Question 1

Brenda is worried about having her six-year-old daughter learn Spanish,because she fears that learning a second language will interfere with her daughter's mastery of English.What advice should you give Brenda?

Accepted Answer

Research has shown that learning a second language during childhood can actually enhance language development and proficiency in the native language. Additionally, Spanish and English are similar enough that learning Spanish should not interfere with English mastery.

Question 2

The difference between a well-formed and an ill-formed sentence usually comes down to _____________.

Accepted Answer

The syntax of a sentence refers to the way words are arranged to create meaning. A well-formed sentence follows the rules of syntax, while an ill-formed sentence does not. Phonemes and morphemes relate to the sounds and meanings of individual units of language, while pragmatics refers to the social context in which language is used. While these factors can also affect the correctness of a sentence, syntax is the primary determinant of whether a sentence is well-formed or ill-formed.

Question 3

______________ is the study of nonlinguistic elements of language use.

Accepted Answer

Pragmatics is the study of nonlinguistic elements of language use, such as context, social norms, and speaker intention. It concerns how language is used in different situations to achieve different goals, and how understanding is achieved by both the speaker and the listener. Semantics refers to the meaning of words and sentences, while aphasia is a language disorder caused by damage to the brain. Syntax is the study of the structure and rules governing the arrangement of words and phrases to form sentences in a particular language.

Question 4

Which of the following is an example of a morpheme?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following is an example...

Question 5

One interesting property of ___________ is that we usually know when it is not being used correctly,but people often cannot explain exactly why.

Accepted Answer

Syntax refers to the rules that govern the structure of sentences. People often intuitively know when a sentence is grammatically incorrect, even if they cannot articulate the specific rule that is being violated.

Question 6

The most basic of units of spoken language are called _________.

Accepted Answer

Phonemes are the most basic units of spoken language. They are the individual sounds that make up words. Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in language, pragmatics refers to the social rules of language use, and syntax refers to the rules governing the order of words in sentences.

Question 7

Language is based on basic sound units called ___________,which typically have no meaning by themselves.

Accepted Answer

Phonemes are the basic sound units of language that can be combined to form meaningful units such as morphemes and words. Morphemes and words, on the other hand, have meaning on their own and are made up of different combinations of phonemes. Syntax refers to the rules of how words and phrases are combined to form sentences.

Question 8

Lex is in the second grade.As part of a homework assignment,he is asked to write a sentence to describe a picture of a dog playing fetch.Lex writes the sentence,"Ball the dog has." Lex is clearly having trouble with ___________.

Accepted Answer

Lex is having trouble with syntax, which is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language. The sentence "Ball the dog has" is not a well-formed sentence in English, as it uses an incorrect word order.

Question 9

Young children sometimes literally interpret sentences like "Do you know where your mommy is?" by answering "Yes." They failed to understand the ________ of the question.

Accepted Answer

Pragmatics refers to the social and contextual use of language. In this example, a child who answers "Yes" to the question "Do you know where your mommy is?" may have failed to understand the social and contextual cues of the question, and instead is simply answering based on a literal interpretation of the sentence.

Question 10

What are the smallest meaningful units of language?

Accepted Answer

Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units of language, such as prefixes, suffixes, and root words. Phonemes are the smallest distinctive units of sound in a language, but they do not necessarily have meaning on their own. Words are made up of one or more morphemes and have their own meaning, but they are not the smallest units of language. Syntax refers to the rules governing the structure of language and how words are combined into phrases and sentences, but it is not a unit of language itself.

Question 11

Greta is an academic who studies how people come to understand meaning from words and how they are arranged.Greta's research likely focuses on ___________.

Accepted Answer

Greta's focus on how people understand meaning from words and their arrangement suggests that her research is centered around semantics, which is the study of meaning in language.

Question 12

Humans appear to lose the ability to hear sounds related to a non-native language,around the age of:

Accepted Answer

Research suggests that infants lose the ability to distinguish between certain phonemes in non-native languages around 8-10 months old, as their brains begin to specialize in processing the language(s) they are consistently exposed to. This process, known as phoneme regression, makes it difficult for adults to distinguish between those same phonemes in non-native languages.

Question 13

The rules for combining words and morphemes into meaningful phrases and sentences are called _________.

Accepted Answer

The rules for combining words and morphemes into meaningful phrases and sentences are called syntax. Heuristics are problem-solving strategies that involve shortcuts or rules of thumb. Pragmatics refers to the study of how context contributes to meaning in language. Algorithms are step-by-step procedures for solving problems or completing tasks.

Question 14

You are learning Russian in preparation for a trip next summer.You have gotten to the point where you can sound out the words written in the Cyrillic alphabet,but you do not understand what any of the words mean.It appears as though you have mastered the _______ but still need to work on the _________?

Accepted Answer

Phonemes are the individual sounds of a language, which the learner has mastered in sounding out words written in Cyrillic. However, the learner still needs to work on understanding the meaning of words and their grammatical structure, which involves morphemes. Syntax refers to the rules for arranging words into meaningful sentences, which is also important but not the focus of the learner's current situation.

Question 15

Which of the following is both a phoneme AND a morpheme?

Accepted Answer

The "s" at the end of "cats" is both a phoneme (a single sound) and a morpheme (the smallest unit of meaning in a language) because it signifies plurality.

Question 16

Why do young children appear to acquire language more easily than adults?

Accepted Answer

There is a sensitive period during childhood during which children's brains are primed to develop language. This period ends around puberty, which suggests that adults have a harder time acquiring language because they are no longer in this prime developmental stage.

Question 17

A child's ability to map words onto concepts or objects after only a single exposure to them is called ____________.

Accepted Answer

Fast mapping refers to a child's ability to map words onto concepts or objects after only a single exposure to them. Semantic sensitivity refers to a person's ability to understand and interpret the meaning of words and phrases, while pragmatic adjustment refers to a person's ability to adjust language and communication style to suit the context and social situation. Morpheme sensitivity refers to a person's ability to detect and understand the smallest units of meaning in language.

Question 18

The sounds /t/,/th/,and /sh/ are examples of ___________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The sounds /t/,/th/,and /sh/ are examples of...

Question 19

Miranda asks her teacher,"Can I go to the bathroom?" to which she replied,"I don't know,can you?" Miranda's teacher was purposely ignoring the ______________ of Miranda's question to make a point about grammar.

Accepted Answer

The teacher is focusing on the literal meaning of "can" (ability) rather than the intended request for permission, which relates to pragmatics, the study of how context influences the interpretation of meaning.

Question 20

What is FOXP2?

Accepted Answer

FOXP2 is a gene that has been linked to language production and speech development. Mutations in this gene have been associated with speech and language disorders such as specific language impairment. FOXP2 is involved in the regulation of other genes related to neural development and communication.

Quiz 8: C: Thought and Language