Deck 9: Section 2: Language and Thought

Question 1

The smallest meaningful units of language are:

A)phonemes.
B)morphemes.
C)phrases.
D)sentences.

Answer 1

morphemes.

Question 2

Deep structure refers to the _____ of a sentence.

A)grammar
B)wording
C)meaning
D)morphology

Answer 2

meaning

Question 3

Which expression is a morpheme?

A)b
B)boy
C)the boy
D)the boy cried

Answer 3

boy

Question 4

The sentences "The dog chased the cat" and "The dog was chased by the cat" have _____ deep structure and _____ surface structure.

A)different; different
B)the same; different
C)different; the same
D)the same; the same

Question 5

The word "and" is an example of a _____ morpheme.

A)content
B)phonetic
C)tangible
D)function

Question 6

_____ rules indicate how words can be combined to form phrases and sentences.

A)Morphological
B)Phonological
C)Syntactical
D)Deep structure

Question 7

Which expression is a sentence?

A)dogs
B)the dogs
C)the dogs, who were barking very noisily
D)dogs bark

Question 8

Research on language reveals that:

A)relatively few species have developed anything that could even be considered a simple "language."
B)language really only develops when a species has the ability to communicate vocally.
C)most social species have systems of communication that allow them to transmit messages to one another.
D)there are no commonalities between human language and signaling systems of other animals.

Question 9

Semantics refer to the _____ structure of a sentence.

A)syntactical
B)phonetic
C)morphological
D)deep

Question 10

By best estimates, written human language emerged _____ years ago.

A)3,000
B)6,000
C)1 to 3 million
D)3 to 6 million

Question 11

Which expression is a phoneme?

A)dog
B)d
C)the dog
D)the dog runs

Question 12

By best estimates, spoken human language emerged _____ years ago.

A)3,000
B)6,000
C)1 to 3 million
D)3 to 6 million

Question 13

There are about _____ human languages, which linguists have grouped into about _____ language families.

A)1,000; 10
B)2,000; 20
C)4,000; 50
D)6,000; 100

Question 14

Which statement does NOT distinguish human language from the signaling systems of other species?

A)Humans can use language to transmit information to others, whereas animals cannot.
B)Human language has a far more complex structure than other signaling systems.
C)Humans, but not other species, can reference intangible items such as concepts.
D)Human language can be used to describe or categorize things to the thinker using the language.

Question 15

The sentences "The dog chased the cat" and "The cat was chased by the dog" have _____ deep structure and _____ surface structure.

A)different; different
B)the same; different
C)different; the same
D)the same; the same

Question 16

A grammar rule contains which two categories of rules?

A)phonological and morphological
B)morphological and syntactical
C)deep structure and surface structure
D)noun phrases and verb phrases

Question 17

"B" and "p" differ in the way they are produced by a human speaker. As such, they are both examples of:

A)phonemes.
B)symbols.
C)morphemes.
D)phrases.

Question 18

_____ is the set of rules that specify how the units of language can be combined to produce meaningful messages.

A)Phonemes
B)Grammar
C)Surface structure
D)Deep structure

Question 19

_____ morphemes refer to things and events.

A)Content
B)Phonetic
C)Tangible
D)Function

Question 20

"A system for communicating with others using signals that convey meaning and are combined according to rules of grammar" is the definition of:

A)semantics.
B)morphemes.
C)syntax.
D)language.

Question 21

The average 1-year-old has a vocabulary of _____ words.

A)3
B)10
C)50
D)100

Question 22

Babies begin to use single words at an average age of _____ months.

A)4-6
B)6-10
C)10-12
D)12-18

Question 23

Which statement about a child's ability to distinguish speech sounds is true?

A)Newborns can distinguish among only a few sounds, but by 6 months, babies can distinguish among the sounds of all languages.
B)Newborns can distinguish among the sounds of all languages, but by 6 months, babies lose this ability.
C)Newborns can distinguish among the sounds of all languages, and this ability is retained throughout life.
D)Newborns can distinguish among only the sounds that are spoken to them, and they never develop the ability to distinguish among the sounds of all languages.

Question 24

Two-year-old Lupe says to her mother "More drink" and "Where dog?" This kind of language use is referred to as:

A)telegraphic speech.
B)fast mapping.
C)simple structure.
D)babbling.

Question 25

Which group of people cannot distinguish between the sounds of "la" and "ra?"

A)Japanese adults only
B)Japanese infants and Japanese adults
C)Japanese infants only
D)Japanese infants, American infants, and Japanese adults

Question 26

By the age of 5 years, the average child has a vocabulary of about _____ words.

A)1,000
B)2,500
C)5,000
D)10,000

Question 27

Which statement about a child's mastery of language is true?

A)Passive mastery develops faster than active mastery.
B)Active mastery develops faster than passive mastery.
C)Passive and active mastery develop at the same rate.
D)Passive mastery develops faster in some cultures, whereas active mastery develops faster in others.

Question 28

Human infants begin babbling between the ages of _____ months.

A)1 and 3
B)2 and 4
C)3 and 5
D)4 and 6

Question 29

When Karen, a toddler, wants her mother to give her more juice, she says "More juice" instead of "Juice more." This way of expressing herself shows that Karen understands:

A)fast mapping.
B)function morphemes.
C)syntax.
D)morphology.

Question 30

Which statement is true?

A)When you construct a sentence, you start with a simple structure and develop a deep structure.
B)When you comprehend a sentence, you process the simple structure in order to extract the deep structure.
C)Simple structure corresponds to semantics; deep structure corresponds to syntax.
D)The deep structure of a sentence is more easily forgotten than the simple structure of a sentence.

Question 31

Which statement about the babbling of deaf babies is FALSE?

A)Deaf babies babble sounds they have never heard.
B)Deaf babies babble sounds in the same order as that of hearing babies.
C)Deaf babies babble earlier relative to the babbling of hearing babies.
D)Deaf babies babble less relative to the babbling of hearing babies.

Question 32

Jen was concerned when her 4-year-old son, Anthony, started saying, "I eated dinner." Jen should not worry because Anthony is:

A)learning how to fast map.
B)simply confusing the deep structure with the simple structure of the sentence.
C)experiencing a momentary episode of dysphasia.
D)overgeneralizing from the grammatical language rules.

Question 33

Between the ages of 1 and 5 years, the average child learns about _____ new words every day.

A)1 or 2
B)3 or 4
C)6 or 7
D)10 or 12

Question 34

Jody has a vocabulary of about 10,000 words. Her speech recently has begun to include full sentences, questions, negations, and function words. About how old is Jody likely to be?

A)2
B)5
C)7
D)10

Question 35

Quinn just turned 1 year old and has a spoken vocabulary of 15 words. Which statement about Quinn's language development is true?

A)Quinn soon should start learning two to three words per day for the next four years.
B)Quinn understands the meaning of more than 15 words.
C)Quinn is behind the norm in her language development.
D)Quinn violates many grammatical rules when she speaks.

Question 36

Children overgeneralize the rules of the grammar that guide their spoken language, resulting in speech language errors. The predictability of these errors illustrates an important point regarding language development, namely that language development:

A)comes about mainly through imitating adult forms of speech.
B)is primarily a matter of memorizing appropriate speech sounds and then repeating them.
C)is a hit-or-miss enterprise; children acquire language largely through trial and error.
D)is guided by implicit grammatical rules that children use to produce new sentences and verbal constructions they've never heard before.

Question 37

On the day 2-year-old Isabel helped her father build bookshelves, she added the terms "board," "measuring tape," and "dowel" to her vocabulary after her first encounter with these objects. This is an example of:

A)a language acquisition device.
B)fast mapping.
C)telegraphic speed.
D)linguistic relativity.

Question 38

Children make _____ errors when learning to speak, and the errors they make still _____ grammatical rules.

A)many; do not respect
B)few; respect
C)many; respect
D)few; do not respect

Question 39

Fast mapping occurs with:

A)vocabulary only.
B)vocabulary and writing.
C)vocabulary and arithmetic.
D)vocabulary, writing, and arithmetic.

Question 40

Lauren has just begun to use two-word phrases, such as "give doll" and "throw ball." Lauren is probably about _____ months old.

A)12-18
B)18-24
C)24-36
D)36-60

Question 41

The view that we learn language through principles of operant conditioning was proposed by:

A)B. F. Skinner.
B)Noam Chomsky.
C)Carl Wernicke.
D)Paul Broca.

Question 42

People with genetic dysphasia:

A)are able to produce written language but unable to generate spoken language.
B)find certain aspects of human language difficult or impossible to learn, despite having normal intellectual abilities.
C)acquire a language acquisition device only later in life.
D)are able to generate spoken language but unable to produce written language.

Question 43

The nativist view of language development is associated with:

A)B. F. Skinner.
B)Noam Chomsky.
C)Allen and Beatrix Gardner.
D)Paul Broca.

Question 44

_____ is defined as the difficulty in producing or comprehending language.

A)Dysphasia
B)Dystaxia
C)Apraxia
D)Aphasia

Question 45

Which view of language development holds that language is an innate, biological capacity that humans possess?

A)Skinnerian
B)behaviorist
C)nativist
D)humanist

Question 46

With respect to language acquisition, in what ways-if any-do internationally adopted preschoolers learning a new language differ from monolingual infants?

A)Internationally adopted preschoolers begin using nouns and function morphemes at the same time.
B)Internationally adopted preschoolers begin to speak telegraphically without the need to learn simple morphemes.
C)Internationally adopted preschoolers acquire vocabulary faster than monolingual infants.
D)The two groups do not differ on language acquisition.

Question 47

The behaviorist theory of language accounts for all of the following aspects of language development EXCEPT:

A)grammar develops despite parents not spending much time teaching it to their children.
B)children generate grammatical sentences they have never heard.
C)children's language errors are overgeneralizations of rules instead of imitations of heard speech.
D)children need to be taught the rules of grammar explicitly.

Question 48

Behaviorists believe that language learning occurs via all of these processes EXCEPT:

A)extinction.
B)shaping.
C)biological preparedness.
D)reinforcement.

Question 49

Rodrigo has genetic dysphasia. Which statement about Rodrigo is NOT true?

A)Rodrigo probably has normal intelligence.
B)There is an increased chance that people in Rodrigo's family also have genetic dysphasia.
C)Rodrigo has difficulty with learning correct grammatical syntax.
D)Rodrigo has difficulty with the semantics of language.

Question 50

Studies of the acquisition of a new language in internationally adopted preschoolers are useful because they allow researchers to:

A)determine the influence of culture on language acquisition.
B)determine the influence of nature vs. nurture on language acquisition.
C)separate language learning from general cognitive development.
D)determine how language learning changes with age.

Question 51

A collection of processes located in the human brain that facilitate language learning is called the:

A)language acquisition device.
B)neural syntax mechanism.
C)internal language generator.
D)cortical phoneme library.

Question 52

When a child says "Nobody like me," his parent typically:

A)responds more to the grammatical mistake than to the child's meaning.
B)responds more to the child's meaning than to the grammatical mistake.
C)responds equally to the child's meaning and to the grammatical mistake.
D)says nothing in an attempt to extinguish incorrect syntax.

Question 53

The case of Genie, a child who lived in virtual isolation for a decade, illustrates which important point about the nativist explanation of language development?

A)Language can develop at any stage of growth; the brain is malleable enough to acquire language throughout the life span.
B)Genetic dysphasia results from impoverished environmental conditions.
C)Language can be acquired only within a restricted period of development; after that period, gains in language skills are minimal.
D)Despite isolation from other speakers, language development still occurs, but at a slower rate.

Question 54

Children begin using function morphemes at around age:

A)2)
B)3)
C)4)
D)5)

Question 55

According to Skinner's theory of language acquisition, an infant learns to say "ma-ma" in the presence of her mother because:

A)this association is genetically built into the language acquisition device.
B)the mother is an unconditioned stimulus that elicits this unconditioned response.
C)speaking the word is intrinsically reinforcing.
D)mothers provide reinforcement for utterances that sound more and more like "ma-ma."

Question 56

The interactionist approach to language development differs from the nativist approach in that the interactionist approach:

A)believes that all verbal behavior is genetically determined.
B)argues that all verbal behavior is the result of shaping with reinforcement.
C)believes in the existence of a language acquisition device.
D)places a heavier emphasis on the role of social interactions in language development.

Question 57

The interactionist approach to language development differs from the behaviorist approach in that the interactionist approach:

A)believes that humans have an innate ability to acquire language.
B)believes that environmental factors affect language development.
C)does not believe in the existence of a language acquisition device.
D)places a heavier emphasis on the role of social interactions in language development.

Question 58

Learning to form the past tense of words:

A)does not require explicit awareness of grammatical rules.
B)requires formal study of syntax provided by parents or schools.
C)occurs through trial and error.
D)begins at around age 5.

Question 59

Internationally adopted preschoolers acquire a second language:

A)in the same orderly sequence as younger monolingual infants.
B)without having to progress through as many steps as younger monolingual infants.
C)almost immediately, because syntax was already learned in their native language.
D)much slower than younger monolingual infants, reflecting interference from their native language.

Question 60

Which Mexican immigrant, each of whom is 30 years old, is MOST likely to have developed the best English skills?

A)Teresa, who arrived at age 3
B)Jose, who arrived at age 15
C)Carmen, who arrived at age 20
D)Teresa, Jose, and Carmen should have approximately equivalent English skills.

Question 61

The gray matter in the _____ lobe is denser in people who are bilingual.

A)right temporal
B)left parietal
C)left temporal
D)right parietal

Question 62

A necessary condition for being a professor of psychology at Harvard University is that:

A)one has written a textbook on introductory psychology.
B)one's name begins with Dan.
C)one has taught four courses at Harvard last semester.
D)one has a doctorate degree.

Question 63

The language of the Inuit in Canada has many different terms for frozen white flakes of precipitation, for which we use the term snow. _____ argued that, because of this, the Inuit _____.

A)Benjamin Whorf; perceive snow differently from English speakers
B)Noam Chomsky; have a fundamentally different language acquisition device than English speakers
C)Eleanor Rosch; think about snow in a fundamentally different way than English speakers
D)Allen Gardner; form emotional associations with snow more easily than English speakers

Question 64

Damage to Wernicke's area results in:

A)failure to produce grammatical speech.
B)great difficulty in understanding language.
C)genetic dysphasia.
D)great difficulty in identifying non-language sounds.

Question 65

Thad suffered a stroke that resulted in brain damage. Thad is overheard saying, "The rain came before my feelings. I think the funny TV is cold. But it needs help with the scissors." Thad probably has suffered damage to the _____ cortex.

A)right prefrontal
B)left frontal
C)left temporal
D)right temporal

Question 66

The linguistic relativity hypothesis holds that:

A)different languages use different grammatical constructions.
B)language shapes the nature of thought.
C)different brain regions are activated when a bilingual person uses her native language as opposed to her second language.
D)all languages change over time.

Question 67

Research on color meaning with JB, who suffered progressive deteriorations in understanding the meaning of words even though he performed well on many other perceptual and cognitive tasks, demonstrated that JB was able to:

A)verbally name colors presented to him.
B)associate the name of a color with a name of an object (e.g., a yellow banana).
C)sort color patches into piles of red, green, and blue.
D)match a color to the word of the color.

Question 68

_____ trained a chimpanzee named Washoe to talk using _____.

A)B. F. Skinner; shaping through approximations
B)Allen and Beatrix Gardner; American Sign Language
C)Marian and Keller Breland; American Sign Language
D)Sue Savage-Rumbaugh; picture boards

Question 69

A mental representation that groups or categorizes shared features of related objects is also known as a(n):

A)prototype.
B)exemplar.
C)ideal form.
D)concept.

Question 70

Which statement is true for bilingual children versus monolingual children?

A)Bilingual children have a smaller vocabulary in each language than their monolingual peers.
B)Bilingual children have a larger vocabulary in each language than their monolingual peers.
C)Monolingual children are better at mathematics than bilingual children.
D)There are no differences in the academic abilities of bilingual and monolingual children.

Question 71

When Broca's area is damaged, patients:

A)have a hard time understanding language.
B)usually continue to produce grammatical speech.
C)produce sentences that tend to be meaningless.
D)have a hard time with speech production.

Question 72

Professor Janes is preparing a flow chart depicting a timeline of the history of psychology to be used at a Chinese university. To maximize student learning, how should the flow chart be oriented?

A)beginning at the left and moving to the right
B)beginning at the right and moving to the left
C)beginning at the top and moving to the bottom
D)beginning at the bottom and moving to the top

Question 73

Wernicke's area is located in the _____ cortex.

A)left frontal
B)right frontal
C)left temporal
D)right temporal

Question 74

When apes communicate using forms of human language, their communication typically lacks:

A)grammatically correct complex sentences.
B)modifiers, such as adjectives and adverbs.
C)an emotional context.
D)verbs.

Question 75

The linguistic relativity hypothesis was first proposed by:

A)Benjamin Whorf.
B)B. F. Skinner.
C)Noam Chomsky.
D)Bernard Weiner.

Question 76

During the first few years of life, language processing in the brain:

A)becomes less concentrated in a few areas and more widely distributed.
B)becomes more concentrated in a few areas and less distributed.
C)shifts from Broca's area to Wernicke's area.
D)shifts from Wernicke's area to Broca's area.

Question 77

Which statement about the limitations of language learning in apes is NOT true?

A)Apes' vocabularies are quite small, compared to those of even toddlers.
B)Apes can master words for concrete objects, but have difficulty with abstract concepts.
C)Apes can exhibit an active mastery of a few hundred words but fail to exhibit a passive mastery of them.
D)Ape communication is usually telegraphic; it rarely consists of grammatically correct complex sentences.

Question 78

Efforts to teach apes human language often focus on:

A)providing them with models of other species who have been taught language.
B)training them to produce human speech sounds.
C)careful observation of the apes' own speech systems.
D)teaching them American Sign Language (ASL).

Question 79

Broca's area is located in the _____ cortex.

A)left frontal
B)right frontal
C)left temporal
D)right temporal

Question 80

Winawer et al. (2007) presented English and Russian speakers with a blue sample stimulus. They also were shown two blue comparison stimuli. One comparison stimulus matched the shade of the sample stimulus, and one comparison stimulus was of a different shade. Participants were asked to identify which of the two comparison stimuli matched the sample stimulus. This research found that:

A)Russian speakers took longer than English speakers to make this determination when one comparison stimulus was dark blue and the other comparison stimulus was light blue.
B)English speakers took longer than Russian speakers to make this determination when one comparison stimulus was dark blue and the other comparison stimulus was light blue.
C)Russian speakers took longer than English speakers to make this determination when all three stimuli were shades of light blue.
D)American speakers took longer than English speakers to make this determination when all three stimuli were shades of dark blue.