Ling 1010 Uconn Exam 1 2025/2026
Exam Questions and Correct Answers |
New Update
Innateness Hypothesis for language - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔follows with Plato's belief
that humans have innate knowledge at birth and gain further knowledge not from
environment, but from awakened intuition
Plato's Problem - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔"How do people come to know so much on the
basis of so little experience"
• All ideas are 'innate' (they come from our nature)
Chomsky's idea about how children acquire language - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔• Claimed
that there is a considerable innate aspect to our linguistic knowledge
• Children are born with a 'workbook' with sections that spell out what occurs in all
languages and sections where the text specifies possibilities
• Theory of Universal Grammar
COPYRIGHT©PROFFKERRYMARTIN 2025/2026. YEAR PUBLISHED 2025. COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 619652435. TERMS OF USE.
PRIVACY STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
,oChildren instinctively know how to combine a noun (e.g. a boy) and a verb (to
eat) into a meaningful, correct phrase (A boy eats).
• Language Acquisition Device is the innate biological ability of humans to acquire
and develop language
Why Chomsky's Innateness Hypothesis is controversial - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔• The
idea that humans are born with 'instincts'
• Clashes with the idea that the human mind is fundamentally different from the
minds of other animals
• Clashes with the notion of 'free will'
• Clashes with the idea of the 'American Dream'
• Can potential lead to idea that people are not all equal, which can lead to
discrimination and racism
Empiricism - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔the mind at birth does not come with pre-wired
knowledge and is thus a 'blank slate' (tabula rasa), on which experience will 'write'
learned knowledge
Famous Empiricists - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔Aristotle, Hume, Locke, Berkeley, Sampson
COPYRIGHT©PROFFKERRYMARTIN 2025/2026. YEAR PUBLISHED 2025. COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 619652435. TERMS OF USE.
PRIVACY STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
, AHLBS (Way to remember Empiricsits)
Aristotle Hume Locke Berkley Sampson - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔All Homies Love Big
Swizzle
Rationalism - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔theory that opinions and actions should be based on
reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response, idea
that major aspects of our knowledge system are present without the need for
sensory input from the (prenatal and postnatal) environment.
• Agree on the fact that the experiences that people have after their birth (or even
after conception) are not rich enough to explain that people come to know so many
things
Famous Rationalists - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔Plato, Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Kant,
James, Chomsky, Pinker
Empirical Science - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔• View point that knowledge derives from the
senses
• 'Real science' should be based on observable data
• Scientific method must be used
COPYRIGHT©PROFFKERRYMARTIN 2025/2026. YEAR PUBLISHED 2025. COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 619652435. TERMS OF USE.
PRIVACY STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Exam Questions and Correct Answers |
New Update
Innateness Hypothesis for language - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔follows with Plato's belief
that humans have innate knowledge at birth and gain further knowledge not from
environment, but from awakened intuition
Plato's Problem - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔"How do people come to know so much on the
basis of so little experience"
• All ideas are 'innate' (they come from our nature)
Chomsky's idea about how children acquire language - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔• Claimed
that there is a considerable innate aspect to our linguistic knowledge
• Children are born with a 'workbook' with sections that spell out what occurs in all
languages and sections where the text specifies possibilities
• Theory of Universal Grammar
COPYRIGHT©PROFFKERRYMARTIN 2025/2026. YEAR PUBLISHED 2025. COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 619652435. TERMS OF USE.
PRIVACY STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
,oChildren instinctively know how to combine a noun (e.g. a boy) and a verb (to
eat) into a meaningful, correct phrase (A boy eats).
• Language Acquisition Device is the innate biological ability of humans to acquire
and develop language
Why Chomsky's Innateness Hypothesis is controversial - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔• The
idea that humans are born with 'instincts'
• Clashes with the idea that the human mind is fundamentally different from the
minds of other animals
• Clashes with the notion of 'free will'
• Clashes with the idea of the 'American Dream'
• Can potential lead to idea that people are not all equal, which can lead to
discrimination and racism
Empiricism - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔the mind at birth does not come with pre-wired
knowledge and is thus a 'blank slate' (tabula rasa), on which experience will 'write'
learned knowledge
Famous Empiricists - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔Aristotle, Hume, Locke, Berkeley, Sampson
COPYRIGHT©PROFFKERRYMARTIN 2025/2026. YEAR PUBLISHED 2025. COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 619652435. TERMS OF USE.
PRIVACY STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
, AHLBS (Way to remember Empiricsits)
Aristotle Hume Locke Berkley Sampson - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔All Homies Love Big
Swizzle
Rationalism - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔theory that opinions and actions should be based on
reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response, idea
that major aspects of our knowledge system are present without the need for
sensory input from the (prenatal and postnatal) environment.
• Agree on the fact that the experiences that people have after their birth (or even
after conception) are not rich enough to explain that people come to know so many
things
Famous Rationalists - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔Plato, Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Kant,
James, Chomsky, Pinker
Empirical Science - 🧠 ANSWER ✔✔• View point that knowledge derives from the
senses
• 'Real science' should be based on observable data
• Scientific method must be used
COPYRIGHT©PROFFKERRYMARTIN 2025/2026. YEAR PUBLISHED 2025. COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 619652435. TERMS OF USE.
PRIVACY STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
