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

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Newborns can distinguish between phonemes (the smallest units of sound in speech) from all languages, a capability that diminishes over time as they specialize in the phonemes of their native language(s). Adults, on the other hand, are typically better at distinguishing phonemes only from languages they are familiar with.

In What Way Are Newborns More Linguistically Sophisticated Than the Average