Your third in-class quiz will be on Wednesday, October 31 Friday, November 2. The quiz will consist of several short-answer responses (more than on your previous quizzes); there will be no longer, essay-style response this time.
The quiz will cover the following topics, which we have encountered in class and in our readings:
The normal course of language development:
- early stages: kids know more than they say
- later stages: acquisition of rules, overgeneralization errors
Language learning vs. language growth:
- genetic impairments and language development
- critical period in language development
development of signed languages (topic for Friday, Oct. 26)(see below)- pidgin and creole languages (topic for Wednesday, Oct. 31)
Just as before, you won’t be responsible for memorizing some of the very specific facts that have been introduced in class, but you should understand the larger conclusions regarding language development that we’ve drawn from these facts.
Note: Since there was no handout from Friday’s guest lecture on signed languages, and since we ran out of time during our discussion of signed language development, there will be no questions that exclusively address that material on the quiz. However, you are still welcome to cite evidence from signed languages when answering any of the more-general questions regarding language development.
Note: Wednesday’s lecture material on pidgins vs. creole languages will be on the quiz. Specifically, you will be responsible for any of the material that we manage to explicitly cover in Wednesday’s class meeting.
Note: Extra copies of all the class handouts can be found in the mailbox outside of my office door (621 Commonwealth Avenue, #110).