Pysch language exam 4

What auditory abilities do fetuses have in the womb

They can hear low-frequency sounds, the rhythm and melody of speech (prosody) and recognize their mother’s voice

What kind of language information do fetuses learn in the womb

they learn prosody: the rise/fall of the voice, stress patterns, and rhythms of their native language

what methods are used to study fetal language processing IN the womb

changes in heart rate, and reactions to familiar vs unfamiliar sounds.

what methods are used to study young infants language processing OUTSIDE the womb

sucking test, head-turn procedures,and looking time-studies.

At what age did mehlers et al. (1988) show infants can distinguish their native language from another language

4 days old

What are the implications of Mehlers findings

infants are born already sensitive to the sounds of their native language and show an early ability to distinguish between languages, suggesting that language acquisition begins in the womb.

who can discriminate which phonemes

infants 10-12 months can hear all phoneme difference in language. Adults can only hear contrast used in their own language

what technique did Jane Werker invent to test phonemes discrimination?

The head-turn Paradigm

according to Jen Saffran, how do infants break speech into words

by using statistical learning- noticing which sounds often go together and which rarely do

what age do each speech patterns appear

Cooing at 2 months. Reduplicated babbling at 6 months. Variegated babbling at 11 months, and telegraphic speech around 18-24 months.

What is cooing

soft vowel like sounds (ooo, ahhh)

What is reduplicated babbling?

Repeating the same sound (“bababa”). ~6 months.

What is variegated babbling?

Changing consonant/vowel combos(“bagodabu”). ~11 months.

What is telegraphic speech

Two-word phrases missing grammar words (“Mommy go,” “more milk”). ~18–24 months

What evidence shows infants babble to practice the sounds of their own language

Adults can tell the difference between babbling of babies from different languages (e.g., French vs. Chinese babies).

At what age does the one-word stage begin?

Around 12 months (give or take 3 months

the “tree” example at the park What problem is the father trying to help solve

The mapping problem—figuring out which object a new word refers to.

In the “tree” example at the parkHow is the father helping him solve it

By clearly labeling the same object multiple times (“Look at that tree!”), helping the child map the word tree to the right object.

What is the primary function of MLU (mean length of utterances)

It measures a child’s grammatical development by counting how many morphemes they use per utterance.

Why might MLU be a problematic measure

Because children often understand more grammar than they can produce, so MLU underestimates their true comprehension.

What did the Sesame Street study show about children’s comprehension?

Even children who only speak one-word utterances can understand full sentences with complex word order.

How did the study demonstrate children’s comprehension

Babies watched two scenes (e.g., Big Bird tickling Cookie Monster vs. Cookie Monster tickling Big Bird). They looked longer at the scene that matched the spoken sentence, proving they understood the syntax.

What factors may influence the order in which kids learn grammatical morphemes?

• Frequency of hearing the morpheme

• Semantic complexity (how hard the meaning is)

• Syntactic complexity (how hard the structure is)

What is the main conclusion of the “wug” study

Children apply grammatical rules (like adding “-s” for plurals) to words they’ve never heard before, meaning they mentally learn rules—not just memorize words.

What is overextension? Give an example.

Using a word too broadly.
Example: Calling all four-legged animals “dog.”

What is overregularization? Give an example.

Applying a rule too widely.
Example: “goed,” “mouses,” “runned.”

What is undergeneralization? Give an example.

Using a word too narrowly.
Example: Thinking “ball” only refers to basketballs, not all balls.

What kinds of errors show the U-shaped curve in learning grammar?

• Correct irregulars (“went”)

• Incorrect rule-based forms (“goed”)

• Correct irregulars again (“went”)

How does overregularization fit in?

it happens in the middle stage, when children first discover rules but haven’t fully learned exceptions.

How does the rule + memory model explain this curve

Kids use rules for regular verbs but must memorize irregulars; their errors show when rules temporarily overpower memory.

What are older children (around 36 months) better at in conversations compared to 20-month-olds?

• They stay on topic better (more contingent responses).

• Their responses relate more meaningfully to what the adult said.

• They handle conversational flow more smoothly.

What did Gelman’s research show about 4-year-olds?

They adjust their speech for different listeners—using simpler speech with toddlers and more complex speech with adults.

What metalinguistic skill is critical for learning to read?

Phonological awareness — knowing that words are made of smaller sounds.

What does phonological awareness allow children to do?

• Break words into sounds

• Blend sounds into words

• Recognize rhymes

• Count phonemes

What did the mow–motorcycle study show?

Young kids struggle with phonological awareness; most cannot tell which printed word is shorter because they rely on meaning, not sounds.

What is the implication of the mow motorcycle study?

Reading skills require explicit teaching of phonological structure.

What did the “frog hopped oven the snow” study show?

Strong readers decode every letter (“oven”), while weak readers guess from context (“over”).

What is the implication of the Allington study?

Successful reading relies more on bottom-up decoding than guessing from context.

Which terms are synonyms?

• Phonics-based instruction = bottom-up approach

• Whole word / whole language = top-down approach

Which approach is tied to the alphabetic principle?

Phonics and bottom-up reading (letters represent sounds).

What did the Scottish research show?

Teaching children synthetic phonics led to faster reading progress and long-term reading advantages.

What is the implication of the scottish study?

Systematic phonics instruction is highly effective and should begin early.

What is balanced literacy?

A mix of whole language + phonics, often criticized because in practice it downplays phonics.

What is true about how bilingual children manage two languages

• They mix languages early on, but the mixing decreases by age 3.

• By age 4, they keep languages separate and know when to use which one.

• They successfully acquire two full language systems.

What is a simultaneous bilingual?

Learns two languages from birth.
Example: A baby raised in a bilingual home.

What is an early sequential bilingual?

Learns one language first, then another in childhood.
Example: Child speaks Spanish at home, learns English in preschool.

What is a late sequential bilingual?

Learns a second language in adolescence or adulthood.
Example: Taking Spanish in high school.

What are the costs of bilingualism?

• slight early delays in vocabulary or grammar

• Slight disadvantages when using the weaker language (L2)

What are the benefits of bilingualism?

• Greater metalinguistic awareness

• Better attention control

• More cognitive flexibility

• Stronger creativity

• Better verbal fluency

What explanations HAVE been offered for why feral children couldn't fully acquire language?

• They may have missed the critical period for language development.

• They may have had preexisting cognitive/intellectual disabilities.

• Their abusive or deprived environments may have caused brain/cognitive delays.

• They lacked early linguistic input entirely.

What explanations have NOT been offered?

• That humans do not need exposure to learn language.

• That their failure proves language is purely environmental (nobody argues this).

• That they simply needed more vocabulary practice (their grammar deficits were much deeper).

In which areas was Genie’s language acquisition STRONG?

• Phonology: She learned to produce many English sounds.

• Vocabulary: Rapid growth; learned words for colors, numbers, objects.

In which areas was Genie’s language acquisition WEAK?

• Grammar/syntax: She rarely used grammatical morphemes (“I hear music ice cream truck”).

• Complex sentences: Could not form or understand hierarchical sentence structure.

• Morphology: Little use of tense, plural, or function words.

According to Johnson & Newport, which immigrants learned English most successfully?

Those who arrived before age 7–11, especially ages 3–7, performed the best.

What measure did Johnson & Newport use to assess proficiency?

A grammaticality judgment task (participants judged whether English sentences were grammatical or not).

What did Singleton (1995) find about adult L2 learners?

Although rare, about 5% of adults can achieve native-like mastery of a second language.

How do you apply Singleton’s findings to an example?

If a scenario describes an adult who mastered a second language perfectly, this fits Singleton’s finding that a small minority of adults can achieve full native proficiency.

In the Snow study which age group learned Dutch the fastest in this study?

Adults learned Dutch faster than children at the beginning.

What does this finding in the snow (dutch) study imply about the Critical Period Hypothesis?

It weakens the strict version of the CPH because younger children were NOT always the best learners early on.

What is the difference between learning rate and ultimate attainment?

• Learning rate = how quickly you learn per year.

• Ultimate attainment = the highest level of proficiency you can reach.

At what age do learning rates begin to decline?

Around age 17–18.

Until what age do learners show the highest levels of ultimate attainment?

Learners who started before age ~10–12 reached the highest ultimate proficiency.

Why is there a difference between these ages?

• Learning rate declines in late teens due to cognitive and life changes.

• But children who start before puberty still have more total years to accumulate knowledge, giving them higher final mastery.

What is a linguistic universal? Give example.

A feature found in all languages.
Examples:

• All languages have nouns and verbs

What is a common linguistic constraint? Give example.

A pattern found in most, but not all, languages.
Examples:

• Most languages use SVO, SOV, or VSO word order

What is the general relationship between pidgins and creoles?

• Pidgin = simple communication system created by adults (no real grammar)

• Creole = full, grammatical language created by children who grow up exposed to a pidgin

What does the findings from the creole study imply for innateness?

Children seem "wired" to create grammar when none is provided—evidence for innate grammatical abilities.

What are the “inborn switches” in Universal Grammar called?

Parameters

How do parameters work?

• Children are born with a set of switches.

• Exposure to a language flips these switches into the correct positions.
  Example:

• Hearing SVO patterns → turns on preposition setting (“in bed”)

• Hearing SOV patterns → turns on postposition setting (“bed in”)

What is Pinker’s nativist argument based on negative evidence?

• Children get positive evidence (correct sentences)

• They get almost no negative evidence (corrections)

• Therefore, children must rely on innate constraints to learn grammar

What research supports Pinker’s assumptions?

• Brown & Hanlon (1970): Parents do not correct grammar.

• Hirsh-Pasek et al. (1984): Corrections are subtle and disappear after age 2.

How do empiricists like Elman respond?

• Children sometimes do get corrective feedback.

• Connectionist (neural network) models can learn grammar using only positive evidence if trained gradually.

• Universals might come from shared cognition, not innate grammar.

How does Poverty of the Stimulus still support innateness even with AI like ChatGPT?

• Human children receive far less data than AI but learn faster.

• Human learning is efficient and fast, suggesting built-in constraints.

• ChatGPT does not have "grammar instinct"; it learns differently with huge data—so it does NOT refute innate grammar.

Based on FOXP2 evidence and aphasia cases, what is the most accurate description of Broca’s area?

Broca’s area handles:

• Planning and organizing sequences of movements for speech

• Grammatical encoding (syntax)

• Understanding complex sentence structures

It is NOT just a “speech production area.”

What is the order of information flow in Geschwind’s model

Visual input →
Visual cortex →
Wernicke’s area (word meaning) →
Broca’s area (grammar + planning speech) →
Motor cortex (speech articulation)

How did Broca’s and Wernicke’s patients perform on the picture-matching task?

Patients with wernicke’s type did poor on both reversible (The cow was kicked by the pig) and non reversible (The fence was kicked by the pig) while patients with Broca’s did good on non-reversible and poor on reversible

What conclusions did researchers draw in the reversible studies

• Wernicke’s aphasia → severe overall comprehension impairment

• Broca’s aphasia → specific difficulty with syntax, especially when meaning alone can't help