Ch. 8 Language

Question 1

Refers to the fact that an infinite number of utterances are theoretically possible in any human language.

Answer 1

productivity

Question 2

Refers to the fact that languages are structured and rule-governed.

Answer 2

regularity

Question 3

A system of rules for describing a particular language; consists of phonology, morphology, and syntax.

Answer 3

grammar

Question 4

The smallest unit of speech sound.

Answer 4

phoneme

Question 5

The smallest part of a word that carries independent meaning.

Answer 5

morpheme

Question 6

Rules describe how words may be combined to make acceptable utterances in a given language.

Answer 6

syntax

Question 7

The study of meaning, e.g., the meanings of words and whole sentences.

Answer 7

semantics

Question 8

Something that stands for or represents something else, without physically resembling it, i.e., the relation is arbitrary.

Answer 8

symbol

Question 9

A coherent unit of syntax within a sentence.

Answer 9

phrase

Question 10

The structure of sentences is analyzed into their constituent phrases.

Answer 10

phrase structure

Question 11

Consists of a noun or pronoun plus modifiers.

Answer 11

noun phrase

Question 12

Consists of a verb plus modifiers.

Answer 12

verb phrase

Question 13

The “dictionary in the mind” which contains information about the meanings and syntactic categories of all the words a person knows.

Answer 13

mental lexicon

Question 14

The process by which words in a sentence are transformed into a mental representation of their combined meaning.

Answer 14

parsing

Question 15

Connected speech or text.

Answer 15

discourse

Question 16

A sentence in which we make the wrong interpretation initially and must go back and correct ourselves.

Answer 16

garden path sentence

Question 17

Representation of the events or relations described in a text/discourse; may be non-propositional (e.g., mental imagery)

Answer 17

situation model