Questions: Syntax, Grammar, and Language Structure

Question 1

A child who has never heard the sentence 'The robot that the scientist built escaped from the laboratory' understands it immediately. This ability BEST illustrates:

• A. That children memorize a sufficiently large inventory of sentences to cover novel utterances
• B. Recursion — a finite set of grammatical rules can generate an unlimited number of novel sentences
• C. That vocabulary size, once large enough, automatically produces grammatical comprehension
• D. That explicit grammar instruction is unnecessary because sentences can be inferred from context

Answer: (B)

This is the productivity/recursion principle that is central to syntax. No human could memorize all possible grammatical sentences because there are infinitely many. Instead, a finite system of rules — including recursive embedding of clauses within clauses — generates any novel sentence. The child applies these rules, not stored patterns. This is why Chomsky argued syntax requires more than statistical learning from input.

Question 2

Which pairing correctly describes the specialized language-processing roles of Broca's area and Wernicke's area?

• A. Broca's area processes hierarchical syntactic structure; Wernicke's area accesses word meaning and semantics
• B. Wernicke's area processes syntax; Broca's area accesses word meaning via phonological decoding
• C. Both areas process syntax; their distinction is only in the modality (speech vs. text)
• D. Broca's area is for speech production only; Wernicke's area handles all comprehension including syntax

Answer: (A)

The functional specialization within the left-lateralized language network is a key finding: Broca's area (inferior frontal gyrus) is particularly implicated in processing syntactic structure and hierarchical relationships; Wernicke's area (posterior temporal gyrus) is central to lexical-semantic processing. This dissociation is supported by lesion studies and neuroimaging. Note that both areas contribute to both comprehension and production, but their primary specializations differ.

Question 3

Children acquire correct grammar primarily because caregivers consistently correct their grammatical errors, gradually shaping their language toward adult norms.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

Research shows that most caregivers respond to the truth value of children's statements, not to their grammatical form — they rarely correct grammatical errors explicitly. Despite this, children across all cultures converge on the adult grammar of their language by roughly age 5. This 'poverty of the stimulus' argument — grammatical knowledge emerges without systematic correction — is one of the main supports for the nativist (Universal Grammar) position.

Question 4

The brain constructs syntactic structure incrementally during sentence comprehension, beginning within approximately 100–150 milliseconds of each word onset — before the sentence is complete.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: True

EEG and MEG studies show that syntactic processing begins almost immediately when a word is encountered, not after the full sentence has been heard. This rapid, incremental parsing is automatic — syntactic violations (e.g., agreement errors) elicit the P600 ERP component around 600ms after the violation, reflecting ongoing structural analysis rather than a retrospective evaluation of the finished sentence.

Question 5

What does the P600 ERP component reveal about the nature of syntactic processing in the brain?

Model answer: The P600 is a positive-going brainwave component peaking ~600ms after a syntactic violation (such as a subject-verb agreement error or an unexpected phrase structure). Its occurrence shows that the brain is continuously monitoring and analyzing syntactic structure during comprehension — and that it detects and attempts to repair structural anomalies in real time. This demonstrates that syntactic parsing is an ongoing, automatic process, not a post-hoc check applied after the sentence ends.

The P600 is specifically linked to syntactic reanalysis and repair, distinct from the N400, which reflects semantic anomaly. Their dissociation (different waveforms for syntactic vs. semantic violations) supports the view that syntax and semantics are processed by at least partially separable systems, consistent with the Broca's/Wernicke's functional distinction.