Question 1

A new tribe has recently been discovered in the rainforest. As a linguist, you want to determine if they have a language. Which of the following could be missing, and you would still conclude that language was present?

Accepted Answer

Displacement and generativity are key features of language. Displacement allows speakers to talk about things not present in the immediate environment, while generativity refers to the ability to create an infinite number of sentences. Grammar and semantics are fundamental components of language, structuring how words are put together and their meanings, respectively. Relativity, or the idea that language influences thought (Linguistic relativity), is not a required feature to determine if a system of communication qualifies as a language.

Question 2

Professor Jones and Professor Smith are having a discussion on whether or not apes are capable of language. Professor Jones argues that they do not, while Smith says that they do. To make the strongest argument, Jones would probably refer to the research on

Accepted Answer

Displacement is the ability to refer to things that are not present in the immediate environment. This is a key component of language, and it is something that apes have not been shown to be able to do.

Question 3

If you supported a strong genetic basis for language acquisition, you would most likely believe that humans have a

Accepted Answer

The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a hypothetical module of the human mind posited to account for children's innate predisposition for language acquisition. This concept, proposed by Noam Chomsky, supports the idea of a strong genetic basis for language acquisition, suggesting that the ability to learn language is hardwired into the brain.

Question 4

Women often show less severe aphasic responses than men to a stroke in the left hemisphere. Why might this be the case?

Accepted Answer

Language in women may be more bilaterally represented, meaning it is spread across both hemispheres of the brain. This distribution can lead to less severe aphasic symptoms following a stroke in the left hemisphere, as the right hemisphere can compensate to some extent.

Question 5

If you rejected a strong genetic basis for language, you would most likely NOT believe that humans had a

Accepted Answer

Rejecting a strong genetic basis for language would mean not believing in the Language Acquisition Device (LAD), which is a theoretical construct proposed by Noam Chomsky that suggests humans are born with an innate ability to acquire language.

Question 6

A new tribe has recently been discovered in the rainforest. As a linguist, you want to determine if they have a language. Which of the following is essential for you to conclude that language was present?

Accepted Answer

Displacement is a key feature of language, allowing speakers to communicate about things that are not present in the immediate environment, such as events in the past or future, or objects that are not physically present. This ability is a fundamental aspect that distinguishes language from other forms of communication.

Question 7

Sam is a grad student who often goes out for a drink with his friends on the weekend. He has begun to notice on these outings that as the night wears on and his friends have consumed more and more alcohol, their coordination becomes increasingly impaired. Based on these observations, Sam proposes that alcohol causes impaired coordination. As such, Sam is engaging in

Accepted Answer

Sam is using inductive reasoning by observing specific instances (his friends' impaired coordination after consuming alcohol) and proposing a general conclusion (alcohol causes impaired coordination).

Question 8

When trying to reason logically, the tendency to abandon logical rules in favour of our own personal beliefs is referred to as

Accepted Answer

Belief bias is the tendency for one's preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid conclusions seem invalid. It is a type of cognitive bias that affects the ability to make impartial judgments based on logical reasoning.

Question 9

You've noticed that every time you spend less than 15 hours studying for a exam, you don't do so well. So you conclude that a minimum study time for any exam you take should be 15 hours. You have reached this conclusion using

Accepted Answer

This conclusion is based on inductive reasoning, where you've observed a pattern from specific instances (your performance on exams after studying less than 15 hours) and generalized it to a broader rule (studying at least 15 hours for any exam to do well). Inductive reasoning involves making generalizations from specific observations.

Question 10

Harry makes a statement to a group of friends that, "people who drive red cars get more speeding tickets". The group agrees with the statement because a member of the group, "Jim", drives a red car and frequently gets speeding tickets. This is an example of making a decision based on

Accepted Answer

The group is using the availability heuristic, which is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a person's mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method, or decision. In this case, the group is thinking of Jim, who drives a red car and gets a lot of speeding tickets, and using that single example to generalize about all people who drive red cars.

Question 11

Professor Jones and Professor Smith are having a discussion on whether or not apes are capable of language. Professor Jones argues that they do not, while Smith says that they do. To make the strongest argument, Smith would probably refer to the research on

Accepted Answer

Smith would refer to semantics, as it involves the ability to convey meaning, which is a fundamental aspect of language. Research showing that apes can use symbols or signs to convey meaning would support Smith's argument that apes are capable of language.

Question 12

Which of the following is NOT considered a basic property of language?

Accepted Answer

Relativity is not considered a basic property of language. Basic properties include grammar, displacement (talking about things not present), generativity (creating new sentences), and semantics (meaning). The idea of relativity (language influencing thought) is more of a theory about language's effects rather than a basic property of language itself.

Question 13

Inductive reasoning is to _____ as deductive reasoning is to _____.

Accepted Answer

Inductive reasoning works from specific observations to broader generalizations (bottom-up), while deductive reasoning starts with a theory or hypothesis and then tests it through specific observations (top-down).

Question 14

Men often show more severe aphasic responses than women to a stroke in the left hemisphere. Why might this be the case?

Accepted Answer

Language in women may be more bilaterally represented, meaning they might use both hemispheres for language processing, which could make them less susceptible to severe aphasic responses when one hemisphere is damaged.

Question 15

Jane gets a phone call from someone she was just thinking about. She concludes that whenever she thinks of someone they will call. However, she is making a mistake because she is not remembering how often she DID NOT get a call when thinking about a person. This is an example of

Accepted Answer

Jane's conclusion is an example of confirmation bias because she is only remembering the instances that support her belief (thinking of someone and then receiving a call from them) and ignoring the instances that do not support it (thinking of someone and not receiving a call). This bias leads her to incorrectly affirm her belief.

Question 16

Consider the following word: "ch_ck". Since you work on an egg farm, you assume that the word is "chick". This is an example of

Accepted Answer

Top-down processing involves using background knowledge or context to make sense of information. In this case, working on an egg farm provides the context that leads to interpreting "ch_ck" as "chick".

Question 17

Kanzi, the bonobo chimp, has been shown to communicate using complex symbols. However, the evidence for language development in apes related to ____________ is more controversial.

Accepted Answer

Displacement and generativity are key aspects of human language that allow us to talk about things that are not present and to create new sentences, respectively. While apes like Kanzi can use symbols to communicate, the extent to which they can use language features such as displacement (talking about things not currently present) and generativity (creating new, never-before-heard sentences) remains controversial and less clearly demonstrated.

Question 18

Jan got lost in downtown Toronto and asked a stranger "Do you know how to get to the train station?" The stranger replied, "Yes", and walked away. The stranger has failed to use which of the following aspects of language?

Accepted Answer

The stranger failed to use pragmatics, which refers to the social rules and conventions of language use in context, including understanding the intentions behind statements and responding appropriately.

Question 19

A young child enters a store by pushing a door open. Every time they come to a door after that, the child pushes the door expecting it to open, even though many doors only open by pulling. This is an example of

Accepted Answer

A mental set is a tendency to approach situations in a certain way because that method worked in the past. The child's expectation that all doors will open by pushing, based on their initial experience, exemplifies this cognitive pattern.

Question 20

You've heard that a minimum of 15 hours time is necessary to do well on an exam. So, you start to record how much time you studied and how well you do on exams. You conclude that they were right-15 hours is necessary to do well. You have reached this conclusion using

Accepted Answer

The answer of You've heard that a minimum of 15...

Quiz 9: Language and Thinking