Block 2 - Language

Question 1

What does Hockett list as the similarities between human and other communication systems in his design features?

Answer 1

1. Sensorimotor mode of communication
2. Semanticity
3. Arbitrariness
4. Interchangeability
5. Pragmatic function
6. Cultural transmission

Question 2

What does Hockett list as the differences between human and other communication systems (i.e. which design features are mostly specific to humans?

Answer 2

1. Discreteness
2. Duality of patterning
3. Displacement
4. Productivity/creativity.

Question 3

Discreteness

Answer 3

A small list of of mostly meaningless atoms form the basic building block of words; phonemes.

Question 4

Duality of Patterning

Answer 4

Patterns of phonemes form words and patterns of words form sentences.

Question 5

Displacement

Answer 5

Language is not limited to the here and now, or even the real

Question 6

Productivity/creativity

Answer 6

Creating brand new words/expressions all the time.

Question 7

Semanticity

Answer 7

Meaningful signs/representations

Question 8

Arbitrariness

Answer 8

Physical characteristics of the signs themselves gives no indication about the meaning.

Question 9

Pragmatic function

Answer 9

Serves some useful features

Question 10

Interchangeability

Answer 10

Individuals can send and receive signals

Question 11

Cultural transmission

Answer 11

E.g. some songbirds need conspecific models

Question 12

What is Creolisation?

Answer 12

The development of full-fledged languages, creoles, from pidgins. Creolisation occurs when the sole linguistic exposure of a group of children consists of highly unstructured input (pidgin)

Question 13

How does creolisation occur?

Answer 13

The children use their innate language capacity to transform the pidgin (which has high syntactic variability) into a language with highly structured grammar. As this capacity is universal, the newly resulting languages have many grammatical similarities.

Question 14

What causes the structural similarities between the different creole languages?

Answer 14

The universal and innate language capacity of the children.

Question 15

What is the language bioprogram hypothesis?

Answer 15

Human babies, through evolution, come with a bioprogram. This bioprogram provides a skeletal model of language. Children then use their input to turn the skeletal model into the target language

Question 16

Mutations in which gene are strongly linked to grammar deficits?

Answer 16

FOX P2 gene

Question 17

What was the original estimate for the critical period of language learning?

Answer 17

0-7 years

Question 18

What do newer estimates say about the critical period of language learning?

Answer 18

That the learning rate is constant for approximately 17 years.

Question 19

What does the Wada test show?

Answer 19

That paralysis of the left hemisphere leads to speech deficits.

Question 20

When does left lateralisation of language begin?

Answer 20

At birth

Question 21

Objects from which visual field will split-brain patients find impossible to name or report?

Answer 21

The left visual field, becuase info from the left visual field goes to the right hemisphere and since there is no transfer of this information to language areas in the left hemisphere, participants are unable to identify the object.

Question 22

How does forward/backward speech elicit different patterns of activity in the brain?

Answer 22

Forward speech results in greater activation of the left hemisphere, but not backward speech or silence.
In the right hemisphere, forward and backward speech resulted in equal activation. n

Question 23

Recovering from left hemisphere language impairments by compensating through right hemisphere involves…

Answer 23

• homologous areas
  
  • The exact same areas that were responsible for language in the left hemisphere, are used when the right hemisphere takes over.

If you have a mutation in the Fox P2 gene you may not be able to recover from left hemisphere language impairments by compensating through right hemisphere.

Question 24

N400

Answer 24

Marker of semantic anomaly

Question 25

P600

Answer 25

Marker of syntactic anomaly

Question 26

Transitive verb

Answer 26

Takes two arguments e.g. Jan pushes the cart

Question 27

Intransitive verb

Answer 27

Takes only one argument e.g. Jan runs

Question 28

What is one of the earliest speech signals available to the fetus?

Answer 28

Prosody