Question 1

When baby Madeline drops her teddy bear out of her crib, she reaches toward it and whimpers, prompting her mother to pick up the bear and hand it to her. This is an example of a __________ gesture.
A) protoimperative
B) sociolinguistic
C) protodeclarative
D) manipulative

Accepted Answer

A protoimperative is a gesture used to request assistance or object retrieval. Madeline's reaching and whimpering is a request for her mother to pick up her teddy bear, making it an example of a protoimperative gesture.

Question 2

Games like pat-a-cake and peekaboo
A) tend to confuse children and may actually delay pragmatic development.
B) hinder the transition from preverbal to verbal communication.
C) foster infants' understanding of the turn-taking pattern of human conversation.
D) facilitate children's understanding of illocutionary intent.

Accepted Answer

Games like pat-a-cake and peekaboo help infants learn the pattern of turn-taking in human conversation. This is an important aspect of pragmatic development that helps them understand social communication. These games also promote joint attention and facilitate language learning. Therefore, they do not confuse children or hinder their communication development, but rather enhance it.

Question 3

Ms. Lipscomb talks to her 4-month-old son using short sentences with distinct pauses between speech segments. She uses a high-pitched voice and exaggerated expressions, clearly pronouncing her words. Ms. Lipscomb is demonstrating
A) infant-directed speech.
B) baby talk.
C) cooing.
D) babbling.

Accepted Answer

Ms. Lipscomb is using infant-directed speech, also known as motherese or baby talk. She is modifying her speech patterns to enhance communication with her infant.

Question 4

Research suggests that infants first use statistical learning abilities to
A) learn a foreign language.
B) locate words in speech.
C) establish joint attention with caregivers.
D) produce short sentences.

Accepted Answer

Infants first use statistical learning abilities to locate words in speech. This process involves recognizing patterns of sounds that frequently occur together and using those patterns to identify words in the language they are learning.

Question 5

Which of the following is the best example of babbling?
A) "oooo"
B) "mommy"
C) "go car"
D) "dadadadadada"

Accepted Answer

Babbling is often characterized by repetitive consonant-vowel sounds, and "dadadadadada" fits this description better than the other options.

Question 6

Which of the following statements may explain why newborns are especially sensitive to their mother's voice and their native tongue?
A) Beginning at birth, infants are reinforced more for interacting with their mothers than their fathers.
B) They are born with a LAD.
C) They are repeatedly exposed to their mother speaking during pregnancy.
D) They interact primarily with their mother after birth, which biases them toward her voice and language.

Accepted Answer

Newborns are exposed to their mother's voice and native language while in the womb, which makes them more sensitive to these sounds after birth.

Question 7

Baby Rosalita, born to English-speaking parents, is able to differentiate between the soft "p" and sharp "p" phonemes used to distinguish meaning in the Thai language. Her parents perceive both sounds as identical. Rosalita's parents are exhibiting
A) categorical speech perception.
B) semantic bootstrapping.
C) referential communication.
D) overregularization.

Accepted Answer

Categorical speech perception refers to the ability to differentiate between phonemes of a language, even if they seem identical to speakers of another language. In this case, Rosalita is able to differentiate between the soft "p" and sharp "p" phonemes in Thai, whereas her English-speaking parents cannot. This is a demonstration of categorical speech perception. B) Semantic bootstrapping refers to the process by which children use knowledge of word meanings to infer grammatical rules, and is not relevant to this scenario. C) Referential communication refers to the ability to convey and understand meaning through language, and is also not relevant to this scenario. D) Overregularization refers to a grammatical error made by young children who apply a regular grammatical rule to an irregular word (e.g. saying "goed" instead of "went"). This is also not relevant to the scenario.

Question 8

Which of the following statements is true regarding learning native-language sound categories and patterns?
A) Findings indicate that categorical perception is unique to linguistic input.
B) Phonemes tend to be similar across all contemporary languages.
C) Compared to young infants, adults are sensitive to a much wider range of categories than exists in their own language.
D) Between 6 and 8 months, infants start to organize speech into the phonemic categories of their own language.

Accepted Answer

Between 6 and 8 months, infants start to organize speech into the phonemic categories of their own language, indicating that they are learning native-language sound categories and patterns. A is incorrect because non-linguistic stimuli can also elicit categorical perception. B is incorrect because phonemes can vary greatly across languages. C is incorrect because adults show greater sensitivity to the phonemic categories of their own language, indicating that they have already learned and internalized these categories.

Question 9

Which of the following statements is supported by research on categorical speech perception?
A) A preference for the overall sound pattern of one's native language to that of a different language emerges during the second half of the first year.
B) Young infants are sensitive to a much wider range of speech categories than exists in their own language.
C) At birth, infants organize speech into the phonemic categories of their own language.
D) The emergence of categorical speech perception in the first few days after birth is largely due to adult interaction.

Accepted Answer

Research indicates that young infants are capable of distinguishing between a wide range of speech sounds, including those not present in their native language, suggesting a broad sensitivity to speech categories early in life.

Question 10

Baby Juan holds up his stuffed panda and points to it, making sure his father notices it. Juan is engaging in a __________ gesture.
A) protoimperative
B) sociolinguistic
C) protodeclarative
D) manipulative

Accepted Answer

A protodeclarative gesture is when a child uses a gesture to initiate joint attention and direct another person's attention to an object or event. In this case, Baby Juan is pointing to his stuffed panda to direct his father's attention to it, indicating that he wants to share the experience of looking at the panda together.

Question 11

In some cultures, such as the Kaluli of Papua New Guinea, adults rarely communicate with young children and never play social games with them, yet their children acquire language within the normal time frame. This suggests that
A) social interactionists' theories about language development are invalid.
B) adult molding of communication during the first year is not essential.
C) other individuals, such as older peers, mold early communication skills in these cultures.
D) gesturing is more important than verbalization.

Accepted Answer

The fact that children in the Kaluli culture acquire language within the normal time frame despite the lack of communication and social games with adults suggests that adult molding of communication during the first year is not essential. This challenges the social interactionist theories about language development which emphasize the importance of adult-child interaction in language acquisition.

Question 12

During the first year, sensitivity to language, cognitive and social skills, and environmental supports pave the way for the onset of
A) social gesturing.
B) spatial strategizing.
C) theoretical reasoning.
D) verbal communication.

Accepted Answer

Verbal communication typically begins to develop during the first year of life, as infants become increasingly sensitive to language and start producing their own sounds and words. Social gesturing and environmental supports may also play a role in language development, but verbal communication is the most significant milestone for most infants during this time period. Spatial strategizing and theoretical reasoning are not typically associated with infancy.

Question 13

Eight-month-old Thea and her mother watch a grasshopper in their yard. Her mother labels the grasshopper and describes what it is doing. Thea and her mother are engaged in
A) telegraphic speech.
B) referential communication.
C) syntactic bootstrapping.
D) joint attention.

Accepted Answer

Joint attention refers to when two individuals are both focused on the same object or activity and use this shared focus to communicate and share information. In this scenario, Thea and her mother are both focused on the grasshopper, and her mother is labeling and describing it for Thea. This is an example of joint attention. Telepathic speech refers to the use of short, simple phrases to communicate a message. Referential communication involves using language to refer to objects or events in the environment. Syntactic bootstrapping refers to using the rules of grammar to learn new words or concepts.

Question 14

Which of the following statements is supported by research on babbling?
A) Babies only begin babbling if they consistently hear human speech.
B) Females typically begin babbling before males.
C) Babies have a limited repertoire of babbled sounds, depending on their IQ.
D) Deaf infants not exposed to sign language will stop babbling entirely.

Accepted Answer

Research indicates that deaf infants who are not exposed to sign language may stop vocal babbling, as they do not receive auditory feedback. However, if exposed to sign language, they may engage in manual babbling.

Question 15

According to research on language development, when do children begin to detect the internal structure of sentences and words?
A) almost immediately after birth
B) by the time they are 7 months old
C) in the second half of the first year
D) when they are between 12 and 14 months old

Accepted Answer

Research suggests that children begin to detect the internal structure of sentences and words in the second half of the first year, around 6-9 months old. While infants show some sensitivity to sound patterns and prosody from birth, their ability to detect syntactic structure and word boundaries develops gradually over the first year. By 12-14 months old, children typically start producing their first words and combining them into simple sentences.

Question 16

Which of the following statements is true about infant-directed speech?
A) Parents who use infant-directed speech are deliberately trying to teach infants to talk.
B) Infants are more easily bored by infant-directed speech than other forms of communication.
C) Most researchers advise parents to avoid using infant-directed speech, as it has been linked to language delays in early childhood.
D) Toddlers' first words and phrases are usually ones they hear often in their caregivers' infant-directed speech.

Accepted Answer

Infants learn language through listening and repetition, and toddler's first words and phrases are typically ones they have heard frequently in their caregivers' speech. This is why infant-directed speech, which involves simplified and exaggerated language, is effective in promoting language learning in infants. Parents are not necessarily trying to actively teach their infants to talk when using infant-directed speech, but rather providing a language-rich environment. There is no evidence to suggest that infant-directed speech causes language delays.

Question 17

_________ of all deaf children have hearing parents who are not fluent in sign language.
A) Very few
B) One-third
C) Half
D) The vast majority

Accepted Answer

According to research, the majority of deaf children have parents who are hearing and do not use sign language fluently or at all. This can lead to communication barriers and delays in language development for the child.

Question 18

Mothers' exaggerated pronunciation in infant-directed speech is strongly associated with
A) mild language delays in toddlerhood.
B) advanced false-belief understanding in preschoolers.
C) 6- to 12-month-olds' increasing sensitivity to the phonemic categories of foreign languages.
D) 6- to 12-month-olds' increasing sensitivity to the phonemic categories of their native language.

Accepted Answer

Mothers' exaggerated pronunciation in infant-directed speech, also known as "motherese," has been found to help infants in developing sensitivity to the phonemic categories of their native language. This helps infants to distinguish between sounds that are important for understanding and producing language. Studies have shown that infants who are exposed to more motherese show stronger language development later on. Therefore, option D is the best choice.

Question 19

Cooing in infancy refers to
A) strings of different speech sounds.
B) repeated consonant-vowel combinations.
C) vowel-like noises.
D) strings of several identical sounds.

Accepted Answer

Cooing in infancy refers to vowel-like noises that babies make, typically starting around 2 months of age.

Question 20

To distinguish between sounds such as "la" and "ra," adults
A) analyze the speech stream into phonemes.
B) carefully follow morphological rules.
C) rely on universal language markers.
D) rely on their LAD.

Accepted Answer

When differentiating between sounds such as "la" and "ra," adults analyze the speech stream into phonemes. Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in a language that can change its meaning. Therefore, by analyzing the phonemes, adults can differentiate between similar sounds.

Quiz 9: Language Development

When baby Madeline drops her teddy bear out of her crib, she reaches toward it and whimpers, prompting her mother to pick up the bear and hand it to her. This is an example of a __________ gesture.

Games like pat-a-cake and peekaboo

Ms. Lipscomb talks to her 4-month-old son using short sentences with distinct pauses between speech segments. She uses a high-pitched voice and exaggerated expressions, clearly pronouncing her words. Ms. Lipscomb is demonstrating

Research suggests that infants first use statistical learning abilities to

Which of the following is the best example of babbling?

Which of the following statements may explain why newborns are especially sensitive to their mother's voice and their native tongue?

Baby Rosalita, born to English-speaking parents, is able to differentiate between the soft "p" and sharp "p" phonemes used to distinguish meaning in the Thai language. Her parents perceive both sounds as identical. Rosalita's parents are exhibiting

Which of the following statements is true regarding learning native-language sound categories and patterns?

Which of the following statements is supported by research on categorical speech perception?

Baby Juan holds up his stuffed panda and points to it, making sure his father notices it. Juan is engaging in a __________ gesture.

In some cultures, such as the Kaluli of Papua New Guinea, adults rarely communicate with young children and never play social games with them, yet their children acquire language within the normal time frame. This suggests that

During the first year, sensitivity to language, cognitive and social skills, and environmental supports pave the way for the onset of

Eight-month-old Thea and her mother watch a grasshopper in their yard. Her mother labels the grasshopper and describes what it is doing. Thea and her mother are engaged in

Which of the following statements is supported by research on babbling?

According to research on language development, when do children begin to detect the internal structure of sentences and words?

Which of the following statements is true about infant-directed speech?

_________ of all deaf children have hearing parents who are not fluent in sign language.

Mothers' exaggerated pronunciation in infant-directed speech is strongly associated with

Cooing in infancy refers to

To distinguish between sounds such as "la" and "ra," adults