In what way are newborns more linguistically sophisticated than the average adult?
A) They do not habituate to new phonemes.
B) They can produce more phonemes.
C) They can auditorily distinguish between more phonemes.
D) Newborns have no linguistic advantages over adults.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Newborns can auditorily distinguish between more phonemes than the average adult, which means they are more linguistically sophisticated in this aspect. They are able to differentiate sounds that are similar to each other and even distinguish between speech sounds from different languages. This ability gradually declines as they age and are exposed to their native language. However, this does not mean that newborns are more linguistically sophisticated overall than adults.

In What Way Are Newborns More Linguistically Sophisticated Than the Average