Question 1

Eleven-month-old Maya points to her cup when she wants some water to drink. Maya's behavior

Accepted Answer

Pointing to indicate a desired object or action is a developmentally appropriate behavior for an eleven-month-old. It is a precursor to using words to communicate, and many children may not start to use words until closer to 18 months. Therefore, it is not considered slow or advanced for her age, and it should not be discouraged.

Question 2

Identify a true statement about gestures in infant language development.

Accepted Answer

This statement is true. Infants as young as 6 months old can use symbolic gestures, such as smacking their lips or rubbing their stomach to indicate hunger. However, the pointing gesture typically becomes effective around 1 year old, not in the third year of life as stated in option B. Option A is also incorrect, as infants can start using gestures as early as 8-10 months. Option C is completely false, as research has shown that use of gestures actually facilitates language development in infants.

Question 3

Baby Luis interacts with his grandma and makes gurgling sounds in the back of his throat to express pleasure. This demonstrates

Accepted Answer

Cooing is a type of vocalization made by babies that expresses pleasure. It is characterized by gurgling sounds made in the back of the throat.

Question 4

In the middle of the first year, babies produce strings of consonant-vowel combinations that influence the behavior of their caregivers. This type of vocalization is referred to as

Accepted Answer

During the middle of the first year, babies produce strings of consonant-vowel combinations that are not meaningful words but are attempts to communicate. This type of vocalization is known as babbling. Cooing refers to the early vowel sounds that infants make, crying is a sign of distress, and gesturing involves using body language to convey a message.

Question 5

The rules of ________ describe the way meaningful units can be combined in words.

Accepted Answer

Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies the structure of words and the rules for word formation, including how meaningful units (morphemes) combine to form words.

Question 6

A ________ is a minimal unit of meaning; it is a word or a part of a word that cannot be broken into smaller meaningful parts.

Accepted Answer

A morpheme is a minimal unit of meaning in linguistics. It cannot be broken down into smaller meaningful parts. A symbol (A) is a representation of an object, idea, concept, or character. A phoneme (C) is the smallest unit of sound in language that can change the meaning of a word. Taxon (D) is a term used in biology to refer to a classification unit.

Question 7

Peter uses phrases and words such as "May I," "Please," and "Thank you" and a respectful tone while speaking to his teachers. In the context of the five systems of rules involved in language, this scenario indicates that Peter has knowledge of

Accepted Answer

The use of phrases like "May I," "Please," and "Thank you" and a respectful tone indicate that Peter has knowledge of pragmatics, which deals with the social and cultural rules involved in language use.

Question 8

________ refers to the meaning of words and sentences.

Accepted Answer

Semantics refers to the meaning of words and sentences. Pragmatics refers to language use in context, Syntax refers to the structure of sentences, and Morphology refers to the study of word forms and their relationships.

Question 9

How many morphemes does the word "marker" have?

Accepted Answer

"Marker" consists of two morphemes: "mark" and "-er". "Mark" is a free morpheme, meaning it can stand alone as a word with its own meaning. "-er" is a bound morpheme, meaning it cannot stand alone as a word and must be attached to another word to carry meaning.

Question 10

________ have many jobs in grammar, such as marking tense and number.

Accepted Answer

Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in language, and they have various grammatical functions, such as indicating tense, number, and case. Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in language and are not involved in grammatical functions. Syntax involves the way in which words are combined to create meaningful sentences, but it does not involve the marking of tense and number. Symbols are a broad category and are not specific to language or grammar.

Question 11

Jane asks Harry, "You didn't go to the party, didn't you?" In the context of the five systems of rules involved in language, this is grammatically incorrect because of an error in ________.

Accepted Answer

The sentence has a double negative ("didn't go" and "didn't you"), which violates the rules of syntax. A grammatically correct version would be "You didn't go to the party, did you?"

Question 12

Kevin loves to say "da, da, da, da" repeatedly. What type of communication is Kevin using?

Accepted Answer

Kevin is using babbling, which is a prelinguistic stage of communication where infants repeat syllables such as "da" or "ma" without attaching any meaning to them.

Question 13

When one uses polite language in formal conversations and personal, informal language in intimate conversations, one is demonstrating the knowledge of ________, or the appropriate use of language in different contexts.

Accepted Answer

Pragmatics refers to the appropriate use of language in different contexts, including understanding the social rules and expectations for politeness and formality in different situations. Semantics refers to the meaning of words and sentences, syntax refers to the structure of sentences, and morphology refers to the study of word formation and structure. While these areas of language are important, they do not directly address the issue of appropriate language use in different social contexts.

Question 14

________ involves the way words are combined to form acceptable phrases and sentences.

Accepted Answer

Syntax involves the way words are combined to form acceptable phrases and sentences.

Question 15

Marvin says, "The chair told the girl to sit down." Which language rule system does this sentence violate?

Accepted Answer

The sentence violates semantics because chairs cannot talk or give commands, making the meaning of the sentence nonsensical within the context of real-world knowledge.

Question 16

Identify the correct sequence of vocalization in infants.

Accepted Answer

Crying is the first form of vocalization in infants, followed by cooing and then babbling. Therefore, the correct sequence is crying, cooing, and then babbling. Option B is the only one that lists the correct sequence.

Question 17

In the context of the five systems of rules involved in language, which of the following refers to the units of meaning involved in word formation?

Accepted Answer

Morphology refers to the units of meaning involved in word formation, including prefixes, suffixes, and roots. Phonology involves the sounds and pronunciation of words, while semantics involves the meaning of words and sentences. Infinite generativity refers to the ability of language to create an infinite number of sentences using a finite set of rules and words.

Question 18

Which of the following words is an example of a word with a single morpheme?

Accepted Answer

Tram is a single word with no parts that can be separated into different meanings or units. It is a monomorphemic word.

Question 19

Consider the sentence "The boy the ball with a hit bat." Which of the following rule systems of language does the sentence violate?

Accepted Answer

The sentence violates the syntax rule system because the order of the words does not follow the typical structure of subject-verb-object.

Question 20

In the word "falling," both "fall" and "-ing" are considered

Accepted Answer

"Fall" and "-ing" are both units of meaning (morphemes) that each contribute to the overall meaning of the word "falling". Phonemes are the individual sounds that make up words, and "-ing" is not a separate sound in this case but a unit of meaning. Graphemes are the written representations of sounds, and while "falling" has eight graphemes, this does not address the question of the units of meaning within the word. Syntax refers to the rules that govern sentence structure and word order and is not applicable to this question.

Quiz 5: Cognitive Development in Infancy