist in the stories. Both of these characters have leading role in the stories. While both young men learn a lesson, Tom is more heroic and who lives in a greater fantasy world. In Both of the stories â€Å"A&P† and â€Å"A woman on the roof â€Å"‘s authors have used heroism, comic contrast and narrative voice to develop the theme of the stories. In â€Å"A his attention becomes fixed on the â€Å"queen† of the three girls. He was ready to checkout those girls until his boss showed up told them they weren’t attire decently. Lengel criticize girls with the comment â€Å"this isn’t the beach†, Sammy sense of heroism is aroused and he said quit. But never wanted to quit, he just wanted to get notice by those pretty girls in bathing suit. But the irony girls never needed his help; they stand up well under the Victorianism of Lengel â€Å"we are decent† said by those girls. While on other side of the ring Tom, the narrator of â€Å"a woman on the roof† had this feeling of that woman on the roof attracted to him. He was very attracted and had a crush on her. Woman’s beauty had turned into him in a stalker. Even though that woman on the roof never liked those guys, Tom still had guts and feelings that he should go and talk to her about him being attracted to her beauty. Comparing bot h of the protagonists Tom is more heroic manner, because he protected the woman on the roof by Stanley’s anger and he went up to talk to her, while Sammy, in fact,...

Affirmative action debate essays

Affirmative action debate essays When they were first initiated, affirmative action policies were needed to address the discrimination faced by women and members of minority ethnic groups. These policies have enabled many people to secure better employment and educational opportunities. In their wake, however, affirmative action policies have also spawned criticisms of reverse discrimination, and given rise to charges that in the long run, these policies harm the people they were intended to help. This paper argues that while affirmative action policies were necessary in 1965, they are no longer appropriate in 2003. In fact, this paper presents arguments why affirmative action policies are ineffective in addressing the discrimination problems faced by African Americans, Latinos 1. Race is not a sharply-defined category. Many critics of affirmative action point to the problem of "racial boxing" that these policies inherently promote. Linda Chavez, for example, argues that race categories are arbitrary concepts, which are fluid and This problem is best illustrated in the arbitrary definitions of what constitutes being "Latino" or "Hispanic." An Argentinean person of Spanish ancestry, for example, would most likely be considered "Caucasian." However, if the same person speaks fluent Spanish instead of fluid English, he automatically becomes "Hispanic." Such arbitrary classifications are also at work among other racial groups. All Asians are usually lumped together because of the way they look. Such a catchall category, however glosses over important cultural differences and even makes light of deep-seated cleavages between groups like the Japanese and Koreans. Even Caucasian people of Eastern European descent are asserting their distinctness from other Caucasians. Just as it is impossible to classify who belongs to what ethnic group, it is also virt...

Why are passwords and other good information security technologies Essay

Why are passwords and other good information security technologies compromised by the people who use them What can we do to improve their contribution to information security - Essay Example Password attacks can be implemented by means of numerous diverse techniques, involving Trojan horse programs, brute-force attacks, packet sniffers and IP spoofing. While IP spoofing and packet sniffers are able to produce user accounts and passwords, password harasses usually refer to frequent efforts to recognize an user account and password; these repeated cracks are called brute-force attacks (Johnson, 2007). By means of the term information security we recognize an intellect of possible risks implicated in the sensitivity of the information. With information technologies coming into the view the image broadens its limits. At this instant it turns out to be essential to recognize the nature of hazard involved and next there should be a well-formulated description of the term safety itself (Rantasaari et al, 2003). In broad sense, there are necessarily three sides of the term security. Primarily, it shows the accessibility of assets, though material or virtual, that is beneath possession of an entity or grouping. Secondly, there is a sense of privacy involved in this practice in view to these assets, in this case data, dealings and communication. Third and as a final point, there should be an awareness of truthfulness which allows the user or users to consider in the context of security (Goldwasser et al, 2007). Here I will explain how passwords and other good information security technologies compromised by the people who use them. The first factor that usually causes the security leak is the sharing of the password by the people with anyone for any purpose. Passwords should not be shared with anyone because it can be casuse of information and data theaft and there is danger of accessing another individual’s protected resources, accounts and personal records. Anothre reason is not changing the passwords periodically. If we do not

10 different companies selected to watch with relation to their stock Coursework

10 different companies selected to watch with relation to their stock prices - Coursework Example Each of these stocks are a part of the banking sector. Seven of the stocks are companies based in America. Two are based in the UK, and one is based in Canada. The objective of this project is to pick stocks which will rise in value during the length of this project, which spanned from April 16 to May 14. Additionally, an analyses of the banking sector in the UK and the United States is explained, because the environmental and exogenous issues which surrounding the banking sector will impact if the stocks will rise or fall during the time period. What was found was that the banking stocks lost much of their value during the time period, with two exceptions, both of which were smaller banks. Introduction Stock prices are inevitably affected by different events in the world. In this case, we are entering a period of instability in Europe, as well as recovering from a global recession which was largely caused by the meltdown of the large banks in the UK and especially the United States. Because of this recession, the UK has been forced to implement austerity measures which, among other things, cuts financial resources to its largest banks. Because these financial resources were important to these banks, in that it helped the banks recover from the recession and lend money, it stands to reason that the largest banks might be affected. Moreover, in the United States, the banks are going through a transition period with greater regulation. That said, a recent scandal involving JP Morgan Chase, which lost $2 billion in trading losses, show that the Wall Street banks might still be engaging in risky behaviour. Because of these factors, the stocks in our portfolio lost money, so the objective was not met, in that the objective was to pick stocks which would rise in value. This paper will explain how much the $10,000,000 fund was worth, week by week, and how much it was finally worth, along with explanations as to why the stocks performed the way that they did. Also incl uded is a comparison of our stocks with stocks from the Dow Jones average and the automotive sector. The automotive sector’s performance was similar to the banking performance, which denotes that stocks, in general, are having a rough go. Stock Fund Creation Overview of Sector Because the banks which have been selected are banks based both in the UK (HSBC and Barclays) and the United States (every other bank on the list except the Bank of Canada), the main thrust of this analysis will involve the banking sectors in these two countries. United Kingdom As noted above, HSBC and Barclays is based in the UK. The UK’s banking sector is having a difficult time right now because of the austerity measures that the UK has implemented, which has caused Moody’s to downgrade the rating of 12 UK financial institutions (US Banks Downgraded as Confidence Slumps). To understand why this downgrade might

Linguistics and Language Essay Example for Free

Linguistics and Language Essay What will be covered in this class? †¢ How do we produce and recognize speech? †¢ How do we perceive words, letters, and sentences? †¢ How do we learn and recall information from texts? †¢ How can we improve texts to make them easier to understand? †¢ How does the brain function to process language? †¢ What are the causes and effects of reading disabilities? †¢ Is there language in other species? Central themes in psycholinguistics 1) What knowledge of language is needed for us to use language? Tacit (implicit) knowledge vs. Explicit knowledge  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ tacit: knowledge of how to perform something, but not aware of full rules †¢ explicit: knowledge of the processes of mechanisms in performing that thing 2) What cognitive processes are involved in the ordinary use of language? How do we understand a lecture, read a book, hold a conversation? Cognitive processes: perception, memory, thinking, learning Some definitions of basic components of language: Semantics: The meaning of words and sentences Syntax: The grammatical arrangement of words in a sentence or phrase Phonology: The sound pattern of language Pragmatics: How language is used in a social context  Examples from psycholinguistics Parsing garden path sentences The novice accepted the deal before he had a chance to check his finances, which put him in a state of conflict when he realized he had a straight flush. 1) The defendant examined by the lawyer turned out to be unreliable 2). The evidence examined by the lawyer turned out to be unreliable The process of parsing is the process of making decisions The effect of prior knowledge on comprehension The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into different groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities, that is the next step; otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important, but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. At first the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then one never can tell. After the procedure is completed, one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once more, and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is part of life. Bransford Johnson, 1973 Recall: No context: 2. 8 idea units out of a maximum of 18 Context afterwards: 2. 7 idea units Context before: 5. 8 idea units Child language development How many words do you know? Hint: Dictionary has about: 450,000 entries Test high school graduates: How many words do they know? About 45,000 english words About 60,000 including names and foreign words. The average six year old knows about 13,000 words. Learning about 10 words per day since age 1. (One every 90 minutes) How much do we have to teach children to learn language? Do you have to teach a child to walk? Is it the same way of learning a language? My teacher holded the baby rabbits and we patted them I eated my dinner A brief history of psycholinguistics Wilhem Wundt (early 1900s) Interest in mental processes of language production †¢ Sentence as the primary unit of language †¢ Speech production is the transformation of complete thought processes into sequentially organized speech segments. Behaviorism (1920s-1950s) †¢ Rejected the focus on mental processes †¢ Measurement based on objective behavior (primarily in lab animals) †¢ How does experience (reward and punishment) shape behavior? B. F. Skinner: Children learn language through shaping (correction of speech errors) Associative chain theory: A sentence consists of a chain of associations between individual words in the sentence What’s wrong with the behaviorist approach? Noam Chomsky (1950s present) 1) Colorless green ideas sleep furiously 2) Furiously sleep ideas green colorless. 3) George picked up the baby. 4) George picked the baby up. Almost every sentence uttered is a new combination of words The Poverty of stimulus argument: There is not enough information in the language samples given to children to account for the richnes and complexity of children’s language The pattern of development is not based on parental speech but on innate language knowledge Linguistic Diversity vs. Linguistic Universals Linguistic diversity There appears to be a lot of diversity among languages Even within languages there is diversity When are two languages different? We speak the same language if we can understand each other  Exceptions: Norwegian and Swedish Cantonese and Mandarin Dialects within languages: The myth of pure language How/why do languages change? Why does there seem to be a correct English? Members of the dominant (most powerful) sub-culture tend to speak one dialect and may punish those who do not Linguistic Chauvinism Belief that one’s own language/dialect is the best of all possible languages Black English Vernacular (BEV) Study by William Labov Interviewed African-American street youth You know, like some people say if you’re good an’ sh*t, your spirit goin’ t’heaven . . . ‘n if you bad, your spirit goin’ to hell. Well, bullsh*t! Your spirit goin’ to hell anyway, good or bad. [Why? ] Why? I’ll tell you why. ‘Cause, you see, doesn’ nobody really know that it’s a God, y’know, ‘cause I mean I have seen black gods, white gods, all color gods, and don’t nobody know it’s really a God. An’ when they be sayin’ if you good, you goin’ t’heaven, tha’s bullsh*t, ‘cause you ain’t goin’ to no heaven, ‘cause it ain’t no heaven for you to go to. †¢ Place holders: There vs. It in the copula †¢ Copula: Is, Was optional †¢ Negatives: You ain’t goin’ to no heaven. BEV just as linguistically complex as Standard American English We don’t see/understand the complexity in other languages Moral: All languages seem to permit as wide range of expressions as others Linguistic Universals What is in common with all languages? Sentences are built from words based on the same physiological processes †¢ All languages have words †¢ All humans have ways of making sounds. †¢ Languages tend to use a small set of phonemic sounds †¢ Phoneme: The minimal unit of sound that contributes to meaning How many phonemes in a language? †¢ English: 40 phonemes †¢ Range: Polynesian 11 to Khoisan 141. Discreteness Messages in human language (e. g. speech sounds) are made up of units of which there is a discrete (limited) number Arbitrariness The relationship between meaningful elements in language and their denotation is independent of any physical resemblance between the two. Words do not have to look or sound like what they describe Openness †¢ New linguistic messages are created freely and easily †¢ Languages are not constrained in a way so that there are a limited number of messages that can be created. †¢ Linguistic Productivity: The ability to understand and create an unlimited number of sentences. The question studied by psycholinguists is how to characterize and account for the creativity to construct and create an infinite number of sentences given the limited capabilities of the human brain Duality of Patterning Language involves relating two different kinds of patterns or forms of representation †¢ A phonological system †¢ A semantic system These two systems use very different types of codes, although there is a phonological representation for each item in the semantic system Phrase structure Information on how a sentence is grouped into phrases. The quiet boy ate the red apple A set of Phrase Structure rules: PS 1 S (sentence) - NP + VP PS 2 NP (noun phrase)- det + (adj) + N PS 3 VP (verb phrase) - V +NP PS 4 N (noun) - boy, dog, man, book PS 5 V (verb) - ate, broke, kissed PS 6 adj (adjective - quiet, red, happy, wormy PS 7 det (determiner) - a, the We use lexical-insertion rules to put words into the structure. Phrase-structure rules provide a good account of phrase-structure ambiguity. They are broiling hens Morphology Morphology is the component of grammar that builds words out of units of meaning (morphemes) A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language How many morphemes? bird firetruck undereducated unmicrowaveability Insights from American Sign Language (ASL) Unlike speech, signs are expressed in visual or spatial form Do a lot of the same grammatical concepts hold? Arbitrariness ASL possesses iconicity signs can represent objects or actions to which they refer. However, the degree of iconicity has declined over the years Duality of Patterning signs are composed of smaller elements that are meaningless Example: 3 parameters †¢ 19 values of hand configuration. †¢ 12 values of place of articulation †¢ 24 values of movements Meaningless patterns can be combined in various ways to from ASL signs. What about openness and discreteness within ASL? Transformational Grammar (Chomsky 1950s) Language: an infinite set of well-formed sentences Grammar: A finite set of rules that generates sentences in the language How do we know that a grammar is a good theory of language? Three criteria: Observational Adequacy: A grammar is observationally adequate if it generates all acceptable sequences and no unacceptable sequences. Descriptive adequacy: A grammar must also explain how a sentence relates to other sentences that are similar opposite in meaning. The ball was caught by John John caught the ball The ball was not caught by John Explanatory adequacy It is possible for multiple grammars to attain observational and descriptive adequacy. Which is the correct/best one? Children learning language are presented with many samples of language and must determine the grammar from these samples. There must be some innate language constraints that help children determine the correct grammar. There exist Linguistic Universals that are common to all languages. The fact that there are similarities in languages is based on the fact that languages are determined by the nature of the mental structures and processes which characterize human beings A Grammar must explain the role of linguistic universals in language acquisition Deep and Surface structure Deep structure: The structure of the sentence that conveys the meaning of the sentence. Surface Structure: The superficial arrangement of constituents Deep structure ambiguity: A single surface structure that is based on two different deep structures Flying planes can be dangerous. Phrase structure rules would not be able to account for the differences in meaning Sentences can have similar phrase structure, although their underlying structure is different: John is easy to please John is eager to please Sentences can different surface structure, but similar deep structure Arlene played the tuba The tuba was played by Arlene Transformational Grammar A two part process to derive a sentence 1) Use Phrase-structure rules to generate the underlying tree structure (deep structure) 2) Apply a sequence of transformational rules to the deep  structure to generate the surface structure of the sentence Transformations occur by adding, deleting or moving constituents John phoned up the woman John phoned the woman up Phrase structure approach: Two different rules VP V + (particle) + NP VP V + NP + (particle) Each sentence is derived separately, using different phrase structure rules. Transformational grammar approach: One rule V + particle + NP V + NP + particle John phoned up the interesting woman John phoned the interesting woman up John phoned up the woman with the curly hair John phoned the woman with the curly hair up. Restrictions on transformations The particle-movement transformation can not be applied to pronouns John called them up *John called up them Example 2: Passive transformation NP1 + V + NP2 NP2 + be + V + en + by + NP1 Arlene played the tuba The tuba was played by Arlene Psychological Reality of Transformational Grammar If using language is a process of converting the deep structure to the surface structure, then the number of transformation rules applied should affect how long it takes to process a sentence. However, experiments do not consistently show that this holds true Current theories of grammar Lexical-Function Grammar  Made up of three components: a constituent structure, a functional structure, and lexical entries Constituent Structure: Similar to phrase structure Functional Structure: All the information needed for semantic interpretation John told Mary to leave Bill Predicate tell (subj, obj, V-comp) Tense Past Subj John Obj Mary V-comp predicate leave subj Mary obj Bill Lexical Entries Lexical entries contain information about: †¢ the forms of the word †¢ the kinds of sentences into which they fit, †¢ arguments and semantic roles Mary kissed John John was kissed by Mary Entry for kiss includes underlying semantic structure  kiss: (agent, patient). Forms of the word kiss: agent = subject: patient = object (be) kiss: agent=object: patient = subject Major significance of LFG Most of the explanation of how we process language is based on the lexicon (where we store information about words) . Government-Binding Theory or Universal Grammar Chomsky’s view of innate grammatical mechanisms. In GB theory, grammar is modular. Grammar due to interaction of several independent subsystems, or modules. Each module is fairly simple and performs part of the task But all modules interact in order to constrain the rules made by the other modules in the grammar. Implications We all inherit a universal grammar that can be set to different parameter values. These parameter values correspond to different languages. As we get experience with a language, we acquire these parameter values, and thus the language upon which it is based. Research methods in Psycholinguistics How do we observe, collect information on phenomena related to psycholinguistics? Naturalistic Observation Observing information in a non-experimental setting Slips of the tongue Phonological switching: Crushing blow Blushing crow semantic replacements: blond eyes for blond hair. Language Acquisition The use of language over time Data from naturalistic observation Rich, but hard to analyze Controlled experiments Goal: test an empirical hypothesis Hypothesis: A chapter will be easier to understand if each section starts with a summary of what will be said. Independent Variable: Variable that is manipulated to test the hypothesis. Dependent Variable: Variable representing the behavior we want to measure Control Variables: Other variables we need to control in order to see the effect of the independent variable Subjects: Who is going to participate in the experiment? Analysis: How do we know if there are differences bewteen the two chapters? The Human Information Processing System What psychological mechanisms are involved in using language? The Sensory store Processes incoming information from the environment †¢ Individual sensory stores for each sense †¢ Information retained for a short duration The visual sensory store Experiments by Sperling (1960) X M R K C N J P V F L B The partial report technique Auditory sensory store Experiment by Darwin, Turvey Crowder (1972) 3 digits or letters auditorally presented to each ear and center at the same time. What is the use of the sensory store? It maintains information long enough so that we can do additional processing to it. Working memory or short term memory (STM) STM used to describe the fact that it holds information for a short time, while working memory refers to the processing capacity. STM works as a temporary holding place for intermediate decisions. Limited in size. Chunking Working memory: there is a limited amount of processing capacity that you can use as you perform a problem Long term memory Knowledge of how to do things, things we have learned, grammar rules, personal memories. All knowledge that is not active. Information that becomes active is retrieved from LTM and put in STM. Anything we learn is first processed in STM and some of it is put into LTM Episodic vs. Semantic Memory distinction Semantic memory †¢ Organized knowledge of words, concepts, symbols and objects. motor skills, general knowledge, spatial knowledge , social skills. †¢ All information is organized semantically, but not tagged based on when it was learned. Episodic memory †¢ Holds traces of events specific time and place. †¢ Memory of personal experiences. Interaction between semantic and episodic memory. What does the organization of the information processing system have to do with language processing? Pattern Recognition Parsing/understanding sentences in working memory This is a long sentence and yet somehow you can keep it all in working memory The organization of Long Term Memory That cat plays really cool jazz Serial vs. Parallel Processing Serial processing: One process working at a time Parallel Processing: Multiple processes working at a time In a serial model of language processing, individual modules would work one at a time to process the information. A parallel model would say that the processes happen at the same time. Parallel models as neurally inspired models of cognitive processes Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up processing Cognitive processing occurs at levels Bottom-up processing is done in such a way that all processing occurs starting from the lowest level processes and proceeds onto the higher level processes Higher level processes do not influence any of the processing done at the lower levels Top down processing: Information at the higher levels influences processing at the lower levels. Advantages and disadvantages of Top-Down processing Automatic vs. Controlled processes We have a limited amount of processes that we can do at a time. Controlled processing: Processes that require a substantial amount of cognitive processing. Automatic processing: Processes that do not require a substantial amount of cognitive processing. The role of practice in automatic processing The Stroop effect Putting it all together: Cognitive processes in action The novice accepted the deal before he had a chance to check his finances, which put him in a state of conflict when he realized he had a straight flush. The Internal Lexicon How are words stored? What are they made up of? How are word related to each other? How do we use them? Internal lexicon The representation of words in long term memory Lexical Access: How do we activate the meanings of words? Aspects of Meaning Reference: The relationship between words and things in the world Things in the world are referents of a word My dog has fleas My dog is from Mars But not all reference can be mapped to concrete things Abstract words: Love, Justice, Equality Non existent objects: Unicorn, Martians Meaning is not restricted to the real world, but also imaginary worlds Sense: The relationship of a word with other words in the language Student at NMSU vs. Undergraduate at NMSU Synonymy (same meaning) Car Automobile Antonymy (opposite meaning) Happy Sad Incompatibility (do the words contradict each other? ) John is happy vs. John is sad Hyponymy (are they part of the same class? ) A dog is an animal, Bowser is a dog, Denotation vs. Connotation Denotation: The objective meaning of the word Connotation: The aspect of the meaning beyond its explicit meaning Bachelor Spinster Hungry Starving The Mental Representation of Meaning The representation of the meaning of a word is based on the semantic features of that word. We acquire the meaning of a word by learning its semantic features Children make semantic mistakes Verbs of possession. We understand more than the meaning, we have knowledge of the relations between these words sold vs. paid give vs. receive lose vs. find Prototypes: Some members of a category are better instances of the category than others Apple vs. pomegranate What makes a prototype? More central semantic features What type of dog is a prototypical dog What are the features of it? We are faster at retrieving prototypes of a category than other members of the category Semantic Networks. Words can be represented as an interconnected network of sense relations †¢ Each word is a particular node †¢ Connections among nodes represent semantic relationships Mental models: A model/understanding of how the world works and how pieces of textual information fits in with it. John is sitting in a chair. That chair is on a table. The table is blue and round. John has red hair. The structure of the Internal Lexicon How do these pieces of semantic information relate to each other? Semantic verification task An A is a B An apple is a fruit A robin is a bird A robin is an animal A dog has teeth  A fish has gills A fish has feathers An apple has teeth NMSU is in New Mexico Harvard is in California Use time on verification tasks to map out the structure of the lexicon. Models of the Lexicon Collins and Quillian Hierarchical Network model Lexical entries stored in a hierarchy, with features attached to the lexical entries Representation permits cognitive economy Testing the model Sentence Verification time Robins eat worms 1310 msecs Robins have feathers 1380 msecs Robins have skin 1470 msecs A category size effect: Subjects do an intersection search Problems with Collins and Quillian model . 1) Effect may be due to frequency of association 2) Assumption that all lexical entries at the same level are equal The Typicality Effect Which is a more typical bird? Ostrich or Robin. A whale is a fish vs. A horse is a fish Major conclusions of the model: 1) If a fact about a concept is frequently encountered, it will be stored with that concept even if it could be inferred from a more distant concept. 2) The more frequently encountered a fact about a concept is, the more strongly that fact will be associated with the concept. And the more strongly associated with a concept facts are, the more rapidly they are verified. 3) Verifying facts that are not directly stored with a concept but that must be inferred takes a relatively long time. Spreading Activation Models (Collins Loftus) †¢ Words represented in lexicon as a network of relationships †¢ Organization is a web of interconnected nodes in which connections can represent: categorical relations degree of association typicality Retrieval of information †¢ Spreading activation †¢ Limited amount of activation to spread †¢ Verification times depend on closeness of two concepts in a network Context effect in spreading activation models Present either: Murder is a crime or Libel is a crime Then get verification time for Robbery is a crime Subjects faster when they see Murder than Libel. Why? Advantages of Collins and Loftus model †¢ Recognizes diversity of information in a semantic network †¢ Captures complexity of our semantic representation †¢ Consistent with results from priming studies Lexical Access What factors are involved in retrieving information from the lexicon? Semantic Priming Meyer Schvaneveldt (1971) Lexical Decision Task Prime Target Time Nurse Butter 940 msecs Bread Butter 855 msecs Evidence for associative spreading activation. Ratcliff and McKoon (1981) Subjects study and memorize The doctor hated the book Task: Was this word from the sentence you memorized? Prime Target Time None Book 667 msecs Doctor Book 624 msecs Word Frequency Does word frequency play a role in lexical access? Lexical Decision Task: gambastya, revery, voitle, chard, wefe, cratily, decoy, puldow, raflot, oriole, vuluble, booble, chalt, awry, signet, trave, crock, cryptic, ewe, himpola mulvow, governor, bless, tuglety, gare, relief, ruftily, history, pindle, develop, gardot, norve, busy, effort, garvola, match,sard, pleasant, coin, maisle. Lexical Decision is dependent on word frequency Eyemovement studies: Subjects spend about 80 msecs longer fixating on low-frequency words than high-frequency words Morphological Structure So we strip off the prefixes and suffixes of a word for lexical access? Decision = Decide + ion Lexical Decision Tasks: Prime Target Time Nurse Butter 940 msecs Bread Butter 855 msecs Evidence for associative spreading activation Ratcliff and McKoon (1981) Subjects study and memorize The doctor hated the book Task: Was this word from the sentence you memorized? Prime Target Time None Book 667 msecs Doctor Book 624 msecs Word Frequency Does word frequency play a role in lexical access? Lexical Decision Task: gambastya, revery, voitle, chard, wefe, cratily, decoy, puldow, raflot, oriole, vuluble, booble, chalt, awry, signet, trave, crock, cryptic, ewe, himpola mulvow, governor, bless, tuglety, gare, relief, ruftily, history, pindle, develop, gardot, norve, busy, effort, garvola, match,sard, pleasant, coin, maisle. Lexical Decision is dependent on word frequency Eyemovement studies: Subjects spend about 80 msecs longer fixating on low-frequency words than high-frequency words Morphological Structure So we strip off the prefixes and suffixes of a word for lexical access? Decision = Decide + ion Lexical Decision Tasks: Presented subjects with a sequence of words to study Examined the probability of recognizing words over 14 days Performance systematically decays over time Negatively accelerated decay. Bahrick (1984) Students retention of spanish-english vocabulary items from 0 to 50 years Power law of decay Review on the internal lexicon Aspects of meaning: Reference and Sense Denotation and Connotation What is the mental representation of meaning? Models of the Lexicon Hierarchical Network Model Spreading Activation Model What factors are involved in retrieving information from the lexicon? Semantic Priming Word Frequency Morphological Structure Lexical Ambiguity Retention of lexical items.