chapter9psycholinguistics

Chapter 9 ： Psycholinguistics
I.Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:
1.The linguistic ability of human beings depends primarily on the structure of the vocal cords.
2.Human beings are the only organisms in which one particular part of the left
half of the brain is larger than the corresponding part of the right half.
3.The case of Phineas Gage suggests that if our language ability is located in the brain, it is clear that it is not situated right at the front.
4.In general, the right side of the brain controls voluntary movements of, and responds to signals from, the left side of the body, whereas the left side controls voluntary
movements of, and responds to signals from, the right side of the body.
5.L a nguage functions are believed t o b e lateralized p rimarily in the left hemisphere
of the brain.
6.The language we speak determines the way we perceive the world a nd t herefore
the nature of thought.
7.Human beings can not think without language, just as they can not speak without thinking.
8.If a language lacks a word, its speakers will not be able to grasp its concept.
9.Generally speaking, left hemisphere is responsible for language and speech, analytic reasoning, associative thought, etc., while the right hemisphere is responsible for perception of nonlinguistic sounds, holistic reasoning, recognition of musical melodies, etc.
nguage by no means determines the ways we perceive the objective world, but by its c onvenience, availability, and habitual use, does influence the perceptions of human
being.
II.Fill in each of the blanks below with one word which begins with the letter given:
11.P is the study of language in relation to the mind.
12.The most important part of the brain is the outside surface of the brain, called the cerebral c , which is the decision-making organ of the body.
13.The brain is divided into two roughly symmetrical halves, called h , one on
the right and one on the l eft.
14.The localization of cognitive and perceptual functions in a particular side of the
brain is called l .
15.Brain lateralization is g programmed, but takes time to develop.
16.In addition to the m_____________area which is responsible for physical articulation of utterances, three areas of the left hemisphere are vital to language, namely, Broca's area,
Wernicke's area and the angular gyrus.
17.The relationship between the name and the meaning of a word is quite
a .
18.When language and t hought are identical or closely parallel to e ach other, we m ay
regard thought as s speech and speech as o thought.
19.Because languages differ in many ways, Whorf believed that speakers of different languages perceive and experience the world differently, relative to their linguistic background.
This notion is called linguistic r .
20.The basic essentials of the first language are acquired in the short period from
about age two to puberty, which is called the c period for first language acquisition.
21.The strong version of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis has two aspects: linguistic d_______ and linguistic relativism.
III.There are four choices following e ach statement. Mark the choicethat can best
complete the statement:
22.Human linguistic ability largely depends on the structure and dynamics of
.
A. human brain
B. human vocal cords
C. human memory
D. human
23.Psychologists, neurologists and lingui sts have concluded that, in addition to the
motor area which is responsible for physical articulation of utterances, three areas of the left
brain are vital to language, namely, .
A.Broca's area, Wernicke's area and t he angular gyrus
B.Broca's area, Wernicke's area and c erebral cortex
C.Broca's area, Wernicke's area and n eurons
D.Broca's area, Wernicke's area and E xner's area
24.The ____ age for the acquisition of the first language coincides with the period o brain lateralization.
A. youngest
B. flexible
C. optimum
D. relevant
25.Linguistic is the brain's neurological specialization for language.
A. fossilization
B. performance
C. competence
D. lateralization
26.Our linguistic ability is a gift of the species' gene p rogram.
A. chemical
B. physical
C. scientific
D. biological
27.s hows that if our language ability is located in the brain, it is clear that it is
not situated right at the front of the brain.
A.The case of Genie
B. The case of Phineas Gage
C. The componential analysis
D. The contrastive analysis
28.The most important part of the brain is the outside surface of the brain, called
.
A. the neurons
B. nerve pathways
C. cerebral cortex d. sensory organs
29.A c c ording t o l ateralization theory, which of the following i s not the primary function
of the left hemisphere of the brain?
A. analytic reasoning
B. temporal ordering
C. associative thought
D.visual and spatial skills
30.is commonly held to be an evolutionary precondition of the development of superior intelligence as well as a precondition of language acquisition.
A. Lateralization
B. Maturation
C. Brain separation
D. Memory capacity
31.The dichotic listening research shows that the left hemisphere is not superior f or processing all sounds, but only for those that are in nature.
A. non-linguistic
B. musical
C. linguistic
D. natural
32.is responsible for physical articulation of utterances.
A. The motor area
B. Broca's area
C. Wernicke's area
D. The angular gyrus
nguage disorder resulting from a damage to
in the brain reveals word-finding difficulties and problems with syntax.
A. the m otor area
B. Broca's area
C. Wernicke's area
D. the angular g yrus
34.In 1874, the young German physician Carl Wernicke published his discovery in a paper which contributed to the hypothesis that .
A.there was only one language area in the left brain
B.there was no language area in the left brain
C.there was one language area in the right brain
D.there was more than one language area in the left brain.
35.is the language center primarily responsible for converting a visual stimulus into an auditory form and vice versa.
A. The motor area
B. Broca's area
C. Wernicke's area
D. The angular gyrus
36.The neurobiologist Eric Lenneberg is a major proponent of the idea that .
A.there is a distinction between acquisition and learning
B.there is a critical period for language acquisition
nguage influences thinking
D.there is interrelationship between language and thinking
37.The case of Genie s hows that .
nguage can not be acquired at all after the critical period.
B.Cerebral plasticity after puberty is still high enough to for a successful mastery of a new language.
C.the language faculty of an average human degenerates after the critical period
D.the language learning should be done as early as possible.
IV Explain the following terms:
38.psycholinguistics 39. brain lateralization
40. dichotic listening 41. Broca's area
42. angular gyms 43. cerebral plasticity
44. linguistic determinism 45. sub vocal speech
46. cerebral cortex 47. linguistic lateralization
48. right ear advantage 49. critical period hypothesis
50. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis 51. linguistic relativism
52. overt thought 53. intrapersonal communication
54.interpersonal communication
V. Answer thefollowingquestions:
55.What are the biological foundations of language?
56.What are the major mental functions under the control of each hemisphere?
57.What can we do by means of dichotic listening tests?
58.What is the safe conclusion from Genie's case?
59.How are language and thought related to each other?
Chapter 9 Psycholinguistics
I.Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:
1. F
2.T
3.T
4.T
5.T
6. F
7.F
8.F
9.T 10.T
II.II. Fill in each of the blanks below with one word which begins with the letter given:
11. Psycholinguistics 12. cortex 13. hemispheres 14. lateralization
15. genetically 16. Motor 17. arbitrary 18. sub-vocal, overt 19.relativism
20. critical 21. determinism
III.There arefour choices following e ach statement. Mark the choice that can best
complete the statement:
22.A 23.A 24.C 25.D 26.D 27.B 28.C 29.D 30.A
31.C 32. A 33. B 34. D 35. D 36. B 37. C
IV Explain the following t erms:
38.Psycholinguistics: Psycholinguistics is the study of language in relation to the mind.
39.brain lateralization: The localization of cognitive and perceptual functions in
a particular hemisphere of the brain is called brain lateralization.
40.dichotic listening: a research technique which has been used to study how the brain controls h earing and language, with which subjects wear earphones and simultaneously receive different sounds in the right and left ear, and are then asked to repeat what they hear. Dichotic listening research makes use of the generally established fact that anything experienced on the right-hand side of the body is processed in the left hemisphere of the
brain, andvice versa. A basic assumption, thus, would bethat a signal coming in the right ear
will go to the left hemisphere and a signal coming in the left ear will go to the right hemisphere.
41.Broca's area : It refers to the frontal lobe in the left cerebral hemisphere, which
is vital to language. This area is discovered by Paul Broca, a French surgeon and anatomist.
42.angular gyms:The angular gyrus lies behind Wernicke's area.The angular g i syrus the language center responsible for converting a visual stimulus into an auditory form a nd
vice versa. This area is crucial for the matching of a spoken form with a perceived object, for
the naming of objects, and for the comprehension of written language , all of which require connections between visual and speech regions.
43.cerebral plasticity: According to L enneberg, p rior to the end o f the critical period, both hemispheres are involved to s ome extent in language and o ne c an take o ver if the other
is damaged. This neurological flexibility is called cerebral plasticity .
44.linguistic determinism: a theory put forward by the American anthropological linguists Sapir and Whorf, which states that the way people view the world is determined by
the structure of their native language.
45.subvocal speech: a term used to refer to thought when thought and language are
identical or closely parallel to each other.
46.cerebral cortex : the outside surface of the brain which receives messages fromall the
sensory organs and where human cognitive abilities reside.
47.linguistic lateralization: It refers the brain's neurological specialization for language.
48.right ear advantage: The speech signals presented i n the right ear goes directly to the
left brain, while the speech signals in the left ear must first go to the right hemisphere, from where it is transferred to the left side of the brain for processing. Since the speech signals in
the left ear takes a non-direct route and a longer time before processing than a linguistic
signal received through the right ear, linguistic stimuli heard in the left ear are reported less accurately than those heard in the right ear. This phenomenon is called the right ear advantage.
49.critical period hypothesis: The critical period hypothesis refers to a period in one' s
life e xtendingfrom ab o ut age t wo t o p uberty, during which the h uman brain is most ready to
acquire a particular language and language learning can proceed easily, swiftly, and without explicit instruction.
50.S apir-Whorf hypothesis: a theory put forward by the American anthropological linguists Sapir and Whorf which states that the way people view the world is determined wholly or partly by the structure of their native language.
51.linguistic relativism: Whorf believed t hat speakers of different languages perceive and experience the world differently, relative to their linguistic background, hence the notion of linguistic relativism .
52.overt thought: When language and thought are identical or closely parallel to each other, wemay reg ard s peech as "overt thought.”
53.intrapersonal communication: It means that language users use language to facilitates thinking, speech behavior and action for the individual.
54.i nterpersonal communication: It means language users use language to convey information, thoughts and feelings fromone person to another, or to control each other' s
behavior.
V. Answer thefollowingquestions:
55.What are the biological foundations of language?
Of all organisms, human beings are the only spontaneous creators and users of highly sophisticated languages that permit the communication of a wide range of knowledge and ideas. Evidently, our linguistic ability does not depend primarily on the structure of our vocal
cords, for other mammals also h ave vocal cords. Human linguistic ability largely depends,
instead, on the structure and dynamics of the human brain. As far as is currently known, human beings are the only organisms in which one particular part of the left half of the brain
is larger than the corresponding part of the right half. This has led to the belief that human language is b iologically, or moreexactly, neurologically, based.
56.What are the major mental functions under the control of each hemisphere?
Psychological research suggests that both hemispheres perform important mental functions and they differ only in the manner in which they treat incoming stimuli. For example, the right hemisphere processes stimuli more holistically and the left hemi sphere
more analytically.
Brain lateralization for major mental functions under the control of each hemisphere is
given as follows:
(1)Left hemisphere Right hemisphere
language and speech perception of nonlinguistic s ounds
analytic reasoning holistic reasoning
temporal ordering visual and spatial skills
reading and writing recognition of p atterns
calculation recognition of musical melodies
associative thought
Because each cerebral hemisphere has unique functional superiority, it is accurate to think of the hemispheres as complementarily specialized .
57.What can we do by means of dichotic listening tests?
Dichotic listening research makes use of the generally established fact that anything experienced on the right-hand side of the body is processed in the left hemisphere of the
brain, andvice versa. A basic assumption, thus, would bethat a signal coming in the right ear will go to the left hemisphere and a signal coming in the left ear will go to the right hemisphere. By means of dichotic listening tests, we can analyze the characteristics of incoming stimuli processed by the individual hemispheres.
Dichotic listening test canshow that the left hemisphere is not superior for processing all
sounds, but only for those that are linguistic in nature, thus providing evidence in support of
the view that the left side of the brain is specialized for language and that it is where language centers reside.
58.What is the safe conclusion from Genie's case?
A safe conclusion from Genie' s case is that the language faculty of an average human
degenerates after the critical period and consequently, most linguistic skills cannot develop.
59.How are language and thought related to each other?
Language and thought may be viewed as two independent circles overlapping in some parts, where language and thought are consistent with each other and one never occurs without theother. When language and t hought are identical or closely parallel to each other,
we may regard thought as "subvocal speech”,and speech as "overt thought. In such a case,
speaking and thinking take place simultaneously.。