lecture 1

Question 1

why is language learning considered remarkable?

Answer 1

It is uniquely human and develops rapidly without explicit instruction.

Question 2

What did René Descartes argue about language?

Answer 2

Only humans can combine words to express thoughts; animals cannot.

Question 3

According to Chomsky, what does studying language reveal?

Answer 3

The “human essence” — distinctive qualities of the human mind.

Question 4

Why is successful language acquisition foundational?

Answer 4

It predicts school performance and up to 19% of children have language difficulties.

Question 5

What is the core idea of behaviorism in language learning?

Answer 5

Language is learned through stimulus–response associations and reinforcement.

Question 6

How would Skinner explain word meaning?

Answer 6

As associations between stimulus (situation) and response (utterance).

Question 7

What is the “tape recorder theory”?

Answer 7

Children store utterances and replay them when triggered by stimuli.

Question 8

Major problem with behaviorism?

Answer 8

Cannot explain novel sentence production or complex grammar.

Question 9

What did Chomsky argue is necessary to explain language?

Answer 9

Mental representations and rules operating on them.

Question 10

What is competence vs performance?

Answer 10

Competence = ideal grammatical knowledge; Performance = actual usage (affected by memory, attention).

Question 11

What is structure dependence?

Answer 11

Grammar rules rely on sentence structure, not word order alone.

Question 12

Why did Chomsky argue children must have innate knowledge?

Answer 12

Correct grammatical rules don’t stand out in input; children couldn’t infer them reliably from exposure alone.

Question 13

What is Universal Grammar?

Answer 13

An innate mental blueprint for how languages are structured.

Question 14

Nativist prediction #1?

Answer 14

Language universals exist.

Question 15

Nativist prediction #2?

Answer 15

Minimal input is needed.

Question 16

Constructivist claim?

Answer 16

Language is learned from environment using domain-general cognitive abilities.

Question 17

Constructivist prediction #1?

Answer 17

Languages differ significantly.

Question 18

Constructivist prediction #2?

Answer 18

Input strongly affects development.

Question 19

What is a phoneme?

Answer 19

A contrastive speech sound that changes meaning (rate vs late).

Question 20

Do phonemes vary across languages?

Answer 20

Yes, they must be learned.

Question 21

Example of phonological rule constraint?

Answer 21

“tl” can occur in middle (battle) but not at beginning (tled).

Question 22

What is a morpheme?

Answer 22

Smallest meaningful unit of language.

Question 23

Example of multiple morphemes in a word?

Answer 23

Regifter = re + gift + er.

Question 24

What is a root?

Answer 24

The smallest unit that cannot be broken down further.

Question 25

What does syntax govern?

Answer 25

How words combine into phrases and sentences.

Question 26

Example showing syntax affects meaning?

Answer 26

“I saw a griffly grack” → griffly modifies grack.

Question 27

What is joint attention?

Answer 27

Ability to follow another’s gaze and share attention.

Question 28

When does canonical babbling appear?

Answer 28

Around 6 months (“ba,” “da”).

Question 29

What are variegated babbles?

Answer 29

Mixed syllables (e.g., “da bu mi”).

Question 30

Does comprehension precede production?

Answer 30

Yes.

Question 31

What is a holophrase?

Answer 31

One word expressing a full proposition (“milk” = give me milk).

Question 32

What is overextension?

Answer 32

Using word too broadly (dog = all animals).

Question 33

What is underextension?

Answer 33

Using word too narrowly (dog = only Fido).

Question 34

What is telegraphic speech?

Answer 34

2–3 word utterances missing grammatical markers (“mommy go work”).

Question 35

What is over-regularization?

Answer 35

Applying regular rule to irregular form (“goed,” “mouses”).

Question 36

What does over-regularization show?

Answer 36

Evidence that children use rules, not just imitation.

Question 37

By what age is grammar nearly adult-like?

Answer 37

Around 4 years.

Question 38

What did Lenneberg propose?

Answer 38

Language follows a biological maturation timetable.

Question 39

Pinker’s analogy?

Answer 39

Language develops like teeth — biologically scheduled.

Question 40

What evidence would support maturation theory?

Answer 40

Universal stages across cultures and resilience to environmental variation.

Question 41

What is the nature vs nurture debate in language?

Answer 41

Is language driven by innate mechanisms or environmental input?

Question 42

What must be developed at each level of language?

Answer 42

Discrete categories and rules for combining them.

Question 43

Why is over-regularization strong evidence against behaviorism?

Answer 43

Children produce forms they’ve never heard → indicates rule-based system.

Question 44

Why does joint attention matter for word learning?

Answer 44

Helps children map words to intended referents.

Question 45

If language is domain-specific, what does that mean?

Answer 45

it relies on specialized cognitive mechanisms unique to language

Question 46

If language is domain-general, what does that mean?

Answer 46

It uses general cognitive skills (memory, pattern learning).