An 8-year-old shows irony and sarcasm in his speech by saying "That's just great,I'm a regular Michael Jordan!" after he misses a free throw in a basketball game; this suggests that his ____ has improved.
A) metalinguistic awareness
B) psycholinguistic skills
C) linguistic relativity
D) ability to use linguistic heuristics

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Metalinguistic awareness refers to the ability to reflect on and understand language in a conscious way. The use of irony and sarcasm requires an understanding of language beyond its literal meaning and therefore indicates an improvement in metalinguistic awareness. The other answer choices are not directly related to this specific language skill.

An 8-Year-Old Shows Irony and Sarcasm in His Speech by Saying