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LING 2120 > test 2 - final > Flashcards

test 2 - final Flashcards

1
Q

What is syntax?

A

relates to how words in a sentence are organized into phrases that convey meaning; maps out rules that govern how verbs combine with noun phrases and other constituents

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2
Q

What is semantic bootstrapping used for?

A

figuring out which words belong to which lexical categories, word order, and meaning of sentences

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3
Q

These two ways of bootstrapping go hand in hand:

A

syntactic and semantic; bootstrap off each other

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4
Q

What does bootstrapping mean?

A

the process of using the resources you have at hand to solve a problem by yourself without help from external sources

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5
Q

Prosodic bootstrapping

A

use of phonological properties to identify linguistic units and the boundaries between them (FORM ONLY not meaning)

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6
Q

Syntactic bootstrapping

A

use of syntactic properties to narrow down the meanings of words

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7
Q

Semantic bootstrapping

A

learners first learn some basic semantic properties of words, then they can use this semantic info to bootstrap into syntax

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8
Q

How does semantics relate to syntax?

A

semantics helps children identify how objects and events they experience in the real world are mapped to syntax

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9
Q

semantic bootstrapping assumes that children are able to ____

A

pick out what is going on and who is doing what, through experience with the real world
-children map semantic categories to syntactic categories relatively easy (subj vs obj, noun vs verb)

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10
Q

structure-dependent distributional learning

A

using the rules of a mini grammar that children have built to determine the structure of semantically non-transparent sentences

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11
Q

the structure of language (syntax) will give children the ability to ____

A

figure out the words they dont know

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12
Q

what is the holophrastic stage?

A

single word utterances; comprehension is more advanced than production; shows sensitivity to position of (verb) heads and complements at this stage

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13
Q

head of a phrase

A

determines category of phrase

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14
Q

complement of a phrase

A

phrase that is needed to complete the meaning of the head (also often arguments
ex. in a VP, V is head and obj is comp

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15
Q

head directionality parameter

A

languages are either head initial or head final

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16
Q

what experimental method is used to test early syntax?

A

preferential looking task; children spend significantly more time looking at the screen with the correct image/video

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17
Q

results and interpretation of studying early syntax

A

children looked longer at correct scene regardless of whether the language was head initial or head final; children’s behaviour must be driven by abstract knowledge about sentence structure (given that novel verbs were used)
TLDR their knowledge of word order is not tied to specific lexical items

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18
Q

the single word stage comes to an end usually after ____

A

several months

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19
Q

what indicates the end of the single word stage?

A

repetition of the same word; “chained” one word utterances (child may utter more than one word with a pause between them ex. daddy [pause] door

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20
Q

why is “one word stage” a misleading term?

A

because in highly agglutinating languages, a single word consisting of many morphemes can convey the same info as a sentence does in isolating languages

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21
Q

what is the telegraphic stage?

A

two word combinations produced by children largely reflect the word order of the target language

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22
Q

the productions of children at the two-word stage largely reflect ____

A

the word order and constraints of the target language

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23
Q

unaccusative verbs

A

have no agents, they have a patient or theme that originates in the obj position and moves to the subj position

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24
Q

production at the telegraphic stage

A

contains mostly content words; few grammatical morphemes (inflectional morphemes and function words)

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24
Q

what are lexical categories

A

introduce lexical roots that carry info about meaning (nouns, verbs, adv, prep)

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25
Q

what are functional categories

A

play a role in syntax and are involved in morphological dependencies

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26
Q

what is a nonfinite clause

A

cannot be located in clause; ungrammatical in isolation (must be embedded under a finite clause)

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27
Q

children’s early multiword utterances contain ____

A

nonfinite sentences

28
Q

small clause hypothesis (how much syntactic structure)

A

functional structure is initially absent; gradually builds based on exposure or input

29
Q

almost full competence hypothesis (how much syntactic structure)

A

functional structure is present from the beginning; other factors explain the absence of inflection

30
Q

Specific language impairment (SLI)

A

language is impaired; intelligence/other cognitions are normal

31
Q

Williams syndrome

A

language is normal or near normal; intelligence/other cognitions are impaired

32
Q

linguistic deficits in SLI

A

varies in type and degree of difficulty; grammatical development is affected (ex. extended telegraphic stage, missing fx morphemes); phonological memory may be affected; heritable

33
Q

non linguistic deficits in SLI

A

trouble perceiving rapid sequences of sound/image; short working memory spans; impaired reasoning by analogy

34
Q

many children diagnosed with SLI have difficulties with ____

A

functional categories, inflectional morphology involving agreement/tense/number etc

35
Q

3 grammar-based accounts that argue that the deficit is in the child’s grammar (SLI)

A
  1. problems restricted to tense
  2. problems restricted to agreement
  3. problems with rules for inflection
36
Q

children with SLI lack rules for productive formation of inflected forms, which means…

A

they must learn all forms by heart ex. “walked” is not walk + past tense but is just walk and walked

37
Q

what is predicted of children who have SLI

A

should be more accurate with forms that are more frequent in the input; should have difficulty with novel forms; all regular inflection should be problematic
-wug test, past tense and plural forms for novel words is significantly lower for SLI kids

38
Q

some features of Williams syndrome

A

same or better language development than typically developing kids; rich productive vocab; complex phrases; no problems with regular inflectional morphology; high level of emotional expression

39
Q

why is language “modular” under the UG hypothesis?

A

because of its dissociation between language and other abilities; it is distinct from other capacities and is innate

40
Q

why should we study bilingualism

A

may shed light on properties of language and the human mind/cognition; its very prevalent in the world; to be able to study impairments, the breakdown, etc. of other languages

41
Q

early versus late L2 acquisition

A

early (simultaneous): up to about 3 years old
late: 4-7 early L2, 7-puberty late L2, beyond puberty adult L2

42
Q

what are some different ways to describe bilingualism?

A
  1. having native-like control of another language
  2. being able to function in another language
  3. using another language in everyday lives
  4. having communicative skills in another language/being able to fit in the given society
43
Q

what is diglossia

A

domains of use become stable and institutionalized rather than being up to individual choice

44
Q

what is the result of diglossia

A

two languages (or two varieties) are used under different conditions by a community
-“high” ver is used for reading/writing, politics, education, etc
-“low” is used for family, friends, etc
ex. modern standard arabic vs local dialects

45
Q

linguistic evidence of bilingualism

A

bilingual children perform better on tasks of metalinguistic awareness than monolinguals

46
Q

cognitive evidence of bilingualism

A

biling children show better control of attention, inhibition of distraction, expansion of working memory; later onset of dementia

47
Q

dual language system hypothesis (AKA separate systems hypothesis)

A

children learning two languages are able to differentiate between their languages in several domains (phonology, vocab, morphology, syntax)

48
Q

study on word order in french/german bilingual children

A

two children studied longitudinally (1;11 to 3;7); both kept french and german syntax distinct; french word order was not used for german and vice versa

49
Q

early bilinguals often have ____ lexical items for each language

A

distinct (non overlapping)

50
Q

factors that affect a biling child’s lexicon

A

socioling factors (different words for when each language is used in different contexts ex. school vs home)
translation equivalents (high number of translation equivalents in early bilinguals)
phonological factors (may pick which language they say a word in based on pronunciation difficulty)
comprehension (claims in favour of one mental lexicon are based on children’s production, not comprehension)

51
Q

does the dual language system hypothesis predict that there should be no mixing between languages?

A

NO because bilinguals are not “two monolinguals in one body,” their languages can influence each other; BUT the fact that mixing occurs does not mean that children have a single lexicon and grammar for the two languages

52
Q

evidence supporting two grammars

A
  1. code-mixing occurs in adult language but is not considered to be evidence against two grammars for adults
  2. biling child’s input may include examples of parental code-mixing so their mixing behaviour may indicate and understanding of the input rather than language fusion
53
Q

what is cross-language influence?

A

the systemic influence of the grammar of one language on the grammar of the other during acquisition; leads to differences in the patterns/rates of dev in bilings compared to monolings

54
Q

3 types of cross-linguistic influence

A
  1. acceleration (property emerges in biling earlier)
  2. delay (property emerges in biling later)
  3. transfer (incorperation of a grammatical property from one language to another
55
Q

why do L2 learners have an initial advantage over L1 learners

A

L1 learners do not have a grammar or lexicon in place when they begin acquiring their native lang as infants; child and adult L2 learners progress faster than L1 infants; child L2 learners display an advantage in learning new words

56
Q

why is this advantage short-lived?

A

adult L2 learners rarely attain a native proficiency in all aspects of their second language

57
Q

what is the critical period hypothesis

A

that there is a set window early in the life during which one is more sensitive to environmental stimulation

58
Q

evidence for and against CPH

A

SOME learners can achieve native-like competence in PERHAPS ALL areas of L2 grammar, MORE learners can achieve native-like competence for SOME areas of the L2 grammar but not for others
virtually all adult L2 learners retain an identifiable foreign accent; this may be because speech sounds require neuromuscular control that is subject to critical period effects

59
Q

what is transfer

A

incorporation of a grammatical property from one language to another
-L2 learners initially transfer their L1 grammar into the interlanguage grammar (grammar they construct for target L2)

60
Q

when do learners use interlanguage grammar

A

when L2 learners encounter constrictions that are not possible in their L1 grammar (they repair them as per L1 constraints)

61
Q

can the interlanguage change over time?

A

YES! IL develops to reflect learner’s understanding of target grammar

62
Q

how does IL change?

A

through evidence that the current IL grammar must change to accommodate constructions in the L2 (positive evidence, dir neg evidence, ind neg evidence)

63
Q

positive evidence

A

discover that a structure is well formed from its presence in data that they are exposed to

64
Q

direct negative evidence

A

learners are explicitly told that their structure is wrong

65
Q

indirect negative evidence

A

infer that a structure is wrong because its not prevalent in the language that is being acquired

66
Q

what is fossilization

A

L2 abilities stabilize at some point in their grammatical development
-L2 speakers who may be fluent and use their L2 frequently may still “fail” in certain grammatical domains

67
Q

what is near-native competence

A

used to describe the linguistic competence of bilinguals who have a very high level of L2 proficiency, such that they pass as native-like

68
Q

main points regarding the critical period

A

age effects in L2 still largely debated; can be differences in the ultimate attainment of early and late L2 learners; phonology is affected more by age than other properties of grammar

LING 2120 (4 decks)

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