Chapter 9 Language and Thought

Question 1

A system for communicating with others using signals that are combined according to rules of grammar

Answer 1

Language

Question 2

Grammar

Answer 2

Set of rules that specify how the units of language can be combined to produce meaningful messages

Question 3

Phoneme

Answer 3

Smallest unit of sound that is recognizable as speech rather than random noise

Question 4

Syntactical Rules

Answer 4

Indicate how words can be combined to form phrases and sentences. EX: Simple rule in english is that every sentence must contain one or more nouns

Question 5

Meaning of a sentence

Answer 5

Deep Structure

Question 6

How a sentence is worded

Answer 6

Surface Structure

Question 7

A sentence is the _____ unit of language

Answer 7

Largest

Question 8

First words occur at ___ months old

Answer 8

10-12

Question 9

Fast Mapping

Answer 9

The process of rapidly learning a new word by contrasting it with a familiar word. This is an important tool that children use during language acquisition.

An example would be presenting a young child with two toy animals - one a familiar creature (a dog) and one unfamiliar (a platypus). When the child is asked to retrieve the platypus a contrast is provided for the child (dog versus unknown creature) which allows them to infer the other creature must be a platypus.

Question 10

Telegraphic Speech

Answer 10

Apart of two-word speech developement, has words arranged in order that makes sense and almost contains all nouns. EX:A child to wants to get milk might just say “get milk”

Question 11

The three different theories of language development

Answer 11

1) Behaviourist
2) Nativist
3) Interactionist

Question 12

Behaviourist Theory

Answer 12

B.F Skinner & John B Watson

State that language is learned through imitation and conditioning

Question 13

Nativist Theory

Answer 13

Argues that language is innate snd language development is best explained as a biological capacity

Question 14

Interactionist Explanation

Answer 14

Although infants are born with innate capability to lean language, social interaction plays a crucial role in language

Question 15

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

Answer 15

A collection of processes that help language learning

Question 16

A syndrome where the ability to learn grammatical structure is compromised despite having normal intelligence

Answer 16

Genetic Dysphasia

Question 17

Left frontal cortex, involved in speech production and language developement

Answer 17

Broca’s Area

Question 18

Left temperal cortex, involved in language comprehension, speech sounds

Answer 18

Wernicke’s Area

Question 19

Aphasia

Answer 19

Difficulty in producing or comprehending language

Question 20

Benjamin Whorf (1897-1941)

Answer 20

“Language shapes the nature of thought” Creator of linguistic relativity hypothesis

Question 21

Proposal that language shapes the nature of thought

Answer 21

Linguistic Relativity hypothesis

Question 22

Prototype

Answer 22

The best or most typical member of a category

Question 23

We make judgements by comparing a new instance with stored memories

Answer 23

Exemplar theory