The existence of patients with intact syntactic skills who have deficits in semantic knowledge refutes the notion that:
A) universal grammar exists
B) there is a distinction between linguistic competence and performance
C) normal cognitive development is necessary for language development
D) there is a critical age for language learning

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The existence of patients who can understand and produce grammatically correct sentences but struggle with understanding the meaning of words or sentences (semantic knowledge) suggests that normal cognitive development is not strictly necessary for the development of syntactic skills. This challenges the idea that all aspects of cognitive development must be intact for language development to occur normally.

The Existence of Patients with Intact Syntactic Skills Who Have