Module 27: Language and Thought

Question 1

language

Answer 1

involves our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning, used to transmit civilization’s knowledge from one generation to the next, connects humans

Question 2

phoneme

Answer 2

smallest distinctive sound unit in language

Question 3

morpheme

Answer 3

smallest language unit that carries meanings

Question 4

grammar

Answer 4

system of rules that enables humans to communicate with one another
syntax: ordering words into sentences
semantics: deriving meaning from sounds

Question 5

Chomsky

Answer 5

argued that all languages share basic elements called a universal grammar
theorized that humans are born with a predisposition to learn grammar rules, not a built-in specific language

Question 6

babbling stage

Answer 6

beginning at about 4 months, an infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

Question 6

one-word stage

Answer 6

from about age 1 to 2, a child speaks mostly in single words

Question 6

telegraphic speech

Answer 6

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram, using mostly nouns and verbs

Question 7

two-word stage

Answer 7

beginning at about age 2, a child speaks mostly in two-word statements

Question 8

receptive language

Answer 8

infant’s ability to understand what is said to them begins around 4 months

Question 9

production language

Answer 9

infant’s ability to produce words begins around 10 months

Question 10

critical periods

Answer 10

childhood is a critical period for mastering certain aspects of language

Question 11

aphasia

Answer 11

impairment of language, caused by damage in the left hemisphere either by Broca’s area or Wernicke’s area

Question 12

Broca’s area

Answer 12

controls language expression - an area of the frontal lobe, in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech

Question 13

Wernicke’s area

Answer 13

controls language reception - a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; in the temporal lobe

Question 14

Whorf’s linguistic determinism hypothesis:

Answer 14

Language determines basic ideas.
▪ Evidence from bilingual speakers suggests that people think differently in different languages.
▪ Bilingual parents often switch languages to express emotions.
▪ Bilingual children exhibit enhanced social skills by being better able to shift to understand another’s perspective
Words influence but do not determine thinking.