LING 1010 STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS 2025, ALL
WITH DETAILED VERIFIED CORRECT ANSWERS
Baldwin Effect
The idea that capacities that support the efficient learning and use of languages tend
to become innate specifications in the language module
Ontogenetic Inquiry into Human Knowledge
-Involves investigating how the mind develops in the maturing child
-It includes the logical problem of language acquisition and the developmental problem of
language acquisition
True
Chomsky claims that you can analyze each unique language system in terms of a)
universal principles and b) parameters
Parameter vs. Principle
Properties that are true for all vs. properties for which there is
True
According to individuals like Chomsky, it can be said that language acquisition is just setting the
value of the parameters (and learning the lexicon)
Statistical Learning
-Empiricists have this theory
-A central question to this approach is the degree to which language acquisition can
be achieved with a single learning mechanism
,Plato's Problem
How do we end up knowing so much from so little?
-Also called the poverty of the stimulus
Poverty of the Stimulus Argument
We have knowledge of facts about a language even in the absence of sufficient experience
True
It would seem that the language input that the child is exposed to (the stimulus)
underdetermines the richness of the mental grammar that they end up with
Output (grammar/knowledge of language)
Input (experience) + Innate Knowledge (LAD) =
True
We often refer to the structure-dependency of rules as an example of this argument (Input +
Innate knowledge = Output)
False
The poverty of the stimulus has never been critized
Properties of the Input
-Incompleteness (children are not/are barely exposed to very complicated sentences)
-Limitedness (children are only exposed to a certain amt. of data)
-Diversity (Different children exposed to different things)
-Errors (children hear errors)
-Lack of negative evidence (parents correct children on truth rather than grammar)
-Lack of instruction (children not given explicit instructions)
Motherese
, The particular way that mothers (parents/caretakers) speak to children: parents
typically correct for content
Subset Principle
It suggests that children choose the narrowest initial hypothesis
True
-There is some doubt that the stimuli are as poor as Chomsky and his followers claim
-There is evidence that some simple learning strategies could help explain how children
formulate the rules for grammaticality
-Universality
-Flexibility
-Rapidity
-Uniformity
-Stages
What are the five discrepancies between input and achievement in language acquisition/ what
are the 5 characteristics of the process of language acquisition
universality
one of the characteristics of the process of language acquisition
When exposed to language input, all children will acquire the mental grammar suited for the
relevant language(s) (excluding physical or mental disorders that prevent them from doing
so). Another aspect of ___ that I mentioned in the chapter on universals is that all human
societies (however remote or isolated) have language
flexibility
one of the characteristics of the process of language acquisition
Any child can acquire any of the languages of the world (often more than one at the same
WITH DETAILED VERIFIED CORRECT ANSWERS
Baldwin Effect
The idea that capacities that support the efficient learning and use of languages tend
to become innate specifications in the language module
Ontogenetic Inquiry into Human Knowledge
-Involves investigating how the mind develops in the maturing child
-It includes the logical problem of language acquisition and the developmental problem of
language acquisition
True
Chomsky claims that you can analyze each unique language system in terms of a)
universal principles and b) parameters
Parameter vs. Principle
Properties that are true for all vs. properties for which there is
True
According to individuals like Chomsky, it can be said that language acquisition is just setting the
value of the parameters (and learning the lexicon)
Statistical Learning
-Empiricists have this theory
-A central question to this approach is the degree to which language acquisition can
be achieved with a single learning mechanism
,Plato's Problem
How do we end up knowing so much from so little?
-Also called the poverty of the stimulus
Poverty of the Stimulus Argument
We have knowledge of facts about a language even in the absence of sufficient experience
True
It would seem that the language input that the child is exposed to (the stimulus)
underdetermines the richness of the mental grammar that they end up with
Output (grammar/knowledge of language)
Input (experience) + Innate Knowledge (LAD) =
True
We often refer to the structure-dependency of rules as an example of this argument (Input +
Innate knowledge = Output)
False
The poverty of the stimulus has never been critized
Properties of the Input
-Incompleteness (children are not/are barely exposed to very complicated sentences)
-Limitedness (children are only exposed to a certain amt. of data)
-Diversity (Different children exposed to different things)
-Errors (children hear errors)
-Lack of negative evidence (parents correct children on truth rather than grammar)
-Lack of instruction (children not given explicit instructions)
Motherese
, The particular way that mothers (parents/caretakers) speak to children: parents
typically correct for content
Subset Principle
It suggests that children choose the narrowest initial hypothesis
True
-There is some doubt that the stimuli are as poor as Chomsky and his followers claim
-There is evidence that some simple learning strategies could help explain how children
formulate the rules for grammaticality
-Universality
-Flexibility
-Rapidity
-Uniformity
-Stages
What are the five discrepancies between input and achievement in language acquisition/ what
are the 5 characteristics of the process of language acquisition
universality
one of the characteristics of the process of language acquisition
When exposed to language input, all children will acquire the mental grammar suited for the
relevant language(s) (excluding physical or mental disorders that prevent them from doing
so). Another aspect of ___ that I mentioned in the chapter on universals is that all human
societies (however remote or isolated) have language
flexibility
one of the characteristics of the process of language acquisition
Any child can acquire any of the languages of the world (often more than one at the same
