Language File 8

Question 1

Innate

Answer 1

Determined by factors present from birth

Question 2

Innateness Hypothesis

Answer 2

A hypothesis that humans are genetically predisposed to learn and use language

Question 3

Imitation Theory

Answer 3

Theory of language acquisition that claims that children acquire that claims that children acquire language by listening to the speech around them and reproducing what they hear

Question 4

Reinforcement Theory

Answer 4

Theory of language acquisition that says that children learn to speak like adults because they are praised, rewarded, or otherwise reinforced when they use the right forms and are corrected when they use the wrong ones

Question 5

Active Construction of a Grammar Theory

Answer 5

Theory of language acquisition that says that children acquire a language by inventing rules of grammar based on the speech around them

Question 6

Connectionist Theory

Answer 6

Theory of language acquisition that claims that children learn language through neural connections in the brain

Question 7

Social Interaction Theory

Answer 7

Theory of language acquisition that claims that children acquire language through social interaction and prompt their caregivers to supply them with the appropriate language experience they need

Question 8

Linguistic Universal

Answer 8

Property believed to be held in common by all natural languages

Question 9

Universal Grammar

Answer 9

The theory that posits a set of mental grammar a set of grammatical characteristics shared by all natural languages

Question 10

Neglected Child

Answer 10

A child who is neglected by caretakers, often resulting in significantly lower exposure to language

Question 11

Feral Child

Answer 11

Child who grew up in the wild without care by human adults, often with animals

Question 12

Homesign

Answer 12

A rudimentary visual-gestural communication system that is developed and used by deaf children and their families when a signed language is not made available for their communication

Question 13

Child-Directed Speech

Answer 13

Speech used by parents or caregivers when communicating with young children or infants

Question 14

High-Amplitude Sucking

Answer 14

Experimental technique used to study sound discrimination in infants from birth to about six months. Infants are given a special pacifier that is connected to a sound generating system. Each suck on the pacifier generates a noise, and infants’ sucking behavior is used to draw conclusions about discrimination abilities

Question 15

Voice Onset Time

Answer 15

The length of time between the release of a consonant and the onset of voicing

Question 16

Articulatory Gesture

Answer 16

A movement of a speech organ in the production of speech

Question 17

Babble

Answer 17

A phase in child language acquisition during which the child produces meaningless sequences of consonants and vowels

Question 18

Cannonical Babbling

Answer 18

The continuous repetition of sequences of vowels and consonants like mamama by infants

Question 19

Variegated Babbling

Answer 19

Production of meaningless consonant-vowel sequences by infants

Question 20

Holophrastic Stage

Answer 20

Stage in first language acquisition during which children can produce only one word at a time

Question 21

Holophrase

Answer 21

A one word sentence

Question 22

Telegraphic Stage

Answer 22

A phase during child language acquisition in which children use utterances composed primarily of content words

Question 23

Telegraphic Utterances

Answer 23

Utterances containing primarily content words

Question 24

Overgeneralization

Answer 24

In the study of child language acquisition, a relationship between child and adult application of rules relative to certain contexts

Question 25

Complexive Concept

Answer 25

A group of items that a child refers to with a single word for which it is not possible to single out any one unifying property

Question 26

Overextension

Answer 26

A process in which children extend the application of linguistic rules to contexts beyond those in the adult language

Question 27

Underextension

Answer 27

Application of a word to a smaller set of objects than is appropriate for mature adult speech or the usual definition of the word

Question 28

Relative Intersection

Answer 28

Type of relationship between adjective and noun reference where the reference of the adjective is determined relative to the noun reference

Question 29

Deictic Expression

Answer 29

Word or expression that takes its meaning relative to the time, place, and speaker of the utterance

Question 30

Attention Getter

Answer 30

Word or phrase used to initiate an address to children

Question 31

Attention Holder

Answer 31

A tactic used to maintain children’s attention

Question 32

Conversational Turn

Answer 32

The contribution to a conversation made by one speaker from the time that she takes the floor from another speaker to the time that she passes the floor on to another speaker

Question 33

Bilingual

Answer 33

Having linguistic competency in two languages

Question 34

Multilingual

Answer 34

Having linguistic competency in more than two languages

Question 35

Simultaneous Bilingualism

Answer 35

Bilingualism in which both languages are learned from infancy

Question 36

Sequential Bilingualism

Answer 36

Bilingualism in which the second language is acquired as a young child

Question 37

Second Language Acquisition

Answer 37

Acquisition of a second language as a teenager or adult

Question 38

Code Switching

Answer 38

Using words or structural elements from more than one language within the same conversation

Question 39

Foreign Accent

Answer 39

An accent marked by the phonology of another language

Question 40

Fossilization

Answer 40

Process through which forms from a speaker’s non-native language usage become fixed