CHAPTER 8.1 READING GUIDE:
Name: ____________________________
Language: Turning Thoughts into Words
Briefly explain the meaning
behind Herbert Simon’s quote
(found in text and next to his
picture). _________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
1. Summarize the three major advances – including the relevant names –
related to cognitive psychology that were reported in just one day at the
1956 conference.
2. How many phonemes are there in English vs. the number of basic
sounds humans can recognize? How many morphemes are there and
what do they include? How many words are made from these
morphemes?
Figure 8.1: At which of the five levels of
hierarchy does meaning appear?
__________ where does syntax appear?
____________ sound? _____________
3. What can 3-month old babies do that 1-year olds and adults can’t? Between
what ages do babies babble? Explain why words such as dada, mama and papa
are the same in different languages.
4. What does it mean that a baby’s receptive vocabulary is larger than
its productive? What happens around 18 months? How does the
concept of fast-mapping help explain this?
Table 8.1: How many
phonemes in English use two
consonants (not including h-)?
_____ How many doublevowel phonemes are there?
_____ Which vowels by
themselves form more than
one phoneme? _______
Which consonants? _______
Table 8.2: From months 6-18 to months
18-24 babies go from _____________ to
a ________________________ In
between, their ____________________
are spoken between 10-13 months and
the _____________________________
occurs between 10-18 months.
5. Why is children’s early attempts at sentences called ‘telegraphic’ speech? Summarize
the mistakes children often make as they are learning the rules of language.
Concept Check 8.1
(put your answers
1st, then correct
from Appendix A
1. _____/______
2. _____/______
3. _____/______
4. _____/______
5. _____/______
6. _____/______
6. In terms of vocabulary, what have studies shown regarding bi- vs. monolingual children? What is a
disadvantage bilingual students appear to have?
Figure 8.4: Based on the information in
the graph, which benefit of bilingualism
has the greatest effect on the others?
________________________________
7. Summarize B.F. Skinner’s behaviorist argument that environmental factors govern language development.
8. Why did Chomsky disagree with Skinner? Summarize Chomsky’s alternative theory.
9. Despite the vagueness of his theory, what are three reasons Chomsky gives that children have an innate
capacity for language?
Does Chomsky’s statement next to his
picture suggest that he believes nature
or nurture is more important to
language development? ____________
10. What is the main criticism of Chomsky’s ideas? How do interactionist theorists specifically explain that
both biology (Chomsky/nature) and the environment (Skinner/nurture) play a role in learning language?
11. In other words, what is the long-running controversy
regarding the relations between culture, language, and thought?
Figure 8.5: What 3 things do interactionists
suggest contribute to language development
(use 1 or 2 words each)? _________________
______________________________________
12. Summarize Whorf’s linguistic relativity hypothesis. Explain how studies of how different cultures name and
perceive colors differently relate to his ideas.