What is meant by the design features of language?

Essay topics

Choose ONE of the following:

1. What is meant by the design features of language? Why were they proposed? For at least four of the proposed features, explain how and to what extent human language differs from animal communication. You should answer this with reference to either animal communication in the wild or experiments that attempt to teach animals human language.
2. Describe and compare two models of word recognition OR two models of sentence recognition OR two models of sentence production. Explain how the models account for experimental findings in language production or recognition, as appropriate.
3. Describe, using examples, what is meant by bridging inference and elaborative inference. Describe and critically evaluate the evidence that is used to indicate when and how much we make elaborative inferences.
4. Using examples of at least two types of aphasia, explain what aphasias can tell us about normal language processing in the brain.
5. What is meant by the claim that language ability is modular? Describe and critically evaluate the evidence that is used to support such a claim.
6. What are the factors that make processing the speech signal difficult? How do humans overcome these difficulties?
7. What is meant by the dual route for reading? In what ways can the reading process be affected by acquired dyslexia and how is it affected by different writing systems?
8. Explain how evidence from a range of disfluencies in the speech of (non-aphasic) adults can give insights into how we choose words and grammatical structures when speaking. (You should focus specifically on either hesitations or on speech errors and, if the latter, you may want to further narrow your focus to different types.)