Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction To Cognitive Linguistics Tutorials Handout 5: Study Questions
Introduction To Cognitive Linguistics Tutorials Handout 5: Study Questions
Tutorials Handout 5
The Paradox of Language Acquisition, Mental Grammar/Universal Grammar/TGG/Traditional
Grammar…, Genetic Hypothesis, Communicative situation II, Organization of Mental Grammar,
Language vs. Thought
Study Questions:
1) What are the three steps involved in escaping the Paradox?
2) What are the differences between the following: Mental Grammar / Universal Grammar / TGG /
Prescriptive Grammar
3) What are the two components of the mechanism behind innate knowledge?
4) Please try to connect the Genetic Hypothesis to FOXP2.
5) What are the two components of Mental Grammar?
6) How can the innate part of language be decomposed?
7) Is language learning a passive “soaking up” of information from the environment?
8) Arrange the following components into a scheme representing the conversion of thought into sound
waves and back again and mark the position of language within the two ‘brains’:
Brain (L)
9) Compare this to a potential scheme of information flow in a DVD player – TV configuration
10) What do you know about functionalism?
A) Look at the following sentences. Are they a) grammatical, b) sensical, c) unusual? Why?
When I die I want to be asleep like my grandfather was. Not screaming like the passengers in his car.
Help Wanted: Telepathic Assistant. You know where to apply.
Copyright 1996 by Elmer Fudd. All wights wesewved.
Hard disk corrupted: Smash forehead on keyboard to exit.
B) What do the following really mean? In what situations can they be used? Is thought dependent on
language?
The action was undertaken in order to promote democracy in Iraq.
The prime minister’s speech was a nice evasion of the truth.
The procedure would lead to termination of the patient without explicit request.
They were put up in a relocation centre.
We are happy to announce that collateral damage was not substantial this time.
The extreme sanction was the only solution to these prisoner’s crimes.
C) Pinker Close Test 3
What sense, then, can we make of the suggestion that images, numbers, kinship relations, or logic can
be represented in the ________________ without being couched in words? In the first half of this
century, philosophers had an answer: none. Reifying thoughts as things in the head was a logical error,
they said. A picture or family tree or number in the head would require a little man, a homunculus, to
look at it. And what would be inside his head – even smaller pictures, with an even smaller man looking
at them? But the argument was unsound. It took Alan Turing, the brilliant British mathematician and
philosopher, to make the idea of a mental representation scientifically ________________. Turing
described a hypothetical machine that could be said to engage in reasoning. In fact this simple device,
named a Turing Machine in his honor, is powerful enough to solve any problem that any computer, past,
present, or future, can solve. And it clearly uses an internal symbolic representation – a kind of
mentalese – without requiring a little man or any occult processes. By looking at how a Turing machine
works, we can get a ________________ of what it would mean for a human mind to think in mentalese
as opposed to English. In essence, to reason is to ________________ new pieces of knowledge from old
ones. A simple example is the old chestnut from introductory logic: if you know that Socrates is a man
and that all men are mortal, you can figure out that Socrates is mortal. But how could a hunk of matter
like a brain ________________ this feat? The first key idea is a representation: a physical object whose
parts and arrangement correspond piece for piece to some set of ideas or facts.
Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct
D) Here is a list of authentic statements found on signs, in newsletters, and in advertisements. In each
case, it is safe to assume that what the writer intended to communicate is different from what was
actually said. Decide what the writer intended to express, how this message might have been more
effectively expressed, and what about it might lead to “miscommunication” and misunderstanding. Also,
please label ambiguities present in these statements as phonological, syntactic or semantic.
⇒ 3‐year old teacher needed for pre‐school. Experience preferred.
⇒ Auto repair service. Free pick‐up and delivery. Try us once, you'll never go anywhere again.
⇒ Christmas tag‐sale. Handmade gifts for the hard‐to‐find person.
⇒ Dinner Special ‐‐ Turkey $2.35; Chicken or Beef $2.25; Children $2.00
⇒ Don't let worry kill you. Let the church help.
⇒ For Rent: 6‐room hated apartment.
⇒ For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.
⇒ For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
⇒ Four‐poster bed, 101 years old. Perfect for antique lover.
⇒ Get rid of aunts. Zap does the job in 24 hours.
⇒ Great Dames for sale.
⇒ Have several very old dresses from grandmother in beautiful condition.
⇒ Illiterate? Write today for free help.
⇒ Mt. Kilimanjaro is the breathtaking backdrop for the Serena Lodge. Swim in the lovely pool while you drink it
all in.
⇒ Now is your chance to have your ears pierced and get an extra pair to take home, too.
⇒ Our bikinis are exciting. They are simply the tops.
⇒ The friendly behaviour of the teachers helped the shy persons to be opened.
⇒ The ladies liturgy will meet Wednesday. Mrs. Johnson will sing “Put me in my little bed” accompanied by the
pastor.
⇒ This afternoon there will be a meeting in the South and North Ends of the church. Children will be baptized at
both ends.
⇒ This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Lewis to come forward and lay an egg on the altar.
⇒ Tired of cleaning yourself? Let me do it.
⇒ Toaster: a gift that every member of the family appreciates. Automatically burns toast.
⇒ Used Cars: Why go elsewhere to be cheated? Come here first!
⇒ Vacation Special: have your home exterminated.
⇒ Wanted. Man to take care of cow that does not smoke or drink.
⇒ Wanted. Widower with school age children requires person to assume general housekeeping duties. Must be
capable of contributing to growth of family.
⇒ Wanted. Hair cutter. Excellent growth potential.
⇒ We do not tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand.