Assignment4-231126
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University of Southern California *
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110
Subject
Linguistics
Date
Apr 3, 2024
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1/11 Linguistics 110 Assignment 4 Due at 11:00am on 11/30. The Answer Page will be made available on 11/27. Choose the BEST ANSWER among the alternatives provided for each question. (1) The subject matter of language faculty science is the language faculty, and the method it adopts is the basic scientific method. Which of the following is/are correct statement(s)? (Choose one.) a. The language faculty is internal to each of us and it underlies our ability to relate linguistic sounds/signs to meaning. b. The basic scientific method is a method that aims at accumulating our knowledge about our subject matter by Feynman’s Guess-Compute-Compare, where we focus on definite
predictions and definite
experimental/observational results, and their replication. c. both a and b (2) Which of the following is true about Experiment DR63-22? (Choose one.) a. It is in the first round. b. It deals with DR(every N, Y). c. Its Schema A Sentence is of the form OSV (Object-Subject-Verb). d. a and b e. a and c f. b and c g. all of a, b and c h. none of a, b, and c (3) In language faculty science, we make a prediction about the average of the acceptability judgments reported by a large number of participants. (Choose one.) a. True. b. False. (4) Our general hypothesis is about the existence of the Computational System (CS) of the language faculty and the existence of Merge (a set-forming operation), which combines two items, a and b, and forms a set {a, b}. By merging set {a, b} with c, it give us a larger set {c, {a, b}}, and iterative applications of Merge can lead to {d, {c, {a, b}}}, {e, {d, {c, {a, b}}}}, {f, {e, {d, {c, {a, b}}}}}, etc., hence an infinite number of sets, providing us with an account of the infinite creativity of the language faculty. The universal structural relation of c-command is defined in terms of Merge: A c-commands B if and only if A is merged with something that contains B. (Choose one.) a. True. b. False. ⊥
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2/11 (5) One of the two specific hypotheses we discussed in class is: SVO (Subject Verb Object) must
, and OSV (Object Subject Verb) can
, correspond to a Merge-generated set {S, {V, O}}. This entails: (Choose one among a-h below.) a. In Schema B1 in DR63-15, three students
is merged with set{praised, every teacher} b. In Schema A1 in DR63-14, every teacher
is merged with set{praised, three students} c. In Schema B2 in DR63-15, four boys
is merged with set{invited, every girl}. d. a and b e. a and c f b and c g. all of a, b, and c h. none of the above (6) “Experiments” that deal with speaker judgments on the acceptability of sentences cannot, in principle, be made reliable because how we feel about the acceptability of sentences is affected by various factors about which we do not have a complete understanding. (Choose one.) a. True b. False (7) Each of our “Experiments” contains only a few sentences, six sentences at the maximum (see “The List of Experiments and Sentences”). Those sentences, however, are a very tiny portion of an infinite
number of sentences that can be constructed based on Schemata (sentence patterns) such as (i) and (ii) (in the case of BVA-31-37, for example). The use of other choices for X, Y, the N of “Y’s N”, and the Verb for (i) and (ii) would give us many different sentences, but of the same Schemata. That is one of the reasons why our on-line “Experiments” are not considered Experiments and are rather considered “demonstration attempts” for educational purposes. (Choose one.) (i) [
Object
Y’s N ] [
Subject X ] Verb (for Schema A) (ii) [
Subject
Y’s N ] Verb [
Object X ] (for Schema B) a. True. That is why there are so many Reds in the center intersection for BVA-Mains. b. True. The fact that there are almost no Reds in the center intersection for BVA-Main points to the correctness of our hypotheses. c. False. Our on-line Experiments are talking strictly about the sentences that they contain and have nothing to do with other sentences. d. False. Many of our on-line Experiments contain many more sentences than just six. /
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3/11 (8) Feynman 1965/94: 150–151 states, "It is true that one has to check a little to make sure that it is wrong, because whoever did the experiment may have reported incorrectly, or there may have been some feature in the experiment that was not noticed, some dirt or something; or the man who computed the consequences, even though it may have been the one who made the guesses, could have made some mistake in the analysis. These are obvious remarks, so when I say if it disagrees with experiment it is wrong, I mean after the experiment has been checked, the calculations have been checked, and the thing has been rubbed back and forth a few times to make sure that the consequences are logical consequences from the guess, and that in fact it disagrees with a very carefully checked experiment." When we analyze the result of our Main-
Experiment, we refer to results of Sub-Experiments; that is in the spirit of "Very carefully checking the experiment" in the above remark. (Choose one.) a. True b. False (9) The Schema A (A1 and A2) sentences of Top31-48 are intended to check if a participant can accept the OSV (Object Subject Verb) order in English at least to some extent, independently of the possibility/availability of BVA(X, Y), DR(X, Y) and Coref(X, Y). If a participant never accepts the OSV order in English, that participant is likely to reject Schema A (A1 and A2) sentences in BVA31-86, for example, independently of the possibility or the impossibility of BVA(more than one boy, their) in the sentences in question. (Choose one.) a. True b. False (10) Consider the following sentences. (i) (Under BVA(every whatchamacallit, its)) Schema A: Its thingamajig, every whachamacallit praised. Schema B: Its thingamajig praised every whatchamacallit. (ii) (Under DR(every whatchamacallit, three thingamajigs)) Schema A: Three thingamajigs, every whachamacallit praised. Schema B: Three thingamajigs praised every whatchamacallit. (iii) (Under Coref(that whatchamacallit, its)) Schema A: Its thingamajig, that whachamacallit praised. Schema B: Its thingamajig praised that whatchamacallit. Conducting BVA-Main including the sentences in (i), DR-Main including the sentences in (ii), and Coref-
Main including the sentences in (iii) is one way to remove our study of the language faculty away from everyday use of language, possibly avoiding effects of factors outside the language faculty that might affect speaker judgments. (Choose one.) a. The actual sentences included in our “Experiments” are an extremely tiny subset of an infinite number of sentences that can be constructed based on the Schemata being considered. b. This is in line with Chomsky’s claim that the core properties of the language faculty are independent of communication. c. both a and b d. neither a nor b O
O
O
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4/11 (11) Consider the figures in (i) and (ii) below. (“CS” = the Computational System of the language faculty) (i) (ii) Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct? (Choose one.) a. The CS in (i) is the contributions of the initial state of the language faculty, and is hypothesized to be shared by all members of the human species (excluding cases of impairments). b. A steady state of the language faculty is hypothesized to be shared by all members of the human species (excluding cases of impairments). c. In order to find out about the CS in (i), it is necessary for the LFStist to plow their way through the “cloud” of various effects due to exposure to a specific “language” and effects of what is outside the language faculty; focusing on a speaker in the center intersection in our Venn diagram is one way to do that. d. a and b e. a and c f. b and c g. all of a, b and c h. none of a, b, and c -
5/11 (12) A successful detection of c-command effects based on our definite correlational predictions, as discussed in class, can be taken as an indication that part of the human mind can be studied by the scientific method advocated by Richard Feynman. (Choose one.) a. True b. False (13) [Background: The % of the “yes” (i.e., “acceptable at least to some extent”) answers among all the answers on the Schema B sentence in BVA31-37 by the 854 native speakers of English prior to the fall semester of 2022 is 17.8, without considering any of the Sub-Experiments or the corresponding DR-Main or Coref Main. The question is based on this fact.] Based on this, one may “predict” that we get a similar result in LING110-22f. The % of the “yes” answers among all the answers on the Schema B sentence in BVA31-37 by the 51 native speakers of English in LING110-20f is in fact 18.0, very close to 17.8, again without considering any of the Sub-Experiments or the corresponding DR-Main or Coref-Main. While one may say that the “prediction” in question has been confirmed, this is an instance of factual knowledge, not comprehension, in the terms of Einstein’s remarks. The figure around 18.0% and 17.8% is not deduced from any hypotheses. (Choose one.) a. True b. False (14) As discussed in class, whether or not we include non-native speakers of English in analyzing the results of BVA-Mains did not make a big difference as long as we focus on the speakers in the center intersection. This is not surprising given that our “Experiments” are concerned with c-
command effects, which, according to our hypotheses, are due to properties of the universal
aspects of the language faculty. As long as the “Experiments” have been designed well enough so that their results reliably tell us about universal
aspects of the language faculty, native vs. non-native distinction should not make a significant difference. (Choose one.) a. True b. False (15) According to Chomsky’s “The Galilean Challenge,” the language faculty of the human brain provides the means to construct a digitally infinite array of structured expressions; each is semantically interpreted as expressing a thought, and each can be externalized by some sensory modality, such as speech. (Choose one.) a. True b. False (16) Viewing a 3D image out of a random-dot stereogram and judging the acceptability of sentences in our experiment share certain things (choose one): a. Both are based on the formal system (of vision and of the language faculty). b. Both are “removed” from the everyday use of those systems though to different degrees. c. both a and b d. neither a nor b O
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O
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6/11 (17) Consider the Venn diagram below representing the result of BVA31-86 (BVA(more than one N, their)), based on DR63-19 test, Coref82-10 test, and all Subs in the 1st Round. Suppose that Speaker 1, Speaker 2, and Speaker 3 are represented as in (i), (ii), and (iii), respectively. (i) Speaker 1: As Green (ii) Speaker 2: As Red
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7/11 (iii) Speaker 3: As Blue Which of the following statements is/are correct? Choose one. a. All of these three speakers were Green with regard to DR63-19. b. Speaker 1 is Green with regard to all of BVA31-86, DR63-19, and Coref82-10. c. Speaker 3 reported Yes at least once both on a Schema B sentence in BVA31-86. d. a and b e. a and c f. b and c g. all of a, b and c h. none of a, b, and c (18) As Feynman states, it is important that we make our predictions as definite as possible so that we can clearly see when our predictions turn out to be wrong based on our experimental results. We deduce definite predictions from our hypotheses about Schema A sentences in BVA-Main, DR-Main and Coref-Main because X c-commands Y in the Schema A sentences. (Choose one.) a. True b. False (19) One of our hypotheses is (i), which (ii) is a specific instance of. (Choose one among a, b, and c below.) (i) Hypothesis about BVA(X, Y), DR(X, Y), and Coref(X, Y): BVA(X, Y), DR(X, Y), and Coref(X, Y) are possible only if X c-commands Y, provided that X is not XQrk and Y is not YQrk. (ii) BVA(every student, his) is possible only if every student
c-commands his
for a speaker for whom every student
is not XQrk and his
is not YQrk. a. We try to determine for each participant whether every student
(more generally, every N
) is XQrk by a DR-Main, where X of DR(X, Y) is every student
(more generally, every N
).
b. We try to determine for each participant whether his
is YQrk by a Coref-Main, where Y of Coref(X, Y) is his
. c. both a and b green, in B and C circle
blue means they rejected B and A both
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8/11 (20) Based on the results given below from “BVA31-60.xlsx,” which of the following is true about the judgments reported in BVA31-60 by the participant whose code name is J1359846761wE? (Note: “Accept a sentence” means “reporting a judgment that the sentence in question is acceptable at least to some extent.” “Not accepting a sentence” means “reporting a judgment that the sentence in question is totally unacceptable.” Note also that what is given under Cells A, B, C, and D are the speaker’s codename, the %Value(STA), %Value(STB) ND %Value(STC) for that speaker. (Choose one.) A
B
C
D
J1359846761wE
50
0
100
a. This participant always accepted the Schema A sentence and always accepted the Schema B sentence. b. This participant always accepted the Schema A sentence and sometimes accepted the Schema B sentence. c. This participant always accepted the Schema A sentence and never accepted the Schema B sentence. d. This participant sometimes accepted the Schema A sentence and always accepted the Schema B sentence. e. This participant sometimes accepted the Schema A sentence and sometimes accepted the Schema B sentence. f. This participant sometimes accepted the Schema A sentence and never accepted the Schema B sentence. g. This participant never accepted the Schema A sentence and always accepted the Schema B sentence. h. This participant never accepted the Schema A sentence and sometimes accepted the Schema B sentence. i. This participant never accepted the Schema A sentence and never accepted the Schema B sentence. (21) According to our hypotheses, the Schema B sentences in BVA31-86 cannot correspond to a Merge-
generated set where more than one boy
c-commands their
. Suppose that some participants accepted Schema B sentence in BVA31-86 (i.e., Their father praised more than one boy
and Their father invited more than one boy
), under BVA(more than one boy, their). (Choose one.) a. Those speakers would be Red and disconfirm our definite prediction about speaker judgments on Schema B sentences in BVA31-37. b. Those speakers would be Red but their judgments would disconfirm our correlational prediction only if their judgments are Green both in a DR test with DR(more than one N, Y) and in a Coref test with Coref(X, their) (in addition to them passing the Subs tests). c. Whether their judgments would disconfirm our prediction depends upon their judgments on Schema A sentences in BVA31-86. d. a and b e. a and c f. b and c g. all of a, b and c h. none of a, b, and c 90
A
LOB
To
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9/11 (22) What is common between BVA31-37 and Coref82-17? (Choose one.) a. The same Y is used in both cases. b. Schema A is of the OSV type in both cases. c. Both are in Round 2. d. a and b e. a and c f. b and c g. all of a, b, and c h. none of above. (23) Many participants in our demonstration attempt have ended up being outside the center intersection; we do not make definite correlational predictions about judgments by those participants. (That is also what happened in the Japanese demonstration attempt (about 200 native speakers of Japanese)). This state of affairs is due to the limitation of our demonstration attempt. If we consider many more choices for X for BVA(X, Y) and DR(X, beta), instead of just two as in our demonstration attempt, and more choices for Y for BVA(X, Y) and Coref(alpha, Y), instead of just two as in our demonstration attempt, we are likely to find, based on DR-Mains and Coref-Mains, more participants in the center intersection, with some combination
of X and Y. (Choose one.) a. True. b. False (24) We have discussed in class two specific hypotheses; one is about MR(X, Y) and the other is about correspondences between (i) phonetic sequence SVO and OSV and (ii) Merge-generated set that contains S, V, and O. Which hypotheses refer to c-command? (Choose one.) a. The hypothesis about MR(X, Y). b. The hypothesis about correspondences between (i) phonetic sequence SVO and OSV and (ii) Merge-generated set. c. both a and b. d. neither a nor b. (25) In the following Venn Diagram, Green dots represents (choose one): O
O
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10/11 a. a speaker who is Green with BVA(more than one N, his). b. a speaker who is Green with BVA(more than one N, his) and DR(more than one N, Y) c. a speaker who is Green with BVA(more than one N, his), DR(more than one N, Y), and Coref(X, his) d. none of the above (26) When considering the results of BVA31-101, we must consider the results of (choose one): a. DR63-14 b. DR63-21 c. Coref82-6 d. Coref82-18 e. a and c f. a and d g. b and c h. b and d i. none of the above ⑥
W
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11/11 (27) Consider the following Venn Diagram. The fact that there are many Reds in the intersection of the two Circles indicates that a speaker who is Green with DR(more than one N, # Ns) (such as DR(more than one teacher, three students) and who is also Green with Coref(John, his) is not necessarily a reliable speaker for testing our predictions about the availability of BVA(more than one N, his). a. True b. False (28) What are the %Value(STA) and the %Value(STB) of Di1613102477E in BVA31-84? (Choose one.) a. %Value(STA)=100 and %Value(STB)=0 b. %Value(STA)=50 and %Value(STB)=50 c. %Value(STA)=50 and %Value(STB)=0 d. %Value(STA)=100 and %Value(STB)=50 e. %Value(STA)=0 and %Value(STB)=0 (29) Which statement(s) is/are correct about Aa1613179380E? (Choose one.) a. They are Green with BVA31-75, Green with DR63-19, and Green with Coref82-2. b. They are Red with BVA31-75, Red with DR63-19, and Red with Coref82-2. c. They are Green with BVA31-75, Green with DR63-19, and Red with Coref82-2. d. They are Blue with BVA31-75, Blue with DR63-19, and Blue with Coref82-2. e. They are Green with BVA31-75, Green with DR63-19, and Blue with Coref82-2. f. They are Green with BVA31-75, Blue with DR63-19, and Green with Coref82-2. -
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