Question 1

The system of symbols, agreed upon by a community of language users, that conveys specific meaning is known as

Accepted Answer

A)   a linguistic code.
B)   a cognitive pathway.
C)   homesign.
D)   recursion. A

Question 2

A 2009 study by Feher et al. showed that, over the course of several generations, the songs of birds raised by isolates become remarkably similar to those of normal adult birds. These results support the

Accepted Answer

A)   nativist view of bird song origins.
B)   anti-nativist view of bird song origins.
C)   cultural transmission view of language change.
D)   universal grammar perspective. A

Question 3

The theory of universal grammar claims that

Accepted Answer

A)   all human languages can be described by essentially the same rules of grammar.
B)   all species of primates have the capacity to learn grammar.
C)   humans are born with implicit knowledge of the rules of grammar of all human languages.
D)   humans are born with a predisposition to learn certain kinds of structures more easily than other kinds of structures. D

Question 4

Jasmine is a 9-year-old whose IQ is lower than that of her peers. She also produces incoherent speech and demonstrates grammatical difficulties as well. In addition, she has trouble generating certain facial gestures and humming a jingle. Her younger sister is learning language normally and appears to have no other deficits. Identify the most likely explanation for Jasmine's condition and why you arrived at your answer.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Jasmine is a 9-year-old whose IQ is...

Question 5

The theoretical perspective that humans' ability to learn language is not the result of innate or genetically based predisposition that evolved specifically for language, but an aspect of our cognitive abilities, including general abilities of learning and memory is known as

Accepted Answer

A)   anti-nativist theory.
B)   linguistic theory.
C)   psychodynamic theory.
D)   evolutionary theory.

Question 6

The awareness between two or more individuals that they are paying attention to the same thing is known as

Accepted Answer

A)   homesign.
B)   linguistic code.
C)   universal grammar.
D)   joint attention.

Question 7

_______ is the set of rules that determines how linguistic elements, such as words, can be combined to convey meaning.

Accepted Answer

A)   Evolutionary adaptation
B)   Productivity
C)   Recursion
D)   Syntax

Question 8

What is duality of patterning, and how is this feature beneficial for a communication system?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is duality of patterning, and how...

Question 9

Viki, a chimpanzee, can produce only four indistinct words of spoken English, whereas Alex, a parrot, can clearly pronounce more than 100 words. Can we conclude from this that Alex's linguistic capabilities are superior to Viki's? Why or why not?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Viki, a chimpanzee, can produce only four...

Question 10

Explain how Williams Syndrome (WMS) aids us in understanding how human language is organized in the brain.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Explain how Williams Syndrome (WMS) aids us...

Question 11

Which of Hockett's design features of human language can also be attributed to honeybee communication?

Accepted Answer

A)   Arbitrariness
B)   Duality of patterning
C)   Reflexiveness
D)   Interchangeability

Question 12

What empirical evidence suggests that bees have an innate dance "dialect?"

Accepted Answer

The answer of What empirical evidence suggests that bees have...

Question 13

A comparison of birdsong with human language suggests that

Accepted Answer

A)   songbirds are pre-programmed to sing specific songs from birth, whereas children have to be exposed to speech sounds in order to be able to produce them.
B)   songbirds can only produce memorized sequences of sounds, whereas children can produce novel combinations of words.
C)   both human infants and young songbirds must practice their vocal skills in order to master them.
D)   both children and songbirds show evidence of Hockett's feature of semanticity in their communication.

Question 14

Which animal is able to gesture in a flexible way to indicate its intention?

Accepted Answer

A)   Dog
B)   Cat
C)   Bee
D)   Chimpanzee

Question 15

Given a choice between two buckets in which only one bucket contains a treat, a chimpanzee will be _______ likely to choose a bucket that a human reached for _______ a bucket that a human pointed to.

Accepted Answer

A)   less; than
B)   more; than
C)   equally; as
D)   as un-; as

Question 16

Refer to the figure.
  Figure A demonstrates how a hearing individual might use a gesture, along with speech, to describe rolling downhill. Figure B demonstrates how someone using sign language might gesture to convey the same action. What do the images tell us about how each individual uses gestures to convey information? Why is this an important distinction in linguistics, and how does it allow sign languages to resemble spoken languages in terms of their expressive power?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Refer to the figure.
  Figure A...

Question 17

Hare and Tomasello found that chimpanzees will reach for a bucket containing a treat if a human reaches for the same bucket-but not if the human points to the bucket to signal the presence of a treat in it. This suggests that chimpanzees do not understand the

Accepted Answer

A)   intention of others to act in certain ways.
B)   language of others.
C)   intention of others to communicate with them.
D)   sign language of others.

Question 18

_______ is a genetic disorder in which some language functions seem relatively intact, while other complex cognitive abilities are markedly impaired.

Accepted Answer

A)   Working memory deficit
B)   Williams syndrome
C)   Downs syndrome
D)   Specific language impairment

Question 19

Compare the language learning outcomes of: 1) a human infant raised by adoptive parents who speak a language other than that of the infant's birth parents with 2) the sounds produced by rhesus macaque monkeys raised by Japanese macaques, instead of their biological parents.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Compare the language learning outcomes of: 1)...

Question 20

The cultural transmission view of language change holds that

Accepted Answer

A)   the brains of geographically isolated individuals develop differently than the brains of those individuals that can exchange ideas and learn each others' languages.
B)   our brains adapt to the language we invent.
C)   languages change over time, responding to pressures to be communicatively useful and easy to learn.
D)   human language developed as a by-product of our physiology.

Exam 1: Origins of Human Language