Module 9 Vocabulary & Terms

Question 1

Imitation

Answer 1

theory is based on an empirical or behavioral approach.

Question 2

Behavioral theory

Answer 2

Also known as the Imitation Theory, this theory proposes that we are a product of our environment. Children have no internal mechanism or ability to develop language by themselves.

Question 3

Cognitive theory

Answer 3

This theory suggests that children go through stages of language development. Theorist Jean Piaget emphasized that we can only move through the stages of language learning as our brains and cognitive processes develop.

Question 4

Interactionist theory

Answer 4

This theory focuses on the relationship between caregivers and children as they learn a language. It is based on the work of Jerome Bruner.

Question 5

Universal grammar

Answer 5

This theory proposes that all humans are born with an innate ability to acquire, develop, and understand language.

Question 6

Relational frame theory

Answer 6

This theory focuses on how humans learn language through interactions with the environment. It is based on a philosophical approach referred to as functional contextualism.

Question 7

Acculturation model

Answer 7

This model states that some L2 learners do not progress beyond the early stages of linguistic acquisition with a target language because of social and psychological distance between the speaker’s culture and the target culture.

Question 8

A Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

Answer 8

A hypothetical tool in the brain proposed by linguist Noam Chomsky that allows human beings to learn a language.

Question 9

Structure dependency

Answer 9

Principle that states language is organized in such a way that it crucially depends on the structural relationships between elements in a sentence.

Question 9

Parameters

Answer 9

Determine the ways in language can vary.

Question 9

Semantic Theory

Answer 9

Branch of linguistics and philosophy that focuses on the study of meaning in language. It explores how words, phrases, sentences, and texts convey meaning, and it seeks to understand the relationship between language and the world.

Question 9

Head parameter

Answer 9

Specifies the position of the head in relation to its compliments within phrases for different languages.

Question 9

Economy of derivation

Answer 9

A principle stating that movements only occur in order to match interpretable features with uninterpretable features.

Question 10

Economy of representation

Answer 10

The principle that grammatical structures must exist for a purpose.

Question 11

Main argument

Answer 11

Language acquisition must be viewed within the context of a child’s intellectual development.

Question 12

Most influential feature

Answer 12

Genevan psychologist Jean Piaget who proposed the model of cognitive development.

Question 13

Pragmatics

Answer 13

While semantics deals with meaning at the level of words and sentences, pragmatics explores how context and social factors influence the interpretation of language. Pragmatics and semantics are closely related and often overlap.

Question 14

Ambiguity

Answer 14

Semantic theory deals with various types of ambiguity in language, such as lexical ambiguity (multiple meanings of a word) and structural ambiguity (multiple interpretations of a sentence).

Question 15

Meaning

Answer 15

Semantics is concerned with understanding what words and expressions mean. It delves into the interpretation of words and how they relate to concepts or objects in the real world.

Question 16

Compositionally

Answer 16

Semantics often assumes that the meaning of a complex expression can be determined by the meanings of its constituent parts and the rules governing their combination.