Psych 111: Ch. 9 Cue Questions

What do studies of apes and language teach us about humans and language? (3)

1. These results indicate that apes can acquire sizable vocabularies, string words together to form short sentences, and process sentences that are grammatically complex. 2. Their skills are especially impressive because human language is hardly their normal means of communication. 3. Research with apes also suggests that the neurological "wiring" that allows us to learn language overlaps to some degree with theirs (and perhaps with other species 4. The first limitation is the size of the vocabularies they acquire. apes learn hundreds of vocab words, a 4 year old child knows 10,000 words 5. second limitation is the type of words they can master, primarily names for concrete objects and simple actions. apes can learn signs for concepts they understand, but their conceptual repertoire is smaller and simpler than that of humans. 6. third limitation is the complexity of grammar that apes can use and comprehend. Apes can string signs together, but their constructions rarely exceed three or four words, and when they do, they are rarely grammatical.

What are the distinctions between human language and animal communication?

1. the complex structure of human language distinguishes it from simpler signaling systems. Most humans can express a wide range of ideas and concepts as well as generate an essentially infinite number of novel sentences. 2. humans use words to refer to intangible things, such as unicorn or democracy. These words could not have originated as simple alarm calls. 3. we use language to name, categorize, and describe things to ourselves when we think, which influences how knowledge is organized in our brains.

Why is it unlikely that children are using imitation to pick up language?

2-3 year olds use correct past tense versions of common verbs. Ex: I ran. But the same children when they are 5-6 years old say "I ranned." Forms they would not usually hear people say so they would not imitate it. (they do this cuz kids learn grammatical rules they then tend to overgeneralize. children acquire grammatical rules by listening to the speech around them and using the rules to create verbal forms they've never heard

What language ability do infants have that adults do not?

At birth, infants can distinguish among all of the contrasting sounds that occur in all human languages. after 6 months, they can only distinguish among the contrasting sounds in the language they hear being spoken around them

How does language processing change in the brain as the child matures?

In early infancy, language processing is distributed across many areas of the brain. But language processing gradually becomes more and more concentrated in two areas, Broca's area and Wernicke's area, sometimes referred to as the language centers of the brain.

morphological rules:

morphological rules: A set of rules that indicate how morphemes can be combined to form words.

Why are studies of internationally adopted children especially useful?

Studying the acquisition of English in such an older population provides a unique opportunity to explore the relationship between language development and cognitive development. 1. If the orderly sequence of milestones that characterizes the acquisition of English by infants is a by-product of general cognitive development, then different patterns should be observed in older internationally adopted children, who are more advanced cognitively than infants. 2. if the milestones of language development are critically dependent on experience with a specific language-English-then language learning in older adopted children should show the same orderly progression as seen in infants.

How does language influence our understanding of color?

The English have 11 basic color terms, but the Himba, who are largely isolated from the outside world, have only five. For example, they use the term serandu to refer to what English speakers would call red, pink, or orange. so language affects the understanding of color because if there is not a word for that color in your language, you will often generalize it with another and not understand that each shade has a name.

How does the interactionist theory of language acquisition differ from behaviorist and nativist theories?

The interactionist approach is that although infants are born with an innate ability to acquire language, social interactions play a crucial role in language.

What do all languages have in common?

all languages share a basic structure involving a set of sounds and rules for combining those sounds to produce meanings.

aphasia

aphasia: Difficulty in producing or comprehending language.

To a behaviorist, why will an infant repeat "da-da" and not "prah"?

because excited parents will reinforce da da by making excited sounds and smiling and holding the baby

In what way do 2-year-olds show a basic understanding of language rules?

children begin to form two-word sentences that tend to be grammatical, such as "more milk" or "throw ball."

How would a nativist explain why deaf infants babble?

deaf babies babble because their brain is wired to understand language, even if they cant hear it. it is a biological predisposition.

deep structure

deep structure: The meaning of a sentence.

fast mapping

fast mapping: The fact that children can map a word onto an underlying concept after only a single exposure.

genetic dysphasia

genetic dysphasia: A syndrome characterized by an inability to learn the grammatical structure of language despite having otherwise normal intelligence.

grammar

grammar: A set of rules that specify how the units of language can be combined to produce meaningful messages

How does a horizontal concept of time contrast with a vertical concept of time?

horizontal= looking forward to an event. moving a meeting back to fit your schedule. vertical= earlier events are referred to as "up" later events are referred to as "down"

language acquisition device (LAD)

language acquisition device (LAD): A collection of processes that facilitate language learning.

language

language: A system for communicating with others using signals that are combined according to rules of grammar and convey meaning.

linguistic relativity hypothesis

linguistic relativity hypothesis: The proposal that language shapes the nature of thought.

morphemes:

morphemes: The smallest meaningful units of language.

nativist theory

nativist theory: The view that language development is best explained as an innate, biological capacity.

phoneme:

phoneme: The smallest unit of sound that is recognizable as speech rather than as random noise.

phonological rules

phonological rules: A set of rules that indicate how phonemes can be combined to produce speech sounds.

surface structure

surface structure: How a sentence is worded.

syntactical rules

syntactical rules: A set of rules that indicate how words can be combined to form phrases and sentences.

this is called telegraphic speech. define

telegraphic speech: Speech that is devoid of function morphemes and consists mostly of content words.

semantics

the meaning of a sentence

Is the meaning or wording of a sentence typically more memorable?

the meaning of a sentence. the surface structure is usually forgotten once the deep structure is understood