3.5 Communication and Language Development

Question 1

Language

Answer 1

our agreed upon systems of spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

Question 2

Phonemes

Answer 2

in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

Question 3

Morphemes

Answer 3

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; maybe a word or part of a word

Question 4

Grammar

Answer 4

in language, system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. semantics is the language’s set of rules for defining meaning from sounds, and syntax is its set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.

Question 5

Universal Grammar

Answer 5

human’s innate disposition to understand the principles and rules that govern grammar in all languages.

Question 6

Babbling Stage

Answer 6

the stage in speech and development, beginning around 4 months, during which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds that are not all related to the household language.

Question 7

Cooing

Answer 7

A spontaneous vocalization behavior that infants typically engage in when they are in a comfortable state.

Question 8

One-word Stage

Answer 8

the stage is speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

Question 9

Two-word Stage

Answer 9

beginning about age 2, the stage I’m speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two word statements.

Question 10

Telegraphic Speech

Answer 10

the early speech in which a child speaks like a telegram, using mostly nouns and verbs.

Question 11

Critical Period

Answer 11

an optimal period early in life of an organism when exposed to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development.

Question 12

Aphasia

Answer 12

impairment of language, usually cause by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area or Wernicke’s area

Question 13

Broca’s Area

Answer 13

A frontal lobe brain area, usually in the left hemisphere, that helps control language expression by directing muscle movements involved in speech

Question 14

Wernicke’s Area

Answer 14

a brain area usually in the left temporal lobe involved in language comprehension and expression

Question 15

Linguistic Determinism

Answer 15

Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think.

Question 16

Linguistic Relativism

Answer 16

the idea that language influences they way we think

Question 17

Overgeneralization

Answer 17

when a person uses a grammatical rule too broadly when learning a language