LING 1010 UCONN EXAM 2025/2026 QUESTIONS WITH
ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Covert vs. Overt - ✔✔- Covert: are reflect in the overt universals, but often not
perfectly
-Overt universals: reflections of other factors that determine the shape of language
✔✔Overt universals not rooted in covert universals - ✔✔overt universals not rooted in
covert are due to general factors that relate to 'language use'
✔✔The myth of language universals - ✔✔nicholas evans
stephen levinson
✔✔Nature view - ✔✔true language universals are due to innate system
✔✔nurture view - ✔✔language universals are mere tendencies that reflect general
factors
-you can learn them
✔✔The minimalist program - ✔✔Chompsky: there is less that is specific to language
-only recursion is language universal
✔✔Baldwin affect - ✔✔despite alternative explanations for universal design features of
language , it is possible that the abilities to quickly learn these features becomes an
evolved genetic trait
✔✔Consequence - ✔✔humans may have evolved a genetic endowment to rapidly
acquire manny of the specific design properties that all languages share
-genetic factors specialized for kinds of knowledge
✔✔Absolute Universals - ✔✔built-in principles of UG
✔✔Disjunctive Universals - ✔✔built-in parameters of UG
✔✔The Principles-and-Parameters Model - ✔✔the theory of UG that results from the
above says that UG contains: principles (absolute universals & innate) and parameters
(disjunctive universals-innate but depends on language input)
✔✔Role of the Lexicon - ✔✔morphemes, exception to rules, complex words &
phrases/sentences with irregular properties,
✔✔Realism - ✔✔universals 'exist' and they are reflected in the phenomena that we can
observe (human language); Plato: in the world of forms; Chomsky: in the genes/brain;
they exist as innate properties of UG (= rationalist, nature view)
, ✔✔Nominalism - ✔✔Universals do not exist as such; simply descriptions of observed
similarities-why there are similarities then remains to be explained.
varying external areas, such as language use, evolution, brain structures, etc.
(= empiricist, nurture view)
✔✔Language Acquisition Device (LAD) - ✔✔Universal Grammar (UG)
✔✔Universality - ✔✔When exposed to language input, all children will acquire the
mental grammar suited for the relevant language(s); all human societies (however
remote or isolated) have language.
✔✔Flexibility - ✔✔Any child can acquire any of the languages of the world. A child born
in Japan, when adopted into a family anywhere else in the world will learn the language
of the environment. This flexibility suggests that all languages are variations on a
universal cognitive scheme, because it is not reasonable to say that different languages
involve different cognitive abilities.
✔✔Rapidity - ✔✔Given the complexity of language and compared to other skills,
language acquisition proceeds amazingly fast; children can apparently detect the
patterns and/or set the parameters efficiently in a short time.
✔✔Uniformity - ✔✔all children belonging to a given speech community ignore errors
and come up with essentially the same mental grammar on the basis of a random
subset of all possible sentences, namely those that they happen to be exposed to.
✔✔Stages - ✔✔All children go through similar stages in their growth to full grammatical
competence.
✔✔Methods of studying language development - ✔✔-longitudinal study
-cross-sectional study
✔✔Assumption - ✔✔Approach to Language Acquisition; in order to use language you
must have a mental grammar
✔✔Question - ✔✔Approach to Language Acquisition; Can the mental grammar be
constructed using general learning?
✔✔Empiricist - ✔✔Yes
✔✔Rationalist - ✔✔No, there has to be specific "guidance" in the form of an innate 'blue
print' of the mental grammar? (called UG)?
ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Covert vs. Overt - ✔✔- Covert: are reflect in the overt universals, but often not
perfectly
-Overt universals: reflections of other factors that determine the shape of language
✔✔Overt universals not rooted in covert universals - ✔✔overt universals not rooted in
covert are due to general factors that relate to 'language use'
✔✔The myth of language universals - ✔✔nicholas evans
stephen levinson
✔✔Nature view - ✔✔true language universals are due to innate system
✔✔nurture view - ✔✔language universals are mere tendencies that reflect general
factors
-you can learn them
✔✔The minimalist program - ✔✔Chompsky: there is less that is specific to language
-only recursion is language universal
✔✔Baldwin affect - ✔✔despite alternative explanations for universal design features of
language , it is possible that the abilities to quickly learn these features becomes an
evolved genetic trait
✔✔Consequence - ✔✔humans may have evolved a genetic endowment to rapidly
acquire manny of the specific design properties that all languages share
-genetic factors specialized for kinds of knowledge
✔✔Absolute Universals - ✔✔built-in principles of UG
✔✔Disjunctive Universals - ✔✔built-in parameters of UG
✔✔The Principles-and-Parameters Model - ✔✔the theory of UG that results from the
above says that UG contains: principles (absolute universals & innate) and parameters
(disjunctive universals-innate but depends on language input)
✔✔Role of the Lexicon - ✔✔morphemes, exception to rules, complex words &
phrases/sentences with irregular properties,
✔✔Realism - ✔✔universals 'exist' and they are reflected in the phenomena that we can
observe (human language); Plato: in the world of forms; Chomsky: in the genes/brain;
they exist as innate properties of UG (= rationalist, nature view)
, ✔✔Nominalism - ✔✔Universals do not exist as such; simply descriptions of observed
similarities-why there are similarities then remains to be explained.
varying external areas, such as language use, evolution, brain structures, etc.
(= empiricist, nurture view)
✔✔Language Acquisition Device (LAD) - ✔✔Universal Grammar (UG)
✔✔Universality - ✔✔When exposed to language input, all children will acquire the
mental grammar suited for the relevant language(s); all human societies (however
remote or isolated) have language.
✔✔Flexibility - ✔✔Any child can acquire any of the languages of the world. A child born
in Japan, when adopted into a family anywhere else in the world will learn the language
of the environment. This flexibility suggests that all languages are variations on a
universal cognitive scheme, because it is not reasonable to say that different languages
involve different cognitive abilities.
✔✔Rapidity - ✔✔Given the complexity of language and compared to other skills,
language acquisition proceeds amazingly fast; children can apparently detect the
patterns and/or set the parameters efficiently in a short time.
✔✔Uniformity - ✔✔all children belonging to a given speech community ignore errors
and come up with essentially the same mental grammar on the basis of a random
subset of all possible sentences, namely those that they happen to be exposed to.
✔✔Stages - ✔✔All children go through similar stages in their growth to full grammatical
competence.
✔✔Methods of studying language development - ✔✔-longitudinal study
-cross-sectional study
✔✔Assumption - ✔✔Approach to Language Acquisition; in order to use language you
must have a mental grammar
✔✔Question - ✔✔Approach to Language Acquisition; Can the mental grammar be
constructed using general learning?
✔✔Empiricist - ✔✔Yes
✔✔Rationalist - ✔✔No, there has to be specific "guidance" in the form of an innate 'blue
print' of the mental grammar? (called UG)?
