Question

1.

Why does the existence of pidgins support a language bioprogram or universal core to language?

a. these are languages created by deaf children and are gestural.

b. these are languages that came from primitive cultures that are simple but contain all the elements of the definition for language.

c. these are created languages that could not be acquired from hearing language.

d. these are languages that developed without contact with any human language

2.

What other evidence besides that cited in the text would lend credence to that idea that there is an innate core to language development?

a. Finding evidence that all infants babble before they begin to speak.

b. Finding that languages vary from one culture to another.

c. Finding that certain kinds of brain injuries can affect language.

d. Finding that occasionally identical twins invent their own unique "language."

4.

Why would a split-brain procedure shed light on the role of the two hemispheres in language functions?

a. This procedure allows a researcher to examine the brain tissue in each brain hemisphere without interference from the other hemisphere.

b. This procedure severs communication between the two hemispheres thereby allowing each to be studied separately.

c. This procedure involves spitting the brains of primates and then training them to perform language-based task to see which hemisphere is critical.

d. This procedure damages the brain and allows the researcher to note any effects of the damaged area on language.

8.

Which of the following finding would best support the equipotentiality hypothesis of brain and language?

a. Finding that children with left hemisphere damage can still perform some basic language tasks with their right hemisphere.

b. Finding evidence that speech elicits greater brain activity in the left hemisphere of young infants.

c. Finding that aphasia in children is equally likely as a result of left- or right-hemisphere damage.

d. Finding the two hemisphere serve different roles in language development.

9.

The overabundance of synaptic connection followed by the subsequent loss in the immature brain may account for

a. the early spurt in learning followed by a drastic slow down.

b. the early critical period found in language development.

c. the plasticity of the brain due to early redundant connections.

d. the loss of early reflexes over time.

10.

The central tenet of the belief of a critical period for language development is the idea that

a. children must be provided rich language experiences before the age of five to reach their full language potential.

b. the method in which language will be learned will change dramatically after some period of time like puberty.

c. the window for developing language closes after some period such as puberty.

d. language experiences must occur before the age of two years to set the brain up properly.

11.

Which of the following relationships between age and language is not supported by research?

a. age of exposure to a second language influences grammatical competence

b. younger children learn a second language faster than adults.

c. the earlier the exposure to a second language, the more learner sound like a native speaker.

d. age of exposure to a second language influences the ability to speak the language without an accent

13.

Twin studies which provide heritability estimates for different components of language, have found that genetic factors account for the largest percent of the variance for ________ development.

a. pragmatic

b. syntax or grammatical

c. phonological

d. lexical

16.

Which of the following shortcoming would not explain why chimps have great difficulty in acquiring language even with extensive training?

a. they lack culture or socially transmitted behaviors.

b. chimps lack referencing or representational abilities necessary to acquire language.

c. chimps resist any attempts at domestication or being trained by humans.

d. they are using more domain-general abilities to acquire it, instead of language specific capacities.

17.

Which view of the origin of the human capacity for language asks the question of how language evolved to fit human cognitive capacities and social needs?

a. language as emergent from other cognitive and social capacities

b. language as learned from common environment experiences and needs

c. language as a module and adaptation

d. language as the modification of other cognitive capacities

18.

If you were to believe that language is a byproduct of evolution then you might also assume

a. that language provides an general advantage in cognitive and social functions.

b. that the capacities that underlie language were selected for other purposes and then used in language.

c. that language provides no advantage and is purely an accident of evolution with no real value.

d. it was selected because of the advantage it provided the users

Answer 1

1. b) these are languages that came from primitive cultures that are simple but contain all the elemments of definition for language.

Pidgins were originally created by people as a primitive language to overcome communication barrier for people from different language backgrounds.

2. d) finding that occassionally identical twins develop their own language.

4.b) this procedure severes communication between the two hemispheres thereby allowing each to be studied separately.

Split-brain procedure severes corpus callosum which is the link between the two hemispheres. This lets them to be studied separately.

8. a) Finding that children with left hemisphere damage can still perform some basic language tasks with their right hemisphere.

Equipotentiality refers to the ability of one part of the brain to carry out a function even if another part is affected.