Cognition and Language part 2

Question 1

What is language?

Answer 1

A system of symbols, sounds, meanings and rules of combination that allows for communication among humans.

Question 2

What are three key properties of language?

Answer 2

Language is:
1. communicative - sharing messages between individuals
2. arbitrary - random or meaningless; simply linked to real world things
3. dynamic - changing meaning of language

Question 3

What are the 4 elements of language?

Answer 3

1. Phonemes
2. Morphemes
3. Phrases
4. Sentences

Question 4

What are Phonemes?

Answer 4

Smallest unit of sound affecting speech: the pronunciation of sounds that form words. (e.g., soccer = so = ker)

Question 5

What are Morphemes?

Answer 5

Smallest units of language that contain meaning - may be a word, or part of a word (e.g., prefix)

essentially the smallest combination of letters in each case that creates a meaning.

Question 6

What’s the difference between Phonemes and Morphemes?

Answer 6

Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound in language, whereas morphemes are specifically the smallest units of language that have meaning.

Question 7

What is a single morpheme?

Answer 7

A word contain one morpheme.

Which of the following isn’t a single morpheme?

Cow, Black, Sunset

Question 8

What is a multiple morpheme?

Answer 8

When a word contains more than one morpheme.

Examples - Blackboard, sunset, proclaim

Question 9

What are the 4 properties of grammar?

Answer 9

1. Syntax
2. Surface structure
3. Deep structure
4. Semantics

Question 10

What is syntax?

Answer 10

Rules for organizing phrases and sentences

Question 11

What is surface structure?

Answer 11

The order of words in a sentence

Question 12

What is deep structure?

Answer 12

The underlying meaning of the sentence

Question 13

What are semantics?

Answer 13

Rules about meaning

Question 14

What are the 4 stages of infant vocalisation?

Answer 14

1. Cooing
2. Syllables
3. Reduplicative (repetitive) babbling
4. Conversational babbling

Question 15

When do babies start cooing and what is it? Give an example of the sounds they make.

Answer 15

Cooing starts at 2 months old:
- can only make vowel sounds
- only have to open mouth and vibrate vocal chords.

Examples: Aaaaah, Ooooh

Question 16

When do babies start using syllables and what does it involve? Give an example of the sounds they make.

Answer 16

Syllables start at 3-4 months old:
- coordinate consonant and vowel sounds
- uses vocal tract during speech

Examples: Gah, Doh, Gaga

Question 17

When do babies reach the stage of reduplicative babbling and what does it involve? Give an example of the sounds they make.

Answer 17

Reduplicative babbling starts at 6 months old:
- long strings of repeated syllables in continuous stream
- requires more motor control

Examples: Badabadabada, Momomomo

Question 18

When do babies reach the stage of conversational babbling and what does it involve? Give an example of the sounds they make.

Answer 18

Conversational babbling starts at around 10 months old:
- mixing syllables in unpredictable orders
- start using conversational tone
- turn-taking with caretakers

Examples: “Bagadoo voodita! Seblowladagee?”

Question 19

When do infants reach the “one word” stage of language development? What does it entail?

Answer 19

Age 1-2

Child speaks mostly in single words

Question 20

How does an infants language comprehension expand in relation to their production of words (language)?

Answer 20

The infant’s understanding of language (symbols, sounds, grammar etc) slowly improves until there is a sudden spurt of vocalisation of words.

Question 21

When do infants reach the “two word” stage of language development? What does it entail?

Answer 21

Beginning about age 2

Child speaks in mostly two-word statements (e.g., go there, what that?)

Word order follows that of native language

Question 22

What are the two major theories for language acquisition?

Answer 22

1. Operant learning (B. F. Skinner)
2. Inborn Universal Grammar (Noam Chomsky)

Question 23

What theory puts more emphasis on the effect of nurture on language acquisition?

Answer 23

B.F. Skinner’s theory of operant learning.

Question 24

What are the implications of B.F. Skinner’s theory of language acquisition?

Answer 24

1. Children imitate their parents
2. Language abilities of infants and children are refined through operant conditioning:

• communicative behaviours are either reinforced or punished by the caregivers (e.g., they get what they want when they communicate correctly)

Question 25

What theory puts more emphasis on the effect of nature on language acquisition?

Answer 25

Noam Chomsky’s theory of Inborn Universal Grammar

Question 26

What are three major implications of Noam Chomsky’s theory of language acquisition?

Answer 26

1. Language acquisition happens too fast for operant learning alone
2. Born with anatomical structures and preferences for speech
3. Language Acquisition Device, i.e. an innate set of neural structures for acquiring language

Question 27

What is the critical period for language acquisition?

Answer 27

Between birth and age 7

Infants and children below 7 learn their native language very quickly

After the age of 7, language acquisition becomes exponentially harder

Question 28

What stance did B.F. Skinner take in psycology?

Answer 28

He was a behaviourist