Deck 11: Language Development

Question 1

The argument that language is the product of nature alone is refuted by the following.

A) Humans make and understand an infinite number of statements.
B) Thousands of languages exist.
C) Different languages use different grammatical structures.
D) All of the alternatives are correct.

Answer 1

All of the alternatives are correct.

Question 2

According to the textbook, how does human language differ from animal communication?

A) Humans can produce and recognize an infinite number of sentences.
B) Human language has an inborn component and animal communication does not.
C) Human language learning by young children is a long and difficult process.
D) Human language consists of one tongue used by all members of the species.

Answer 2

Humans can produce and recognize an infinite number of sentences.

Question 3

In his book, Verbal Behavior, B. F. Skinner argued that language development can be explained by

A) operant conditioning.
B) biological maturation.
C) innate structures.
D) social learning theory.

Answer 3

operant conditioning.

Question 4

The first significant challenge to Skinner's theory of verbal learning came from

A) Jerome Bruner.
B) Daniel Slobin.
C) Noam Chomsky.
D) Albert Bandura.

Question 5

Chomsky's explanation of language development emphasized

A) learning and conditioning principles.
B) innate structures and biological mechanisms.
C) children's cognitive abilities.
D) the language support system provided by parents.

Question 6

The fact that young children acquire language so quickly and easily supports the idea that language

A) is acquired by means of rewards and punishment.
B) depends on cognitive development.
C) is acquired through imitation and modeling.
D) has a biological basis.

Question 7

In Chomsky's original model, the hypothetical brain structure that analyzes speech input is known as the

A) surface structure.
B) deep structure.
C) language acquisition device.
D) transformational grammar.

Question 8

In Chomsky's model, transformational grammar refers to the

A) set of rules that translate a language's surface structure to a deep structure the child can innately understand.
B) way words and phrases are arranged in spoken languages.
C) inborn knowledge humans have about the properties of language.
D) brain structure responsible for analyzing speech input.

Question 9

The fact that deaf children not exposed to either spoken or signed languages still develop "home signs" supports the __________ approach to language development.

A) nativist
B) environment/learning
C) cognitive-developmental
D) sociocultural

Question 10

In a paper that Noah Chomsky published with Marc Hauser and Tecumseh Fitch in 2002, they proposed that

A) the processes that support language are unique to the human species
B) most language abilities involve cognitive and perceptual mechanisms shared with other species.
C) most language abilities involve cognitive and perceptual mechanisms shared with other psychological abilities.
D) both b and c

Question 11

The belief that environmental factors are important in normal language acquisition is supported by evidence that

A) adults and older children adopt a clear and simple language style termed infant-directed speech.
B) adults never respond to the grammatical accuracy of a child's statement.
C) most of children's acquisition of grammar can be traced to exact copying of statements they have heard others say.
D) milestones in vocabulary development are linked to neurological development.

Question 12

Kyle was born deaf to hearing parents. Neither of his parents learned sign language. He developed a few "home signs", but actually learned sign language in his educational setting. Given this information, what can be expected of Kyle's language development?

A) He will learn sign language very easily in his educational setting
B) He will perform less well in sign language measures than if he had learned sign language earlier
C) Since language development is innate, he will have developed his own sign language
D) None of the alternatives are correct

Question 13

Infant-directed speech consists of

A) productivity in language.
B) a type of deep structure.
C) familiar words, repetition, and short, simple sentences.
D) specific training in the grammatical rules of language.

Question 14

Nativists have argued that parents do not specifically train children in the rules of language. Recent analyses of parent-child interaction indicate that

A) it is true that parents do not respond to the grammatical accuracy of their children's speech.
B) parents respond to the grammatical accuracy of their children's speech when parents are aware that other adults are listening.
C) parents respond to the grammatical accuracy of their children's speech by providing their children with many forms of feedback and instruction.
D) parents respond to the grammatical accuracy of their children's speech, but parents provide very limited forms of feedback and instruction.

Question 15

Use of words such as __________ depend on an understanding of object permanence.

A) "all gone."
B) "mama."
C) "more."
D) "nose."

Question 16

One cognitive-developmental approach to language development is based on a belief that children use __________ as a means of extracting the rules of language from the speech that they hear.

A) attentional strategies
B) a language acquisition device
C) a language acquisition support system
D) early cognitive concepts

Question 17

Some cognitive-developmental approaches to language development have relied on __________.

A) attentional strategies
B) artificial neural networks
C) a language acquisition device
D) a language acquisition support system

Question 18

The model of language development that emphasizes the role of social interaction in language learning is the

A) psycholinguistic.model.
B) cognitive-developmental model.
C) learnability theory.
D) sociocultural theory.

Question 19

According to Jerome Bruner, structured interactive routines such as peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake aid in language acquisition by allowing the child to

A) learn specific language elements by memorizing words and actions in very restricted contexts.
B) receive systematic reinforcement for language production.
C) practice articulation.
D) use words and actions flexibly in constantly changing, unpredictable contexts.

Question 20

The phrase language acquisition support system (LASS) refers to the

A) hypothesized brain mechanism responsible for analyzing speech input.
B) variety of neurological, auditory, and vocalization structures responsible for the production and comprehension of language.
C) way in which nonverbal modes of communication assist in the production and comprehension of language.
D) structured opportunities for language learning offered to infants in their social environments.

Question 21

Which illustrates Bruner's concept of a format?

A) A mother humming a lullaby to her infant
B) A mother and baby singing and acting out the words to "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
C) Parents engaged in conversation over dinner with the baby seated nearby in a highchair
D) A mother using infant-directed speech

Question 22

Sociocultural theorists concern themselves with the functional basis for language because

A) language helps them achieve goals by communicating with others.
B) of the power of the LAD.
C) of an innate tendency to construct general rules from concrete examples.
D) parents and other adults force them to.

Question 23

Which of the following is not cited in your text as an example of scaffolding used within formatted interactions (the central components of the LASS) between parent and child?

A) Simplified speech
B) Punishment for incorrect or inaccurate statements
C) Repetition
D) Correcting the child's incorrect or inaccurate statements

Question 24

Rachel is starting to use the "r" sound in her speech. She is

A) just starting to speak, the "r" sound appears in the first three sounds
B) has been speaking for a while, the "r" sound appears later than others
C) probably using sentences
D) None of the alternatives are correct

Question 25

Phonology refers to

A) the study of speech sounds.
B) the ability to detect different phonemes in speech.
C) the social uses of language.
D) None of the alternatives are correct.

Question 26

The term phoneme refers to

A) contrasts of speech sounds that change the meaning of what is heard.
B) the basic unit of meaning in a language.
C) the different kinds of sounds that can be articulated by our oral musculature.
D) prefixes and suffixes that, when added to words, change their meaning.

Question 27

What is the impact of experience on categorical perception?

A) Categorical perception is not present in young infants and appears to be entirely dependent upon experience.
B) Infants possess an innate ability to discriminate a wide range of sound contrasts, but the environment quickly begins to fine-tune the discriminations, eliminating those that will not be needed and improving the child's ability to use others.
C) Categorical perception is present in newborns, and while infants never lose the ability to discriminate phonemic boundaries, they become more skilled at detecting subtle differences between categories based on their experience of hearing a language being spoken.
D) Categorical perception is present in newborns and is not modifiable by experience.

Question 28

Japanese adults have difficulty distinguishing between the sounds r and l. How skilled are Japanese infants at discriminating between the two sounds?

A) Japanese 6-month-olds exposed to only the Japanese language have as much difficulty discriminating between the sounds r and l as Japanese adults.
B) Japanese 6-month-olds have as much difficulty discriminating between the sounds r and l as Japanese adults, regardless of whether they have been exposed to languages that include the r/l contrast or not.
C) Japanese infants are able to discriminate between the sounds r and l as easily as American infants exposed to languages where the r/l contrast is present.
D) Neither Japanese infants nor American infants are skilled at discriminating between the sounds r and l.

Question 29

Nine-month-old American babies exposed to English

A) prefer listening to words that are accented (stressed) on the first syllable.
B) can discriminate between the r sound and the l sound.
C) can demonstrate categorical perception.
D) All of the alternatives are correct.

Question 30

The fact that infants narrow their phoneme categories around the same time as they begin learning words means that they will

A) immediately apply their phoneme perception skills to early word learning.
B) not confuse similar sounding words.
C) the two skills are caused by one underlying mechanism.
D) None of the alternatives are correct.

Question 31

Five-month-old Reza prefers

A) hearing his mother speaking rather than his mother humming.
B) hearing his mother use infant-directed speech.
C) his mother's voice over another woman's voice.
D) All of the alternatives are correct.

Question 32

Carrie's mother speaks both English and French. When she was pregnant with Carrie, she used both languages on a daily basis. Which statement is true?

A) Carrie will develop a preference for listening to English
B) Carrie will develop a preference for listening to French
C) Carrie will develop a preference for both English and French
D) Carrie will develop a preference for novel languages, such as Russian

Question 33

Deaf mothers of deaf infants

A) use an infant-directed speech form of sign language.
B) slow down but do not exaggerate their gestures.
C) find that their babies are less attentive to an infant-directed speech form of sign language than adult-directed signing.
D) All of the alternatives are correct.

Question 34

The one-syllable vowel sounds such as "ah" that babies begin to produce around 2 months of age are known as

A) cooing.
B) babbling.
C) holophrases.
D) telegraphic speech.

Question 35

When does reduplicated babbling occur?

A) Before cooing
B) Around 6 months of age
C) Before categorical perception
D) After holophrastic speech

Question 36

What is the babbling drift hypothesis?

A) The more one moves up the evolutionary ladder, the more closely the sounds of animal communication resemble those of human spoken language.
B) The sounds produced by babbling infants around the world appear to be drifting toward one universal "language" of babbling.
C) The form of an infant's babbling changes steadily over time and eventually resembles the language the infant hears and soon will speak.
D) While the sounds produced in early babbling are primarily vowel sounds, the sounds of later babbling include both consonants and vowels.

Question 37

Which of the following statements about babbling is TRUE?

A) The babbling of infants from different language environments is very similar.
B) The form of a baby's babbling gradually evolves to resemble the language the baby hears.
C) The babbling of deaf babies is different from that of babies who are not hearing impaired.
D) All of the alternatives are correct.

Question 38

At about _______ months of age, the infant strings together several identical sounds such as "bababa." This is _______.

A) 6; reduplicated babbling
B) 2; cooing
C) 12; babbling drift
D) 18; gestural babbling

Question 39

Kylie has started saying "momomo" when she sees Elmo on the television. This type of speech is referred to as

A) Cooing
B) Reduplicated cooing
C) Holophrase
D) Duplicate phonology

Question 40

How does hearing speech impact on early language development?

A) Hearing speech during the babbling stage may be necessary for development of more complex forms of babbling.
B) Hearing speech is necessary for the development of cooing.
C) Hearing speech is necessary for any babbling to develop.
D) Hearing speech is necessary for gestural babbling.

Question 41

At what point in early language development are the language skills of deaf babies likely to differ from those of their peers who can hear?

A) During the stage of cooing
B) During the early stages of babbling
C) Toward the end of the babbling stage
D) Once children begin to produce their first "real" words

Question 42

Hearing babies of deaf parents babble gesturally, demonstrating that

A) babbling has a strong biological basis because infants appear to be born with the ability to babble either auditorally or visually.
B) exposure to sign language is key to gestural babbling.
C) parents are teaching their children to babble.
D) both a and b.

Question 43

Babies first begin to use gestures to communicate to others the desire to play a game or fetch an object at around

A) 4 months of age.
B) 6 months of age.
C) 8 months of age.
D) 12 months of age.

Question 44

How would an 8-month-old infant most likely inform her mother that she is interested in playing with a toy placed out of her reach?

A) By reaching for the toy while looking back and forth between the toy and the mother
B) By calling out her name for the toy (e.g., "ba" for ball)
C) By calling out "mama mama"
D) An 8-month-old infant is not capable of communicating such intentions.

Question 45

Babies first develop the ability to use nonverbal gestures

A) for communicating requests.
B) to show others objects that they want acknowledged.
C) as a form of referential communication.
D) when interacting with agemates.

Question 46

Gestures are used for

A) making requests.
B) referential communication.
C) symbolizing.
D) All of the alternatives are correct.

Question 47

Which of the following is true about the development of gestures in deaf children?

A) Deaf children do not develop gestures.
B) Some deaf children develop a complex gestural system with many of the properties of spoken language.
C) Deaf children need to be exposed to sign language to develop a system of gestures.
D) None of the alternatives are correct.

Question 48

Which of the following is true concerning infants' utterance of their first word?

A) Out of the blue, around their first birthdays, children will simply utter a word such as "juice."
B) As soon as infants utter their first word, all other forms of communication such as gesturing stop.
C) An infant's first word is preceded by frequent sound combinations (e.g., dee-dee).
D) Infants' first words do not build on earlier babbling skills.

Question 49

The study of the meanings conveyed in language is called

A) semantics.
B) pragmatics.
C) syntax.
D) phonetics.

Question 50

A researcher interested in the process by which children acquire words to refer to states of happiness, sadness, illness, and health would be said to be studying

A) semantic development.
B) pragmatics.
C) phonemics.
D) the naming explosion.

Question 51

At around 18 months of age,

A) babies' babbling acquires a "speechy" quality.
B) children understand the meaning of about 500 words.
C) babies begin to label everything in sight.
D) cooing disappears.

Question 52

The naming explosion that occurs in the second year of life is believed to primarily reflect

A) maturation of the speech apparatus.
B) the child's emerging ability to categorize objects.
C) increased attentional capacity reflected in the ability to sit quietly and look at and talk about picture books.
D) understanding that objects continue to exist even if out of sight.

Question 53

Research on children's early lexical development suggests that

A) children produce many more words than they understand.
B) children typically comprehend words before they produce them.
C) verbs are spoken and understood earlier than nouns.
D) the naming explosion occurs at 12 months of age.

Question 54

At 20 months, Franklin's lexicon consists mainly of words such as "bye-bye", "peek-a-boo," "pat-a-cake," and "up." Franklin's style of language acquisition is best described as

A) expressive.
B) referential.
C) lexical.
D) elaborative.

Question 55

At 24 months, Carter's lexicon includes the names of all the Muppets on Sesame Street, as well as clearly articulated labels for many of her father's tools including "hammer," "drill," and "saw." Carter's lexical style is best described as

A) elaborative.
B) expressive.
C) semantic.
D) referential.

Question 56

Connor is 18 months and is following a typical developmental pattern in all areas. It is expected that his lexicon consists of ______ words and that he can understand _______ words.

A) 200, 100
B) 100, 200
C) 500, 200
D) 200, 500

Question 57

Children who have a referential style of vocabulary development are most likely to be

A) first borns.
B) males.
C) from working-class families.
D) children who play with toy vehicles.

Question 58

Matthew expresses himself with phrases such as "Lemme see", "Ooh, what that". This is referred to as the ______________ style.

A) cultural style
B) lexicon style
C) referential style
D) expressive style

Question 59

Gender differences in children's language acquisition most strongly support the idea that language development is influenced by

A) only inborn, biological factors.
B) characteristics of the parents that elicit reactions on the part of their children.
C) the language environments to which they are exposed.
D) right brain dominance.

Question 60

Cultural differences in children's language acquisition most strongly support the idea that language development is influenced by

A) only inborn, biological factors.
B) characteristics of the parents that elicit reactions on the part of their children.
C) the language environments to which the children are exposed.
D) right brain dominance.

Question 61

Early language errors in which children use labels they already know for things whose names they do not yet know are known as

A) overextensions.
B) fast-mappings.
C) overregularizations.
D) lexical contrast.

Question 62

Rebecca refers to all large vehicles including fire trucks, ambulances, and bulldozers as "trucks." This illustrates the phenomenon known as

A) fast-mappings.
B) overregularization.
C) underextension.
D) overextension.

Question 63

Overextensions probably occur because

A) children do not notice differences between objects they refer to with the same name.
B) children's definitions of words are too narrow.
C) children lack the vocabulary necessary to correctly name the item.
D) children produce more than they comprehend.

Question 64

Jack refers to all creamy foods that are served in a bowl and eaten with a spoon such as yogurt, pudding, and oatmeal as "pudding." This most likely means that

A) Jack cannot yet produce the words "yogurt" and "oatmeal," although he may comprehend them.
B) Jack cannot perceive the difference between pudding, yogurt, and oatmeal.
C) if his mother presented him with a bowl of oatmeal and a bowl of pudding, they would taste the same to him.
D) Jack underextends the word "pudding."

Question 65

Japanese speakers often say "peh" when they spit something out. Jeffrey, who is Japanese-American, invented the phrase "chew-chew-peh" to refer to bubble gum. This is

A) expressive style.
B) coining.
C) underextension.
D) overextension.

Question 66

The study of overextensions, underextensions, and coining would be most interesting to someone studying

A) pragmatics.
B) semantics.
C) grammar.
D) syntax.

Question 67

You find it odd that your young nephew is constantly labelling the family dog "doggie" yet doesn't seem to apply this same word to dogs he meets elsewhere. This is an example of a(n)

A) overextension.
B) holophrase.
C) constraint.
D) underextension.

Question 68

The best description of a holophrase is

A) one word used to convey more meaning than that one word.
B) one word that is comprehended by only those familiar to the child.
C) a phrase that represents holistic speech.
D) equivalent to telegraphic speech.

Question 69

Which best illustrates the concept of a holophrase?

A) "Billy go 'rade."
B) "Look at the mans."
C) "Ball."
D) "All-gone cookie."

Question 70

Rebecca says "boots" when she wants her mother to put her boots on for her. This is referred to as

A) Overextension
B) Underextension
C) Coining
D) Holophrase

Question 71

What might be the process by which a child, who does not yet know the meaning of the word "spatula," successfully infers the meaning of the sentence "give me the spatula"?

A) Syntactic bootstrapping
B) Semantic bootstrapping
C) Fast-mapping
D) None of the alternatives are correct.

Question 72

Victor is 20 months old. When he is done drinking his milk, he tells his mother "All done bottle". What type of function would this first-word combination likely serve?

A) Nomination
B) Recurrence
C) Non-existence
D) Agent-action

Question 73

Syntactic bootstrapping refers to

A) a child's use of syntactic cues to infer the meanings of words.
B) a child's use of syntactic cues to infer the meaning of holophrases.
C) a child's use of word meaning to learn syntax.
D) a child's use of semantics to learn grammar.

Question 74

The fact that very young children can acquire new words such as "kowabunga" after one demonstration is best explained by the process of

A) overextension.
B) semantic feature comparison.
C) fast-mapping.
D) scaffolding.

Question 75

According to lexical contrast theory, a child who knows what an ocean is will likely interpret the word "sea" to

A) be synonymous with ocean.
B) have a different meaning than ocean.
C) to be a special kind of ocean.
D) have a broader meaning than ocean.

Question 76

The term "constraints" in the context of word learning refers to the fact that children

A) quickly map the meaning of a word onto an object.
B) automatically make certain assumptions about what a word means.
C) tend to underextend the meaning of words.
D) None of the alternatives are correct.

Question 77

According to the principle of mutual exclusivity, children are most likely to associate a new word with

A) a familiar object.
B) objects for which they already possess many labels.
C) an unknown object.
D) old words that sound the same.

Question 78

Research by Xu, Cote, and Baker (2005) have shown that the principle of mutual exclusivity applies to

A) all languages studied.
B) most languages studied.
C) 12-month-old infants when first learning words.
D) 18-month-old infants making their first word combinations.

Question 79

As children get older,

A) parents play the "Original Word Game" more.
B) the overall percentage of object words in one's lexicon increases.
C) word coining decreases as their lexicon grows.
D) All of the alternatives are correct.

Question 80

The fact that young children do not tend to label the family dog using multiple terms such as "animal," "beagle," and "mammal" illustrates the concept of

A) mutual exclusivity.
B) fast-mapping.
C) syntactic bootstrapping.
D) holophrase.