PSY 200 EXAM 4.
Perfect Prep for Every Paper | Precision in Every Answer!
Lecture 25: Language instinct - Answer:
1. Be able to describe (in general terms) the influence of culture on language. Be able to
give some examples of how the Norman invasion of Britain continues to influence
modern spoken English. Understand that this influence is different from the issue of how
people have the ability to work with language at all. - Answer: The fact that different
cultures speak different languages shows this. It influences the characteristics of a
language as well. Some English words are Norman and polite such as perspiration,
dine, deceased, etc. Some words are derived from Anglo-Saxon such as sweat, eat,
dead, etc.
2. Understand the basic arguments that language is an instinct. - Answer: Language is
a specialized skill of human animals. It is effortless compared to other tasks,
unconscious, and procedural knowledge like knowing how to tie your shoes.
3. Understand why the way children learn language suggests that they are not simply -
Answer:
Mimicking other speakers. - Answer: Children do not learn by simply imitating others
because they say very strange things that are not grammatically correct. If they are
imitating, they never would have heard those phrases to imitate.
4. Know what a pidgin is. Know what a creole is. Know their properties relative to
languages. Understand how the development of a creole from a pidgin suggests that
language is re-invented by children. - Answer: A pidgin is a jargon created when people
of many different languages are mixed together, there is no written form it is not a
language. The word order is arbitrary, no rules. It can only be understood in the context
of the conversation. When children of workers were removed from parents they
1
APPHIA - Crafted with Care and Precision for Academic Excellence.
, transform pidgin into a full-fledged language called creole. Children reinvent the pidgin
to create a language with different tenses, etc.
5. Understand the relation between dialects and languages. - Answer: A person may
not be speaking SAE, however, that is not grammatically incorrect they are simply
speaking in a different dialect. A dialect is a type of language.
6. Be able to explain word dropping in AAVE and it's relationship to contractions in SAE.
- Answer: You are allowed to drop some words for example: "if you are bad" compared
to "if you bad". You drop the end of the contraction.
7. Understand why there is really no correct" English speech. - Answer: There is not a
correct way to speak, there are just different dialects of English. No way is better than
another.
Lecture 26: Phrase trees - Answer:
1. Know the two key aspects of language - Answer: Symbols (words are arbitrary they
have nothing to do with the concept of something) and Grammar (the order of word
matters)
2. Understand what a grammar is. - Answer: A discrete combinatorial system: give me
words, i'll put them in a sentence, does the order follow the English language?
3. Understand why there are an infinite number of possible sentences and essentially
no limit to the length of sentences. Understand why this is important. - Answer: If
interrupted in the middle of a sentence, there are about 10 words that could go after that
would make sense. Suppose there are 20 words in a sentence, that's 10^20
combinations. We can communicate an amazing amount of information. There is no
limit how long a sentence can be, you could always make it longer.
2
APPHIA - Crafted with Care and Precision for Academic Excellence.
Perfect Prep for Every Paper | Precision in Every Answer!
Lecture 25: Language instinct - Answer:
1. Be able to describe (in general terms) the influence of culture on language. Be able to
give some examples of how the Norman invasion of Britain continues to influence
modern spoken English. Understand that this influence is different from the issue of how
people have the ability to work with language at all. - Answer: The fact that different
cultures speak different languages shows this. It influences the characteristics of a
language as well. Some English words are Norman and polite such as perspiration,
dine, deceased, etc. Some words are derived from Anglo-Saxon such as sweat, eat,
dead, etc.
2. Understand the basic arguments that language is an instinct. - Answer: Language is
a specialized skill of human animals. It is effortless compared to other tasks,
unconscious, and procedural knowledge like knowing how to tie your shoes.
3. Understand why the way children learn language suggests that they are not simply -
Answer:
Mimicking other speakers. - Answer: Children do not learn by simply imitating others
because they say very strange things that are not grammatically correct. If they are
imitating, they never would have heard those phrases to imitate.
4. Know what a pidgin is. Know what a creole is. Know their properties relative to
languages. Understand how the development of a creole from a pidgin suggests that
language is re-invented by children. - Answer: A pidgin is a jargon created when people
of many different languages are mixed together, there is no written form it is not a
language. The word order is arbitrary, no rules. It can only be understood in the context
of the conversation. When children of workers were removed from parents they
1
APPHIA - Crafted with Care and Precision for Academic Excellence.
, transform pidgin into a full-fledged language called creole. Children reinvent the pidgin
to create a language with different tenses, etc.
5. Understand the relation between dialects and languages. - Answer: A person may
not be speaking SAE, however, that is not grammatically incorrect they are simply
speaking in a different dialect. A dialect is a type of language.
6. Be able to explain word dropping in AAVE and it's relationship to contractions in SAE.
- Answer: You are allowed to drop some words for example: "if you are bad" compared
to "if you bad". You drop the end of the contraction.
7. Understand why there is really no correct" English speech. - Answer: There is not a
correct way to speak, there are just different dialects of English. No way is better than
another.
Lecture 26: Phrase trees - Answer:
1. Know the two key aspects of language - Answer: Symbols (words are arbitrary they
have nothing to do with the concept of something) and Grammar (the order of word
matters)
2. Understand what a grammar is. - Answer: A discrete combinatorial system: give me
words, i'll put them in a sentence, does the order follow the English language?
3. Understand why there are an infinite number of possible sentences and essentially
no limit to the length of sentences. Understand why this is important. - Answer: If
interrupted in the middle of a sentence, there are about 10 words that could go after that
would make sense. Suppose there are 20 words in a sentence, that's 10^20
combinations. We can communicate an amazing amount of information. There is no
limit how long a sentence can be, you could always make it longer.
2
APPHIA - Crafted with Care and Precision for Academic Excellence.
