271
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
9.81 Which of the following is an example of overregularization?
a. mans c. children’s
b. women d. mice
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.82 Which child showed overregularization?
a. Rachel, who said “I goed to the store” c. Clarissa, who said “I went to the store”
b. Whitney, who said “Me go” d. Isabelle, who said “I go to the store every day”
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.83 The order in which children acquire grammatical morphemes depends on
a. the complexity of the morpheme with the acquisition of simpler morphemes occurring before that of
more complex morphemes.
b. the frequency of occurrence of the morpheme in the language.
c. the frequency with which children’s parents use the morpheme.
d. the age at which children begin speaking.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Hard
9.84 Which grammatical morpheme would you expect a child to learn last?
a. adding –ed to indicate past tense c. adding –ing to denote ongoing action
b. adding –s to indicate plural d. the various form of the verb to be
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.85 Children’s first questions
a. are marked by intonation alone.
b. are formed by attaching a wh– word to the beginning of the sentence without the required auxiliary verb.
c. are formed by attaching a wh– word and the required auxiliary verb to the beginning of a sentence.
d. are formed haphazardly in forms that cannot be predicted.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.86 Which would occur first in language development?
Diff: Easy
a. comprehension of passive sentences c. use of intonation to indicate a question
b. use of negation d. use of embedded sentences
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.87 Which of the following grammatical forms have most children mastered by the time they enter
kindergarten?
a. Forming sentences with the required auxiliary verb before the subject
b. Using negation
c. Using embedded sentences
d. Children have usually mastered all of the above grammatical forms by the time they enter kindergarten.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Hard
9.88 Behaviorist learning theorists propose that
a. language is learned through imitation and reinforcement.
b. children have an inborn mechanism to help them learn grammar.
c. there is a critical period for learning language.
d. grammatical rules are too complex for children to infer solely on the basis of speech they hear.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.89 Dr. White is a learning theorist who believes that language is learned purely through imitation and
reinforcement. Which of the following would she have the most difficulty explaining?
a. children learning the language that is spoken by their family members, rather than a different language
b. children producing many more sentences than they have ever heard
c. children who watch Sesame Street having larger vocabularies than children who do not watch
Sesame Street
d. children learning words more rapidly if their parents speak to them frequently
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.90 According to linguists, which of the following statements reflects how children acquire grammar?
a. Children learn grammar by means of reinforcement and imitation.
b. The human brain is not specialized to process language.
c. Humans seem to be innately prepared to process language and learn grammar.
d. Language can be acquired easily at any time during one’s life.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
273
9.91 Much evidence supports the theory that children’s acquisition of grammar is guided by innate mechanisms.
Which of the following does NOT support this theory?
a. Children sometimes imitate adult speech.
b. Only humans learn grammar readily.
c. Regions of the brain are specialized for processing language.
d. There is a critical period for learning language.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
9.92 Research in which chimpanzees are trained to use language reveals all of the following EXCEPT that
a. chimpanzees can be taught to communicate using gestures.
b. chimpanzees can communicate using plastic chips as words.
c. chimpanzees cannot master anything beyond the simplest of grammatical rules.
d. acquisition of language by humans need not involve any innate mechanisms.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Hard
9.93 Rita was kept in a closet and not allowed to speak until she was 13 years old. How would you expect her
language to be affected?
a. Rita’s language would probably be normal because language develops through innate processes.
b. Rita’s language would probably be primitive when she was found, but with intensive language training
she would eventually learn most of the rudiments of grammar.
c. Rita’s language would probably be primitive when she was found, and even with intensive language
training, her language mastery would be limited because she would be past the critical period for
learning language.
d. Rita would probably have developed a complex language of her own and would be able to be taught a
standard language as well as any 13-year-old could be taught a foreign language.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.94 Which of the following statements about language development is TRUE?
a. The period from birth to about age 12 is critical for learning language.
b. Foreign languages can be as easily mastered during adulthood as in childhood.
c. Nonhumans can learn grammar as easily as humans if sufficient imitation and reinforcement is used.
d. All areas of the brain appear to be involved in language processing.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.95 The findings that specific regions of the brain are involved in language processing, that only humans learn
grammar readily, and that there is a critical period for learning language all support the idea
a. that language is learned primarily through imitation and reinforcement.
b. that there is an inborn grammar-learning device.
c. that children use powerful cognitive mechanisms to find recurring patterns in speech they hear.
d. that language learning takes place through social interactions.
Diff: Hard
274
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
9.96 According to the __________ approach, children use powerful cognitive mechanisms that allow them to
find recurring patterns in the speech they hear.
a. behaviorist c. linguistic
b. social interaction d. cognitive
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Easy
9.97 According to the cognitive approach, children learn grammar by all of the following EXCEPT
a. relying on language-specific mechanisms.
b. noting regularities in speech.
c. participating in linguistically rich interactions.
d. using semantic bootstrapping.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Hard
9.98 Noel believes that children master grammar in the context of interactions with adults in which both parties
want improved communication. Noel’s beliefs fit best with the
a. cognitive approach. c. social interaction approach.
b. linguistic approach. d. behaviorist approach.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.99 What advice would you give to parents interested in promoting their child’s language development?
a. Make language-learning a serious business. Do not mix it with playtime.
b. When a child is slow to complete a sentence, finish it for him.
c. Rephrase a child’s ungrammatical remark to show the correct grammar.
d. Encourage children to use vague words such as “stuff” or “somebody.”
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.100 When does conversational turn-taking between parents and children usually begin?
a. before or soon after infants say their first word
b. when children are about two years of age
c. when children are about three years of age
d. when children begin school
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Hard
275
9.101 Turn taking
a. is not encouraged by parents until after children say their first words.
b. is apparent in preschoolers who expect that a comment will be followed by a response.
c. does not occur spontaneously in conversations between children and adults until after children have
entered school.
d. is discouraged when parents take both the speaker and listener roles.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Moderate
9.102 Three-year-old Steven walks up to his father, who is reading the newspaper, and says “Look at this picture,
Daddy!” If his father does not respond, Steven is likely to
a. repeat his remark to try again to get a response.
b. keep talking about his picture as if his father had answered.
c. walk away.
d. think his comment does not deserve a response.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Moderate
9.103 When four-year-olds talk to two-year-olds, they
a. talk the same as when they talk to peers or adults.
b. tend to talk more to the two-year-olds than they do to adults.
c. use more attention-getting devices than when they talk to adults.
d. use grammar that is too complex for two-year-olds.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Moderate
9.104 When four-year-olds describe a toy to a two-year-old, they
a. use fewer attention-getting phrases than they do with an adult listener.
b. use longer sentences than they do with an adult listener.
c. use simpler grammar than they do with an adult listener.
d. do not adjust their speech when talking to a younger child.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Moderate
9.105 Hannah is a school-aged child. Which of the following would you expect to be TRUE of Hannah’s
communication skills?
a. Hannah is likely to speak differently to adults and peers.
b. Hannah will not consider a listener’s skill when she formulates a message.
c. Hannah will give the same message to listeners who are familiar or unfamiliar with a topic.
Diff: Moderate
276
d. Hannah will have very little understanding of the factors that should be considered in constructing a clear
message.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
9.106 School-aged children
a. do not change their messages for listeners who are familiar or unfamiliar with a topic.
b. speak to adults and peers in the same manner.
c. who are African American are more likely to use Black English with African American peers.
d. do not adjust their speech to the age of the listener.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Moderate
9.107 When presented with a message that is vague or confusing, young children frequently
a. ask the speaker to clarify the message.
b. do not realize that the message is ambiguous.
c. are able to understand what the speaker intended.
d. rephrase the statement in an indirect attempt to get a clarification.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Hard
9.108 In the case of understanding metaphors, young children
a. cannot understand even simple metaphors.
b. can understand simple metaphors, but not ones based on abstract relations.
c. can understand metaphors that are based on abstract relations.
d. develop this understanding very rapidly.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Moderate
9.109 Brittany is six years old. Which of the following is she MOST likely to be able to do?
a. detect ambiguities in messages c. understand abstract metaphors
b. understand sarcasm solely from the context d. understand concrete metaphors
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Moderate
9.110 Children’s understanding of sarcasm
a. occurs only when a mocking or overly enthusiastic tone of voice is present.
b. occurs only when a comment does not match the context of the comment.
c. does not differ from adults’ understanding of sarcasm.
d. is well developed by the time children enter school.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Moderate
277
9.111 Cheyenne makes a sarcastic comment, but does not use a mocking or overly enthusiastic tone of voice.
Who is likely to realize that sarcasm is intended?
a. 25-year-old Stephen
b. 25-year-old Stephen and 15-year-old Emily
c. 25-year-old Stephen, 15-year-old Emily, and 9-year-old Stuart
d. 25-year-old Stephen, 15-year-old Emily, 9-year-old Stuart, and 4-year-old Rachel
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Hard
TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS
9.112 Phonemes include both consonant and vowel sounds.
Chapter Module: The Road to Speech
Diff: Moderate
9.113 Infants as young as one month can discriminate different sounds.
Chapter Module: The Road to Speech
Diff: Easy
9.114 Young infants cannot discriminate sounds that they have never heard before.
Chapter Module: The Road to Speech
Diff: Moderate
9.115 By 11 or 12 months of age, children of English–speaking parents cannot discriminate speech sounds that are
not found in English.
Chapter Module: The Road to Speech
Diff: Moderate
9.116 Infants prefer adult-directed speech to infant-directed speech.
Chapter Module: The Road to Speech
Diff: Easy
9.117 Deaf infants often babble in sign.
Diff: Moderate
278
Chapter Module: The Road to Speech
9.118 Cooing involves combining vowel and consonant sounds.
Chapter Module: The Road to Speech
Diff: Easy
9.119 Common early words denote food, toys, and greetings.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Easy
9.120 The use of symbols is not related to language development.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
9.121 Toddlers who are more advanced in their use of gestures tend to have a less complex spoken language.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
9.122 At about 12 months of age, many children experience a naming explosion.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Easy
9.123 Children are more likely to learn a word name when adults are not looking at an object when they name it.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
9.124 When an unfamiliar word is heard, children will assume that the word refers to an object that is present that
does not have a name.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Easy
9.125 Children assume that a name refers to a whole object and not the parts of an object.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
Diff: Moderate
9.126 If an object already has a name and another name is presented, children will assume that the new name
denotes a subcategory of the original name.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
9.127 If a child knows the word dinosaur and sees that one dinosaur is consistently called Dino, the child will
conclude that Dino is the name of the dinosaur.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
9.128 Preschool children ignore sentence cues when learning the meanings of words.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Easy
9.129 Young children do not use an object’s shape to help learn its name.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
9.130 Calling all four-legged animals doggie is an example of underextension.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Easy
9.131 Overextension occurs more frequently when children are comprehending words than when they are
producing words.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
9.132 Children who have difficulty remembering speech sounds accurately find word learning particularly
challenging.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
9.133 Expressive children’s vocabularies include a large percentage of words that are names of objects, people, or
actions.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
9.134 Children with a referential style use language as a social tool.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
9.135 Naming objects that are the focus of a child’s attention can help the child learn new words.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Easy
9.136 Children whose parents asked them questions while reading a story to them were more likely to
comprehend and produce target words than those whose parents only read to them.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
9.137 Infant-oriented videos (like Baby Einstein) are effective in promoting infants’ word learning before 18
months of age.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
9.138 Children are most likely to learn new words when they participate in activities that force them to
understand the meanings of new words and use those new words.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
9.139 Bilingualism is very confusing for children and, consequently, bilingual children show more cognitive
deficits than monolingual children.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Diff: Moderate
9.140 Young children do not understand the relation between scale models and the objects they represent.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
9.141 The production of two-word speech does not follow any rules.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.142 Children learn general rules about grammatical morphemes.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.143 Two mans is an example of overregularization.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Easy
9.144 Adding -s and -ing are simple grammatical morphemes that are mastered at an early age.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.145 During the stage of two-word speech, children use wh– words when asking questions.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.146 A specific area of the brain, usually the left hemisphere, plays a critical role in processing language.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.147 Chimpanzees learn grammar as easily as young children.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.148 People can easily acquire language at any point in life.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Easy
9.149 Individuals master the grammar of a foreign language at the level of a native speaker only if they are
exposed to the language prior to adolescence.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.150 According to the cognitive view, children learn language by searching across many examples stored
in memory.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Diff: Moderate
9.151 By three years of age, children understand that a comment should be followed by a response.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Moderate
9.152 Infants’ early attempts to communicate include pointing, touching, or making noises.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Easy
9.153 Preschool children do not adjust their messages when their listeners lack critical information.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Moderate
9.154 School-age children are more likely to be polite to adults and demanding with peers.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Moderate
9.155 Most toddlers understand that one’s reply to comments should be related to the comment.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Moderate
9.156 Children cannot understand metaphors based on abstract relations until they can reason abstractly.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Diff: Moderate
9.157 School-age children can detect sarcasm from the speaker’s tone of voice but not from the context of the
sarcastic comment.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Answer: True
Page(s): 308
Type: Factual
Diff: Moderate
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
9.158 Name and briefly describe the four different elements of language.
Chapter Module: The Road to Speech
Page(s): 277–278
Type: Conceptual
Diff: Easy
Answer: A good answer will be similar to the following:
9.159 What is infant-directed speech and how is it related to infant language development?
Chapter Module: The Road to Speech
Page(s): 280–281
Type: Conceptual
Diff: Moderate
Answer: A good answer will be similar to the following:
9.160 What are some of the rules that children use for learning new words?
Chapter Module: The Road to Speech
Page(s): 286
Type: Conceptual
Diff: Moderate
Answer: A good answer will be similar to the following:
9.161 Describe and give an example of the two naming errors that children make when learning new words.
When do these errors occur? When do these errors go away?
Chapter Module: The Road to Speech
Page(s): 289
Type: Conceptual
Diff: Moderate
284
9.162 Children sometimes have distinctive styles of learning language. Name and describe two styles of learning
language.
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Page(s): 290
Type: Conceptual
Diff: Moderate
Answer: A good answer will include the following key points:
9.163 What can adults do during their interactions with children to promote children’s language development?
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Page(s): 303
Type: Applied
Diff: Moderate
Answer: A good answer will include the following key points:
9.164 Effective communication is important throughout life. Give and explain three guidelines for effective oral
communication.
Chapter Module: Using Language to Communicate
Page(s): 304
Type: Applied
Diff: Moderate
Answer: A good answer will include the following key points:
ESSAY QUESTIONS
9.165 Describe infant speech perception during the first year of life.
Chapter Module: The Road to Speech
Page(s): 278–281
Type: Conceptual
Diff: Moderate
9.166 Your sister and brother–in-law have a newborn baby and they are wondering when she will begin talking.
They hope that it will occur soon, so they have begun saying mama and dada to their daughter. What can
you tell them about the course of language development during the first year of life?
Chapter Module: The Road to Speech
Page(s): 282–283
Type: Applied
Diff: Moderate
Answer: A good answer will be similar to the following:
9.167 Your friends Tom and Susan have an 18-month-old daughter, Lynda, who has a vocabulary of
approximately 50 words. Almost all of Lynda’s words are names of objects, people, or actions. Tom and
Susan wonder if this is normal. What can you tell them about the different language-learning styles?
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Page(s): 290
Type: Applied
Diff: Moderate
Answer: A good answer will be similar to the following:
9.168 Your friend Angelina wants to know what she can do to stimulate her son Mario’s development. What
should Angelina do in her interactions with Mario and how should she structure his home environment to
maximize his language development?
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Page(s): 290–291
Type: Applied
Diff: Moderate
Answer: A good answer will be similar to the following:
9.169 Your friend just found out she is expecting her first child. You are excited to get her a gift for the new
baby. You see a bunch of Baby Einstein videos at the store. Given when you know about word learning,
should you buy the videos for your friend?
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Page(s): 291–293
Type: Applied
Diff: Moderate
9.170 Your friends Kumi and Hugh have a six-month-old son, Joe. Kumi is a native speaker of Japanese and
Hugh is a native speaker of English. They are thinking about raising Joe to be bilingual but they are
wondering if there are any benefits or drawbacks to this. What can you tell Kumi and Hugh about the
impact of bilingualism on language development?
Chapter Module: Learning the Meanings of Words
Page(s): 293–294
Type: Applied
Diff: Moderate
Answer: A good answer will be similar to the following:
9.171 Learning theorists’ claim that language is learned strictly through imitation and reinforcement has been
challenged by other theorists who propose that an inborn mechanism helps children learn grammar. Give an
example of a language phenomenon that learning theory has difficulty explaining and describe evidence
that supports the notion of an inborn grammar-learning device.
Chapter Module: Speaking in Sentences
Page(s): 299–301
Type: Conceptual
Diff: Hard
Answer: A good answer will be similar to the following:
