William Paterson University

Department of Languages and Cultures

LANG 1120 – Understanding Human Language

Bernstein

Questions for The Human Language Series: Acquiring the Human Language (VHS; Blackboard
link via YouTube)

CONSULT BLACKBOARD FOR DUE DATE.

1. What is a popular assumption about how children learn a language?

2. What is some counterevidence to this assumption?

3. What is Chomsky’s approach to language and language acquisition? What is some of the
evidence?

4. According to this approach, would the ability to use/understand language be “species

specific” (i.e., limited to human beings) or found across animal species? Why?

5. What role (if any) does imitation play in language acquisition?

6. What is “linguistic experience” and what role does it play in language acquisition?

7. Can language structure be learned by analogy alone? What are some relevant examples?

8. What aspects of language are finite and what aspects are infinite?

9. Does linguistic diversity across the world argue for or against the idea of “linguistic
universals” and “Universal Grammar”?

10. How can Chomsky’s approach accommodate fundamental differences across languages (such
as basic word order: verb-object vs. object-verb)?