Module 8.3 - Language and Communication

Question 1

language involves combining elements that are inherently meaningless into _________

Answer 1

utterances that convey meaning

Question 2

how did language help our ancestors?

Answer 2

helped them communicate intentions, prevent conflict, and form social groups

Question 3

true or false: early studies showed that the left hemisphere plays a critical role in language

Answer 3

true

Question 4

Aphasia

Answer 4

a language disorder caused by damage to the brain structures that support using and understanding language

Question 5

what showed that language is not a unitary process?

Answer 5

the existence of different types of aphasias

Question 6

brocas area

Answer 6

a region of the left frontal lobe that controls your ability to articulate speech sounds that compose words

Question 7

what does damage of brocas area lead to?

Answer 7

brocas aphasia, a disorder of language production

Question 8

brocas aphasia

Answer 8

speech is difficult to initiate, non-fluent, laboured and halting. intonation and stress patterns are deficient t

Question 9

wernickes area

Answer 9

a region of the left temporal lobe associated with finding the meaning of words

Question 10

damage to wernickes area leads to what?

Answer 10

wernickes aphasia, a disorder of language comprehension

Question 11

wernickes aphasia

Answer 11

speech is preserved, language content is incorrect (word salad), word substitutions are common (paraphasia) and make up words (neologisms)

Question 12

language

Answer 12

a form of communication that involves the use of spoken, written or gestural symbols that are confined in a rule-based form

Question 13

phonemes

Answer 13

the most basic of units of speech sounds

Question 14

true or false: you only need one phoneme to create a sound with meaning

Answer 14

FALSE: you usually need multiple phonemes to create a sound with meaning

Question 15

morphemes

Answer 15

the smallest meaningful units of language

Question 16

semantics

Answer 16

the study of how people come to understand meaning from words

Question 17

syntax

Answer 17

the rules for combining words and morphemes into meaningful phrases and sentences

Question 18

surface structure

Answer 18

the way the sentence is actually spoken, heard or signed

Question 19

deep structure

Answer 19

how the sentence is to be understood

Question 20

pragmatics

Answer 20

the study of non-inguistic elements of language use

Question 21

what does pragmatics include?

Answer 21

the speakers behaviours and the social situation

Question 22

true or false: at 2 months, infants prefer speech sounds to perceptually similar non-speech sounds

Answer 22

true

Question 23

before when do infants respond to most phonemes?`

Answer 23

before 10 months

Question 24

when do infants become sensitive to sounds from our own language?

Answer 24

after 10 months

Question 25

by 20 months, what can infants do?

Answer 25

infants can use perceptual categories to rapidly learn words

Question 26

fast mapping

Answer 26

the ability to map words onto concepts or objects after only a single exposure

Question 27

sensitive periods

Answer 27

a time during childhood in which children brains are primed to develop language

Question 28

when is the sensitive period?

Answer 28

approx. age 7

Question 29

what is a pidgin?

Answer 29

a make-shift language which adult immigrants use to combine languages from different regions

Question 30

true or false: it is much easier to learn additional languages before age 7

Answer 30

true

Question 31

disadvantages of bilingualism?

Answer 31

1) slightly smaller vocab

2) slower at word finding and at making word/non-word decisions

Question 32

advantages of biliguialism

Answer 32

1) superior executive functions, from infancy to old age

2) denser frontal lobe networks, which precast against the onset of dementia and alzheimers disease

Question 33

FOXP2

Answer 33

a gene on chromosome 7 related to putting thoughts into words

Question 34

what can people with FOXP2 do. what can’t they do

Answer 34

can perform a task, but can’t use language to explain how they did so

Question 35

specific language impairment

Answer 35

a rare genetic disorder that prevents normal language acquisition found in 3 generations of a british family

Question 36

cross fostered

Answer 36

an animal raised as a member of a family that was not of the same species

Question 37

Lexigrams

Answer 37

small keys on a computerized board that represent words and therefore can be combined for form complex ideas and phrases