Language

Question 1

algorithm

Answer 1

A step-by-step method for solving a problem that guarantees a solution but may take too long to implement in some situations.

Question 2

heuristic

Answer 2

A strategy for solving a problem or coming to a decision that might be efficient, but doesn’t guarantee the right decision.

Question 3

linguistic relativity

Answer 3

A theory of language that states that one’s language shapes one’s view of reality.

Question 4

overgeneralization

Answer 4

When one extends a rule where it doesn’t apply. For example, when children learn to speak, they often apply standard grammar rules to irregular words. (Also called overextending)

Question 5

poverty of stimulus

Answer 5

A hypothesis that humans must have innate language capabilities because we learn our native language in the absence of environmental conditions, such as direct instruction or a large number of correct and incorrect examples.

Question 6

prototype

Answer 6

A standard or typical example of something that serves as a model for the overall category.

Question 7

overregulation

Answer 7

The application of a principle of regular changes to a word that changes irregularly.

Children learn rules of grammar as they learn language but may apply these ruled inappropriately at first. EX: “I goed there. I doed that”.

Question 8

learning behavioral theory

Answer 8

Babies imitate the sounds they hear adults make, and they are reinforced for doing so.

Question 9

nativist’s perspective

Answer 9

The human brain has an innate capacity for learning language, and that children are born with a universal sense of grammar.

Question 10

interactivist perspective

Answer 10

Babies are biologically equipped for learning language. However, the inborn capacity to learn language may be activated or constrained by experience. It depends on the interventing of nature and nurture.

Question 11

underextending

Answer 11

When someone does not realize that a case applies in many cases.