Language Mind and the Brain

PICK ONE OF THOSE PROMPTS, Write a 2-3 page piece with properly cited (5) APA references.  (1) An impossible language as discussed by Moro is when rules in the language make reference to linear order. For example, no known language makes use of a question-formation rule referring to the n-th word in a sequence and defining some operation over it. John ate apples and oranges. –> Move third word to the front to form a yes-no question. Apples John ate and oranges? –> ‘Did John eat apples and oranges?’ Based on this hypothesis, Andrea Moro ran brain-imaging experiments teaching monolingual German speakers (actual) Italian as well as an artificially-modified version of Italian that included rules making reference to linear order. Discuss his results and what the results mean to our theory of human language and the search for language universals. (2) Is language a component of general human cognition? Why or why not? What do the studies of abnormal brains and various cognitive deficiencies tell us about this debate? (3) Sentences like ‘Mary saw the girl with the telescope.’ and ‘The guy who fixed the car carefully packed his tools.’ are ambiguous and can be assigned more than one meaning. What are these meanings and how do they arise? What are the implications of your answer to the first question on the distinction between inner representations of language and its outer, externalized form? (4) Describe the Principles and Parameters approach to the study of human language. Then consider the following sentences. English:  What do you think John ate? German:  Was glaubst du  wovon   sie  träumt? what believe you what-of she dreams ‘What do you believe that she dreams of?’ Child speech:  What did Daddy eat what? What does the Principles and Parameters approach tell us about how a child acquires language based on the above sentences?