Question 1

Which of the following best distinguishes language from general communication?

Accepted Answer

Language is a structured system of symbols and rules that can generate an infinite number of novel utterances.

Question 2

A parent and teenager discuss the pros and cons of different college majors. According to the study materials, this is an example of:

Accepted Answer

Both language and communication.

Question 3

Which of the following statements about language is TRUE?

Accepted Answer

Language can influence brain organization.

Question 4

What is the smallest unit of language that carries meaning?

Accepted Answer

Morpheme

Question 5

The statement “They are a student clever” violates which type of rule that governs language?

Accepted Answer

Syntax rules

Question 6

Which of the following is an example of overregularization in language development?

Accepted Answer

Two mouses.

Question 7

According to research by Janet Werker and colleagues, what happens to infants’ ability to distinguish phonemes in non-native languages around 10-12 months?

Accepted Answer

It begins to decline.

Question 8

Which developmental stage involves infants combining consonant and vowel sounds (e.g., 'da', 'ma', 'ba')?

Accepted Answer

Babbling

Question 9

Which theory of language development proposes that humans are born with an innate universal grammar?

Accepted Answer

Nativist theory

Question 10

A child says 'I runned to the store.' This error is best explained by which concept?

Accepted Answer

Overregularization

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT a feature of language development described in the materials?

Accepted Answer

Children simply mimic adult speech without understanding grammar.

Question 12

Which of the following statements is consistent with the behaviorist understanding of language acquisition?

Accepted Answer

Language development is the result of positive reinforcement from caregivers.

Question 13

Which theory of language development emphasizes the role of both innate capacity and social interaction?

Accepted Answer

Interactionist theory

Question 14

Which of the following is a critique of the behaviorist theory of language development?

Accepted Answer

It cannot account for novel utterances or overregularization.

Question 15

Which of the following best describes the concept of 'syntax' in language?

Accepted Answer

The rules that govern how words can be combined and in what order.

Question 16

A child growing up in a bilingual household is able to distinguish between phonemes in both languages until about 12 months old. This phenomenon supports which theory?

Accepted Answer

Nativist theory

Question 17

Which of the following is an example of a morpheme?

Accepted Answer

The word 'book'

Question 18

Which of the following is a real-world example of communication that is NOT language?

Accepted Answer

A bee performing a waggle dance to direct others to pollen.

Question 19

According to the interactionist theory, what is necessary for optimal language development?

Accepted Answer

Both innate biological capacity and social interaction.

Question 20

Which of the following best summarizes the findings of Kuhl et al. (2006) regarding infant phoneme discrimination?

Accepted Answer

Infants show improved discrimination for native language phonemes between 6 and 12 months.

Cognition and Mental Abilities: The Structure and Development of Language

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