9.3 Communicating With Others: The Development and Use of Language

Question 1

phonemes

Answer 1

• the elementary sounds of our language

Question 2

morphemes

Answer 2

• the smallest units of meaning in a language

Question 3

syntax

Answer 3

• the set of grammatical rules that control how words are put together

Question 4

contextual information

Answer 4

• the elements of communication that are not part of the content of language but that help us understand its meaning

Question 5

Broca’s area

Answer 5

• an area in front of the left hemisphere near the motor cortex

Question 6

Wernicke’s area

Answer 6

• an area of the brain next to the auditory cortex

Question 7

aphasia

Answer 7

• a condition in which language functions are severely impaired

Question 8

babbling

Answer 8

• intentional vocalizations that lack specific meaning

Question 9

overextensions

Answer 9

• use a given word in a broader context than appropriate

Question 10

generativity

Answer 10

• the fact that speakers of a language can compose sentences to represent new ideas that they have never before been exposed to

Question 11

deep structure

Answer 11

• how the idea is represented in the fundamental universal grammar that is common to all languages

Question 12

surface structure

Answer 12

• how it is expressed in any one language

Question 13

bilingualism

Answer 13

• the ability to speak two languages

Question 14

linguistic relativity

Answer 14

• the idea that language and its structures influence and limit human thought