Lecture 2 - Foundations

Question 1

Inflectional morphemes are what?

Answer 1

Non-lexical

Question 2

Derivational morphemes are what?

Answer 2

Lexical

Question 3

What are the two types of lexical morphemes?

Answer 3

Derivational (prefix/suffix) and compounding (stem+stem, black-bird, etc)

Question 4

What is on line incremental parsing?

Answer 4

The parser constructs a syntactic structure on the basis of words, as they arrive.

Question 5

What does syntax allow us to do?

Answer 5

Interpret sentences.

Question 6

What is the genetic overlap apes share with humans?

Answer 6

95-98.5%

Question 7

What is the IQ of an ape comparable to in humans?

Answer 7

A 3 year old.

Question 8

What are the two main apes that linguistic research has been conducted on?

Answer 8

Chimpanzees and, later, bonobos.

Question 9

What are the differences in temperament between chimps and bonobos?

Answer 9

Bonobos are more intelligent and more sociable/vocal.

Question 10

Do apes have an enlarged Broca’s area. If so, what do they use it for?

Answer 10

Yes. Use it for complex hand movements.

Question 11

Do humans have an enlarged Broca’s area. If so, what do they use it for?

Answer 11

Yes, in order to make complex speech sounds.

Question 12

Can we teach apes to speak. Why/why not?

Answer 12

No, it’s near-impossible due to their different articulatory apparatus (different throats).

Question 13

Who conducted research on an ape called Gua, and what did they find?

Answer 13

Kellog and Kellog (1933). Raised Gua with their infant son. Gua undertood a few words but could never produce any.

Question 14

Who conducted research on an ape called Viky, and what did they find?

Answer 14

Keith and Kathy Hayes (1952).

Viky could understand words and some word combinations after 6 years.

She learned to articulate a few words (mama, papa, up, cup), but with difficulty.

Question 15

Who conducted research on an ape called Washoe, and what did they find?

Answer 15

Garner and Garner (1969).

Washoe was caught in the wild but brought up as a human child and taught American Sign Language.

After 4 years Washoe had learned 85 signs, and could also produce some sign-combinations.

Question 16

Who conducted research on an ape called Nim Chimsky, and what did they find?

Answer 16

Terrace et al., (1979).

Nim learned around 125 ASL signs and made combinations, although longer combinations were useless/redundant.

No novel combinations and 40% of signs were repetition - he rarely signed spontaneously.

Question 17

What are some points of comparison in the language abilities between apes and humans?

Answer 17

• Chimps require large amounts of explicit language training, children don’t need any at all.
• Chimps rarely sign spontaneously, children do a lot.
• Little evidence of syntax in chimps, with children syntactic structure is clear.
• Chimps talk only about the here and now, and ask no questions, whereas children are very inquisitive and can be philosophical.
• Chimps are very repetitive/imitative, children are not.

Question 18

What does the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggest?

Answer 18

Language shapes our thoughts

Question 19

What is linguistic determinism?

Answer 19

Thoughts are constrained by language - it determines our thinking.

Strong version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

Question 20

What is linguistic relativism?

Answer 20

People who speak a different language perceive and experience the world differently.

Weak version of Sapir-Whorf

Question 21

Describe evidence for linguistic relativism in gender.

Answer 21

Boroditsky et al., (2002) - German and Spanish speakers described bridges. The word bridge has different genders in their languages.

If the object was masculine in their language, PPS were more likely to describe the bridge as jagged, strong, dangerous and sturdy.

If the object was feminine, PPS described it as beautiful, slender, elegant and fragile.

Question 22

Describe evidence for linguistic relativism in drawing.

Answer 22

Carmichael et al., (1932) - Descriptions of ambiguous objects influence later recall.

If a shape was described as a crescent moon, it would be drawn more moon-shaped, but if it was described as the letter c it would be drawn more like a c.

+ eyeglasses vs dumbbells.