Chapter 11: Language

Multiple Choice Questions (1-14)

  1. Brain imaging studies have shown that the classic language models by Broca and Wernicke
  2. were based on brain injury cases that do not apply to normal individuals
  3. were found to be broadly accurate, though recent models have refined the regions believed to be involved
  4. were inaccurate and need to be revised
  5. continue to be best for current studies of language.
  1. Propositions are
  2. grammatical phrase structures
  3. meaningful statements that refer to the world
  4. statements of pragmatic intent
  5. deep structures that unify at least two surface phrase structures
  1. Which of the below is involved in the planning and production of speech?
  2. accessing conceptual representations
  3. encoding grammatical forms
  4. phonological encoding
  5. all of the above
  1. The statement “Language is not unitary” means that
  2. there are no units in language
  3. modern brain imaging techniques have broken down classical unified models into many fragmentary models
  4. there are multiple stages of language processing, which tend to activate different brain regions
  5. in different cultures humans learn their native language at different stages of development
  1. The shaping of spoken pitch that conveys emotion, emphasis, and discourse information is called
  2. prosody or intonation
  3. pragmatics
  4. syntax
  5. semantics
  1. Evidence suggests that language is unique to
  2. vertebrates
  3. mammals
  4. primates
  5. humans
  1. Why is it difficult to determine which region of the brain is specifically responsible for deciphering syntax?
  2. phonological and semantic analysis is closely related to syntactic analysis
  3. emotional expression often accompanies syntactic processes
  4. syntax is a broad category of grammatical procedures that do not have a precise definition
  5. all of the above
  1. Understanding the brain basis of language has been difficult, because
  2. no single animal model has been agreed upon yet
  3. language is complex and involves multiple and overlapping brain areas
  4. language systems don’t seem to interact with the known regions for working memory and conceptual representation
  5. all of the above
  1. For right-handed individuals, language typically involves
  2. the left hemisphere more than the right
  3. the right hemisphere more than the left
  4. both hemispheres approximately equally
  5. one dominant hemisphere, though which one it is depends on the stage of development
  1. A lexicon is
  2. a set of utterances unique to a particular syllabary
  3. a string of morphemes
  4. a set of rules
  5. the vocabulary of natural language
  1. The “meaning” of words is referred to as while “grammar” is referred to as .
  2. prosody, logistics
  3. syntax , prosody
  4. logistics, semantics
  5. semantics, syntax
  1. Models of language often look like a ‘double hierarchy,’ because
  2. there are structural hierarchies in both the flow of input and output.
  3. ambiguous sentences, such as “They are flying airplanes”, have double interpretations, resulting in one hierarchy for each interpretation.
  4. there are both top-down and bottom-up hierarchies in language processing.
  5. all of the above
  1. Broca and Wernicke’s studies in the 19th century showed that
  2. aspects of language function could be localized
  3. patients with language deficits could be helped using surgical procedures
  4. there are no animal models for human language
  5. language systems interact dynamically with many other brain systems, such as those that support working memory and conceptual representation
  1. The sentence “Soccer moms drive minivans” has been used to show how a neural network might model
  2. prosodic affirmations
  3. surface structures
  4. semantic networks
  5. a proposition

Short Answer Questions (1-3)

  1. What does the existence of “Creole” languages tell us about human language development?
  1. What role does intonation (prosody) play in speech and language?
  1. Language is described as not being a ‘unitary’ process. What does this mean and what are some examples of separable aspects of language processing?

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