Cog Psych: Language

Question 1

Language components

Answer 1

Phonemes: smallest sound units of a language
Morphemes: smallest meaningful units
Semantics: meanings of words/sentences
Syntax: grammatical arrangement of words in sentences

Question 2

Learning theory

Answer 2

Learning theorists believe that language is acquired through classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and/or modeling (Skinner)

Question 3

Cognitive developmental theory

Answer 3

Cog. dev. theorists believe that language has to do with the child’s capacity for symbolic thought, which develops toward the end of the sensorimotor period; this perspective holds that language continues to develop according to the child’s cognitive level

Question 4

Chomsky

Answer 4

Criticized behaviorist perspective on language, proposed nativist theory of language acquisition; theorized language acquisition device (LAD), an innate knowledge of rule structures in language

Question 5

Deep vs. Surface Grammatical Structure (Chomsky)

Answer 5

Surface structure: actual word order of the sentence

Deep (abstract structure): underlying form that specifies the meaning of the sentence

Question 6

Transformational rules (Chomsky)

Answer 6

tell us how we can change one structure into another

Ex. how to change a statement into a question

Question 7

Whorfian hypothesis (Benjamin Whorf)

Answer 7

Linguistic relativity hypothesis; suggests our perception of reality is determined by the content of language
Ex. Eskimos are better at discriminating types of snow than English speakers due to variety of names for snow in Eskimo language
There is both supporting and disputing evidence on this theory

Question 8

Gender differences in Language Development

Answer 8

Studied by Eleanor Macoby and Carol Jacklin; found evidence of better verbal abilities in girls in their studies
Remains controversial