Chapter 8: Language and thought (1)

Question 1

What are the properties of langauge?

Answer 1

1. Language is symbolic. People use spoken sounds and written words to represent objects, actions, events, and ideas.
2. Language is semantic or meaningful
3. language is generative: A limited number of symbols can be combined in an infinite variety of ways to generate an endless array of novel messages.
4. Language is structured. Rules govern
   the arrangement of words into phrases and sentences

Question 2

What are the smallest speech units in language?

Answer 2

Phonemes are the smallest speech units in a language that can be distinguished perceptually.

Question 3

A letter in the alphabet can represent
more than one phoneme if it has more than one pronunciation. True or false?

Answer 3

True.

Question 4

What are morphemes?

Answer 4

Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language.

(ex: root words as well as prefixes and suffixes)

Question 5

Define semantics.

Answer 5

Semantics is the area of language concerned with understanding the meaning of words and word combinations.

Question 6

Define syntax.

Answer 6

Syntax is a system of rules that specify how words can be arranged into sentences. A simple rule of syntax is that a sentence must have both a subject and a verb.

Question 7

What is the typical language development?

Answer 7

Write the table on cheat sheet

Question 8

Define a critical period.

Answer 8

A critical period refers to a limited period in the development of an organism when it is optimal for
certain capacities to emerge because the organism is especially responsive to certain experiences.

Question 9

_________is considered to be one of the monumental milestones in language acquisition

Answer 9

Babbling is considered to be one of the monumental milestones in language acquisition

Question 10

Studies showed that Deaf babies exhibited “manual babbling”, what is manual babbling?

Answer 10

deaf babies exhibited “manual babbling”—babbling with their hands in a manner similar to the verbal babbling of hearing

Question 11

Toddlers’ receptive vocabulary is larger than their productive vocabulary. Explain.

Answer 11

That is, they can comprehend more words spoken by others than they can produce to express themselves.

Question 12

Define fast mapping

Answer 12

Fast mapping is the process by which children map a word onto an underlying concept after only one exposure.

ex: If someone shows a child a picture of a dog and a picture of a platypus, and then they are asked to point to the platypus, they should know what it is simply by knowing what the dog is.

Question 13

Differentiate between overextension and underextension.

Answer 13

An overextension occurs when a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a wider set of objects or actions than it is meant to. For example, a child might use
the word ball for anything round—oranges, apples.

Underextensions occur when a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a narrower set of objects or actions than it is meant to. For example, a child might use the word doll to refer only to a single

Question 14

What is telegraphic speech?

Answer 14

Telegraphic speech consists mainly of content words; articles, prepositions, and other less critical words are omitted.

ex: A child might say, “Give doll” rather than “Please give me the doll.”

Question 15

Define overregularizations.

Answer 15

Overregularizations occur when grammatical rules are incorrectly generalized to irregular cases where
they do not apply.

For example, children will say things like “The girl goed home

Question 16

What is metalinguistic awareness?

Answer 16

Metalinguistic awareness—the ability to reflect on the use of language.

As metalinguistic awareness grows, children begin to “play” with language, coming up with puns and jokes.

Question 17

What is the chief disadvantage bilinguals have?

Answer 17

The chief disadvantage is that bilinguals appear to have a slight handicap in terms of raw language processing speed and verbal fluency (the ease with which people can think of words).

Question 18

Chimps simply have the appropriate vocal apparatus to acquire human speech. True or false?

Answer 18

Chimps simply didn’t have the
appropriate vocal apparatus to acquire human speech.

Question 19

What is the behaviorist theory to explain learning language?

Answer 19

Behavioral theorists also use the principles of imitation and reinforcement to explain how children learn syntax.

Children learn language the same way
they learn everything else: through imitation, reinforcement, and other established principles of conditioning.

Question 20

How did Noam Chomsky disprove Skinner’s theory of language?

Answer 20

Chomsky pointed out that there are an infinite number of sentences in a language. It’s therefore unreasonable to expect that children learn language by imitation.

According to Chomsky, children learn the rules of language, not specific verbal responses, as Skinner proposed.