Psych 289 - Chapter 8 - Language and
Thought UPDATED ACTUAL Questions
and CORRECT Answers
Cognition - CORRECT ANSWER The mental processes involve in acquiring knowledge; This
involves thinking.
Language - CORRECT ANSWER A set of symbols that convey meaning, and rules for combining
those symbols, that can be used to generate an infinite variety of messages.
Symbolic, semantic, generative and structured
Semantics - CORRECT ANSWER The area of language concerned with understanding the
meaning of words and word combinations.
Symbolic - CORRECT ANSWER People use spoken sounds and written words to represent
objects, actions, events, and ideas; allow us to refer to objects that may be in another place and to events
that happened in another time
Generative - CORRECT ANSWER A limited number of symbols can be combined in an infinite
way to generate endless words and messages; everyday you create sentences that you have never spoken
or read before
Structural - CORRECT ANSWER Rules that govern the arrangement of words into phrases and
sentences (some acceptable, some not)
Phonemes - CORRECT ANSWER The smallest units of sound in a spoken language.
English has about 40.
ie: "a" can be pronounced differently, and each different way is an example of a different one of these.
, Morpheme - CORRECT ANSWER The smallest units of meaning in a language.
ie: "unfriendly" has 3 of these.
"un," "friend," and "ly" represent 3 of these.
Syntax - CORRECT ANSWER A system of rules that specify how words can be combined into
phrases and sentences.
Proper sentences require subject and verb.
Babbling - CORRECT ANSWER Considered to be monumental milestone in language acquisition.
It is a motor achievement that reflects the brain's maturation in controlling motor operations needed to
eventually produce speech.
Manual Babbling - CORRECT ANSWER An action where deaf babies are babbling with their
hands in a manner similar to the verbal babbling of hearing babies; deaf babies first "signed words" were
continuous with their babblings - much like a baby who verbally babbles "bababa" and who's first word is
"baby"
Age 1-5 months - CORRECT ANSWER Reflexive communication: Vocalizes randomly coos,
laughs, cries, engages in vocal play, discriminates language from non-language sounds
Age 6-18 months - CORRECT ANSWER Babbling: Verbalizes in response to the speech of others;
responses increasingly approximate human speech patterns
Age 10-13 months - CORRECT ANSWER First words: Uses words, typically to refer to objects
Age 12-18 months - CORRECT ANSWER One-word sentence stage: Vocabulary grows slowly;
uses nouns primarily; over-extensions begin
Thought UPDATED ACTUAL Questions
and CORRECT Answers
Cognition - CORRECT ANSWER The mental processes involve in acquiring knowledge; This
involves thinking.
Language - CORRECT ANSWER A set of symbols that convey meaning, and rules for combining
those symbols, that can be used to generate an infinite variety of messages.
Symbolic, semantic, generative and structured
Semantics - CORRECT ANSWER The area of language concerned with understanding the
meaning of words and word combinations.
Symbolic - CORRECT ANSWER People use spoken sounds and written words to represent
objects, actions, events, and ideas; allow us to refer to objects that may be in another place and to events
that happened in another time
Generative - CORRECT ANSWER A limited number of symbols can be combined in an infinite
way to generate endless words and messages; everyday you create sentences that you have never spoken
or read before
Structural - CORRECT ANSWER Rules that govern the arrangement of words into phrases and
sentences (some acceptable, some not)
Phonemes - CORRECT ANSWER The smallest units of sound in a spoken language.
English has about 40.
ie: "a" can be pronounced differently, and each different way is an example of a different one of these.
, Morpheme - CORRECT ANSWER The smallest units of meaning in a language.
ie: "unfriendly" has 3 of these.
"un," "friend," and "ly" represent 3 of these.
Syntax - CORRECT ANSWER A system of rules that specify how words can be combined into
phrases and sentences.
Proper sentences require subject and verb.
Babbling - CORRECT ANSWER Considered to be monumental milestone in language acquisition.
It is a motor achievement that reflects the brain's maturation in controlling motor operations needed to
eventually produce speech.
Manual Babbling - CORRECT ANSWER An action where deaf babies are babbling with their
hands in a manner similar to the verbal babbling of hearing babies; deaf babies first "signed words" were
continuous with their babblings - much like a baby who verbally babbles "bababa" and who's first word is
"baby"
Age 1-5 months - CORRECT ANSWER Reflexive communication: Vocalizes randomly coos,
laughs, cries, engages in vocal play, discriminates language from non-language sounds
Age 6-18 months - CORRECT ANSWER Babbling: Verbalizes in response to the speech of others;
responses increasingly approximate human speech patterns
Age 10-13 months - CORRECT ANSWER First words: Uses words, typically to refer to objects
Age 12-18 months - CORRECT ANSWER One-word sentence stage: Vocabulary grows slowly;
uses nouns primarily; over-extensions begin
