Deck 10: Languag

Question 1

Which of these statements is NOT true of the principles of language?

A)A huge number of morphemes,words,and sentences can be created from only a few small units of language.
B)The various combinations of units within a language are governed by certain principles (e.g. ,"gst" is not a usual combination in the English language).
C)If a combination of consonants is forbidden in one particular language (e.g. ,"tl" at the beginning of a word in the English language),then it is also forbidden in every other language.
D)In order to be competent speakers of a language,people must know the principles that govern the phonological combinations,as well as the vocabulary and grammar.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

If you put your fingers on your throat and produce a [z] sound,you will feel vibration.This vibration means the [z] sound is

A)a fricative.
B)nasal.
C)dependent on airflow from the nasal cavity.
D)voiced.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

In ordinary speech production,the boundaries between syllables or between words are usually

A)marked by momentary pauses.
B)marked by slight loudness changes.
C)marked by slight changes in pitch.
D)not marked,so they must be determined by the perceiver.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

"Coarticulation" refers to the fact that in producing speech

A)the movement of the tongue and lips must be carefully coordinated with the output of air from the lungs.
B)phonemes overlap,both in their production and in their sound pattern.
C)a single position of the tongue is used for several different speech sounds.
D)the tongue must be moved into its appropriate position simultaneously with the positioning of the teeth and lips.

Question 5

The term "voice-onset time" refers to the

A)age at which infants begin to produce vocal sounds.
B)time that elapses between successive syllables in ordinary speech.
C)average length of the pause between two people's utterances in a conversation.
D)amount of time that elapses between the moment air begins to flow at the start of speech sound and the moment at which voicing begins.

Question 6

The study of the sounds used in language is usually referred to as

A)phonology.
B)semantics.
C)morphology.
D)acoustics.

Question 7

You are flipping through channels on TV when you come upon a French-speaking station.You do not speak French,and you are amazed at how quickly it is spoken.Which of the following factors is most relevant for explaining this reaction?

A)You are not able to segment the speech sounds into phonemes,making it sound faster.
B)You are not able to produce the speech,therefore you cannot perceive it correctly.
C)You do not know the appropriate pronunciation or syntax rules in French.
D)French phonemes overlap more than English phonemes,making it sound faster.

Question 8

A researcher creates a series of synthetic speech sounds gradually ranging,in uniformly small steps,from a "ta" sound at one extreme to a "da" sound at the other extreme.Participants are asked to identify each of these sounds.The researcher should expect to find that

A)as the sounds gradually shift from "ta" to "da," participants' pattern of responding gradually shifts from "ta" to "da."
B)participants identify sounds close to "ta" as "ta" and identify sounds close to "da" as "da," but they are unable to identify the sounds midway between the two.
C)participants' identification of the sounds midway between a standard "ta" and a standard "da" is heavily influenced by the identity of the sound they heard just previously.
D)participants' perceptions of the sounds show an abrupt transition,with all of the sounds closer to "ta" clearly identified as "ta" and all of the sounds closer to "da" clearly identified as "da."

Question 9

Often extraneous noise interferes with our ability to hear all the sounds in a stream of speech.If a brief burst of noise prevents a phoneme from being heard (e.g. ,"His *ame is Barry"),what is most likely to occur?

A)The listener will not understand the sentence.
B)The listener will be able to understand the sentence and will probably not notice that the burst of noise occurred.
C)The listener will be able to understand the sentence,will realize that a burst of noise occurred,but probably will not know where the burst occurred.
D)The listener will be able to understand the sentence,will realize that a burst of noise occurred,and will likely know exactly which phoneme was missing.

Question 10

The term "categorical perception" refers to the fact that we are

A)better at hearing some categories of sounds than we are at hearing other categories.
B)skillful both in identifying categories of sounds and in categorizing the physical characteristics of those sounds.
C)better at hearing the difference between sounds from different categories than we are at distinguishing sounds from the same category.
D)highly sensitive to variations within a category but less sensitive to the contrast between categories.

Question 11

In the word "cats" the "s" is

A)a morpheme.
B)a phoneme.
C)a morpheme and a phoneme.
D)neither a morpheme nor a phoneme.

Question 12

The smallest units of language that carry meaning are called

A)morphemes.
B)phonemes.
C)phonetic elements.
D)words.

Question 13

The perception of speech is made easier by all of the following EXCEPT that

A)there is impressively little variation from one speaker to the next.
B)the content of the speech we hear is often predictable on the basis of knowledge external to language.
C)the content of the speech we hear is often predictable because of the rules guiding which sounds go together.
D)most of the speech we hear employs a relatively small number of words,used over and over again.

Question 14

To produce some sounds,the flow of air out of the lungs is interrupted by the lips;for other sounds,the flow is disrupted by the placement of the tongue and teeth.This feature of sound production is referred to as

A)place of articulation.
B)manner of production.
C)voicing.
D)speech locus.

Question 15

Phonemes that differ in only one production feature sound similar to each other,while phonemes that differ in several production features sound distinct.This suggests all of the following EXCEPT that

A)the features of speech production correspond to what listeners hear when listening to speech.
B)production and perception are linked.
C)errors are more likely when production features are more similar.
D)listeners should be able to detect speech sounds simply by isolating individual sounds.

Question 16

The plural for the word "pill" is pronounced with a [z] sound (it is pronounced "pillz"),but the plural for "pit" is pronounced with an [s] sound ("pits").This contrast is governed by a rule of

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

Question 17

Marcus is talking on the phone to his mother about what he should buy at the grocery store when a garbage truck drives past him.As a result,he is unable to hear what his mom is saying for 3 or 4 seconds.Which of the following is LEAST likely to help him figure out what his mother said?

A)previous knowledge of his mother's opinions and beliefs
B)his memory for the beginning of the sentence she was speaking when cut off
C)knowing the conversation was about grocery shopping
D)categorical perception

Question 18

The process of "slicing" the stream of speech into successive syllables or words is called

A)sound segregation.
B)speech segmentation.
C)categorical perception.
D)articulation.

Question 19

In some speech sounds,the flow of air out of the lungs is entirely interrupted for a moment;for other sounds,the flow of air is restricted but air continues to flow.This feature of sound production is referred to as

A)place of articulation.
B)manner of production.
C)voicing.
D)speech locus.

Question 20

Speech in a foreign language sounds very fast to a listener with no knowledge of the language.Which of the following statements does NOT accurately explain this fact?

A)Coarticulation makes speech seem slower in our own language,but not in a foreign language.
B)Unfamiliar listeners lack the skill necessary to segment the speech stream.
C)All speech is really an uninterrupted flow of sound.
D)Top-down knowledge facilitates how you interpret the words you hear.

Question 21

In one study of sentence processing,an electroencephalogram (EEG)was used to reveal brain activity while participants heard sentences that were either correct,had a semantic anomaly,or had a statement that contained false information.The evidence from that study suggests that

A)electrical activity is the same,regardless of the content of the sentence.
B)our previous knowledge of the world influences how we parse sentences.
C)errors in syntax are worse than errors of semantics.
D)brain activity is at a uniformly high level from the beginning of a sentence until the end.

Question 22

Which of the following is NOT a principle that guides sentence parsing?

A)Decisions about the parsing of individual words are not made until the entire sentence has been heard.
B)In general,we assume that the sentences we hear will be in the active,not passive,voice.
C)Parsing makes use of the small function words (e.g. ,"that" and "which")to identify the sentence's phrase structure.
D)The semantics of the sentence are used as an aid in determining the source of the action and the recipient.

Question 23

To parse a sentence,one needs to

A)figure out the sentence's meaning.
B)determine whether the sentence is true or false.
C)determine the syntactic role of each word in the sentence.
D)determine the implications of the sentence.

Question 24

Parsing is LEAST likely to be influenced by

A)semantics.
B)statistical probabilities in the language.
C)context.
D)prescriptive rules.

Question 25

In some cases factors outside the language (e.g. ,the setting in which a sentence occurs)can help us understand garden-path sentences.These factors are referred to as

A)syntactic organization.
B)noun phrasing.
C)wording.
D)extralinguistic context.

Question 26

Sentences such as "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" indicate that

A)not all sentences need to have a verb phrase.
B)it is possible for a sentence to have an irregular phrase structure.
C)the semantic content of a sentence governs its syntactic form.
D)a sentence can be grammatical even if it is meaningless.

Question 27

The number of phonemes used by the English language is approximately

A)8.
B)40.
C)150.
D)several thousand.

Question 28

Which of the following provides an example of phrase structure ambiguity?

A)I saw the bear with my binoculars.(Who had the binoculars?)
B)He paid a lot for the ball.(Was it a round toy or a formal party?)
C)She loves a good whine.(This can be heard as "a good wine.")
D)We saw it.(The reference of "it" is unspecified. )

Question 29

A phrase structure rule is a rule governing

A)whether a proposition is expressed as a declarative sentence or as a question.
B)whether a proposition is true or false.
C)what the constituents must be for any syntactic element of a sentence.
D)what contents can be expressed by a sentence.

Question 30

The rules governing the sequence of words in forming phrases and sentences are rules of

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

Question 31

Which of the following is FALSE about the pattern of linguistic performance?

A)Performance often contains errors that the speaker knows how to correct.
B)Performance provides a direct assessment of the extent of one's linguistic knowledge.
C)Performance is influenced by slips,or mistakes,in language.
D)Performance often omits language patterns that the speaker is able to use but chooses not to use.

Question 32

Descriptive rules

A)allow us to decide if a particular utterance is "proper" or "good."
B)have the same function as prescriptive rules.
C)are mostly used by new speakers who do not yet understand slang or common expressions.
D)describe how English is structured.

Question 33

The claim that "language is generative" is the claim that

A)it is always possible to generate new sounds to add to the language.
B)the units of language can be combined and recombined to create vast numbers of new linguistic entities.
C)language can be used to generate new knowledge and new discoveries.
D)scholars have been able to invent an unlimited number of new words,allowing them to express any concept they wish.

Question 34

Garden-path sentences illustrate that

A)reading is difficult.
B)interpreting a sentence as each word arrives may lead to errors.
C)meaning changes depending on the situation.
D)we wait until the end of a sentence to interpret the meaning.

Question 35

In speaking,the pattern of pauses and the rise and fall of pitch are technically referred to as

A)prosody.
B)musicality.
C)stress patterns.
D)expressiveness.

Question 36

For fluent speakers of a language,rules of the language such as how to create new words are often

A)deliberately followed by speakers of a language.
B)developed through imitation.
C)implicit yet are reliably followed by speakers of the language.
D)generally ignored.

Question 37

The fact that languages across the world show the same pattern of regularities leads many researchers to believe that

A)the pattern of learning across cultures is similar.
B)our vocal muscles determine our language development.
C)we have an innate biological heritage stipulating the structure of human language.
D)the word order of subject-verb-object occurs in all languages.

Question 38

Which of the following claims about phrase structure rules is FALSE?

A)The rules govern the pattern of branching that is possible in a phrase structure tree.
B)The rules determine whether the sentence is true or false.
C)Word sequences that break the rules are likely to be judged as ungrammatical.
D)The rules identify natural groupings of words within a sentence.

Question 39

Which of the following would be considered a garden-path sentence?

A)This is it.
B)Dogs need cats are silly.
C)The woman was terribly happy,but she knew it couldn't last for long,because for as long as she could possibly remember everything in her life had ended badly.
D)The government plans to raise taxes were defeated.

Question 40

Rules that describe the proper way to speak,or the way language is supposed to be,are called

A)rules of discourse.
B)pragmatic rules.
C)prescriptive rules.
D)syntax rules.

Question 41

Knowing about how language is ordinarily used is technically called

A)pronominalization.
B)conversational implications.
C)pragmatics.
D)psycholinguistics.

Question 42

There is some evidence that being bilingual has other cognitive advantages.Which of the following is NOT one of those supposed advantages?

A)improved executive control
B)better at avoiding distraction
C)improved ability to switch between tasks
D)improved long-term memory for everyday events

Question 43

Which of the following is NOT consistent with the idea that children learn language even if their communication with adults is not linguistic?

A)Children born deaf without the opportunity to learn sign language invent their own gestural language.
B)Children begin the language-learning process with a head start.
C)Children have the brain structures in place at birth to facilitate language learning.
D)Children learn languages more quickly than adults.

Question 44

Research conducted to understand animal language suggests that

A)animals do not communicate.
B)no animals,besides humans,can learn language.
C)some animals may be able to use language at a very basic level (akin to that of a 3- or 4-year-old).
D)with enough training,animals can acquire language skills similar to those of a human adult.

Question 45

Which of the following aspects of human communication is LEAST likely in the communication of other species?

A)sounds that are linked to ideas
B)syntax
C)a communicative partner
D)gestures

Question 46

Research suggests that genetic factors contribute to language acquisition.For example,some people have an inherited syndrome known as specific language impairment.These people typically

A)have underdeveloped muscles needed for speech production.
B)have damage to Wernicke's area.
C)are less likely to learn and use the rules of language.
D)also show an impairment in intelligence.

Question 47

Mike suffered damage to the left frontal lobe of his brain and now has a difficult time speaking or writing.Mike most likely has

A)Wernicke's aphasia.
B)fluent aphasia.
C)Broca's aphasia.
D)anomia.

Question 48

Young children can learn language in a huge range of environments.Which of the following,however,seems most crucial in supporting normal language learning?

A)having another human with whom to communicate
B)attending school
C)being younger than 5 years old
D)being exposed to music

Question 49

Which of the following is NOT true regarding speech perception?

A)It is aided by the fact that we encounter a relatively limited number of words on a daily basis compared with the number of words we can use.
B)It differs from other types of perception in that it relies more heavily on bottom-up processes,such as the identification of phonemes.
C)It relies on a variety of factors,such as the phonemic restoration effect,to help resolve confusion and ambiguities.
D)It can be changed based on the context.

Question 50

In the 1950s,the anthropologist Benjamin Whorf argued that a person's language powerfully and irreversibly determines the possible range of that person's thoughts.In subsequent decades,this claim

A)has been repeatedly supported,with examples coming from many different content areas.
B)has been supported by the discovery that different cultures describe spatial arrangements in different ways and seem unable to learn new ways to describe these arrangements.
C)has found little specific support,with the implication that language certainly guides our thoughts but does not influence what it is possible for someone to think.
D)seems correct for some domains (e.g. ,color perception)but not for other domains (e.g. ,thinking about spatial relations).

Question 51

Linguistic rules seem to be the source of children's overregularization errors.This sort of error is visible,for example,whenever a child

A)uses a regular sequence of words to express an idea even though a different sequence would be more effective.
B)sees a squirrel and says,"There's a cat!"
C)says,"I goed" or "He runned."
D)fails to distinguish between similar speech sounds.

Question 52

The text argues that children's overregularization errors are caused by a(n)

A)immature brain.
B)overreliance on a linguistic rule that precedes a mature understanding of when rules apply.
C)loss of previous understanding of irregular forms of words.
D)lack of (even unconscious)understanding of linguistic rules.

Question 53

Although the words "pool" and "palace" both begin with the [p] sound,the actual production of the [p] sound is different due to a process known as

A)speech segmentation.
B)coarticulation.
C)categorical perception.
D)speech perception.

Question 54

Stephen and Stephanie both have problems with speech.Stephen's disorder is characterized with speech such as "Um ...the ...ahhh ...I want ...green ...it's green." Stephanie's disorder is characterized with speech such as "It is easy because ...boys are looking but they look ...see the cat is with the boys and machines and purple." Stephen is most likely suffering from ________,while Stephanie is suffering from ________.

A)Wernicke's aphasia;Broca's aphasia
B)Wernicke's aphasia;specific language impairment
C)Broca's aphasia;Wernicke's aphasia
D)specific language impairment;Broca's aphasia

Question 55

Participant M speaks a language with a variety of color words,while Participant Q speaks a language that only differentiates between light and dark.Who is more likely to have more specific color discrimination?

A)Participant M
B)Participant Q
C)They will have equal color perception.
D)We cannot tell based on this evidence.

Question 56

The word "rechecked" has

A)two morphemes.
B)two phonemes.
C)three morphemes.
D)three phonemes.

Question 57

Barbara is 6 years old and has normal intelligence and muscle control,and no evidence of brain damage.However,she has a hard time understanding and producing language,and seems especially slow in detecting and using the regularities of language (such as the fact that "-ed" marks the past tense).She likely has

A)Broca's aphasia.
B)anomia.
C)Wernicke's aphasia.
D)specific language impairment.

Question 58

How many morphemes does the word "reachable" have?

A)two
B)three
C)four
D)five

Question 59

Which of the following statements is NOT consistent with the idea that background knowledge and context influence sentence parsing?

A)People generally parse ambiguous sentences in ways that are consistent with what they know to be true or common in the world.
B)People are often momentarily confused when a sentence conflicts with their stereotypes (e.g. ,the stereotype that secretaries are generally female).
C)People cannot comprehend a garden-path sentence once they have been led astray because of the inherent ambiguity in the sentence.
D)People are less likely to be confused about the interpretation of an ambiguous sentence if there is a picture present to guide their understanding.

Question 60

Nonfluent aphasia,in which a patient has good language comprehension but disrupted speech production,is typically associated with damage to

A)the corpus callosum.
B)Broca's area.
C)Wernicke's area.
D)the sensorimotor area.

Question 61

Which of the following statements is true regarding animal communication systems?

A)They are as rich and complex as human languages.
B)They are naturally symbolic.
C)They are found only in animals who are genetically similar to humans,such as gorillas.
D)They do not allow for the production of an unlimited number of unique forms.

Question 62

Some evidence on bilingual children suggests that a bilingual child might find which of the following activities easier than a monolingual child?

A)focusing on homework while a younger sibling plays loudly nearby
B)memorizing the definitions of a long list of vocabulary words all at once
C)reading a garden-path sentence out loud
D)segmenting speech in a foreign language

Question 63

Speech production involves just a few simple elements,yet speech perception is in many ways complex.Describe the factors that contribute to this complexity,and then describe the factors that can facilitate our ability to perceive speech.

Question 64

Do chimpanzees have the biological ability to produce language the way that humans do? Consider both the cerebral and anatomical requirements in your answer.

Question 65

Compare and contrast the linguistic functions of Broca's and Wernicke's areas.Include in your discussion the behavioral changes that are associated with damage to the areas.

Question 66

Explain why a sentence like "The man who hunts ducks out on the weekends" is likely to be initially misinterpreted by many readers.

Question 67

Describe the ways that top-down processing contributes to speech perception.How can this occasionally lead us astray?

Question 68

A friend of yours is thinking of enrolling his 4-year-old in a bilingual preschool,wherein the children are taught in English and in Mandarin.Would you support this move? Why or why not? Make sure you include empirical evidence in your answer.

Question 69

If Whorf's strong claims of linguistic relativity were proven to be correct,which of the following is LEAST likely to be true?

A)Two English-speaking children raised in very different socioeconomic environments should develop some different mental categories and ways of thinking,despite both technically speaking English.
B)Two children who speak different languages that make similar distinctions between colors should develop similar concepts of "blue" and "green."
C)A child who speaks a language that does not make a distinction between the concepts of "blue" and "green" could learn the distinction with enough practice later in life.
D)A child who speaks a language without a linguistic representation for time should not be able to think about the concept of time.

Question 70

You take a trip to Mexico with your friend for spring break.You do not speak any Spanish,but your friend has taken one semester.While out one night,you comment that everyone in Mexico speaks so quickly,but your friend disagrees.Considering the fact that you both hear the same individuals talking,why do you perceive the speech so differently? What factors contribute to your friend's perception and to your perception?

Question 71

Evidence regarding bilingual children suggests that

A)bilingual children consistently maintain cognitive advantages over monolingual children across the lifespan.
B)bilingual children have larger vocabularies compared to monolingual children.
C)bilingualism seems the best way to improve executive control,but more research needs to be done to confirm the finding.
D)bilingualism and its effects on cognition need further research,as results on its advantages on cognition have been mixed.

Question 72

Which of the following ideas is MOST consistent with Whorf's strong claim of linguistic relativity?

A)Language determines the types of concepts and thoughts a person can have.
B)Language biases the types of concepts and thoughts a person can have.
C)Language is one of many factors that influence the types of concepts and thoughts a person can have.
D)Language plays an indirect role in the kinds of concepts and thoughts a person can have.

Question 73

Describe the factors that contribute to language learning in children.What factors facilitate language learning? What factors or tendencies can lead to problems?

Question 74

You are enjoying lunch with a friend on a patio one fine spring afternoon.Right in the middle of her sentence,a loud motorcycle speeds by,preventing you from hearing a key word.However,you don't notice the obstruction.Explain how this happens,from a speech perception perspective.

Question 75

It is likely that you speak very differently to your grandmother than you do to your friends.Define the rules that govern your language choices,and describe how the situation influences which rules you use.