Multiple Choice
Which of the following best explains why bilingual children tend to acquire each language at a slower rate compared to monolingual children?
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8. Cognition
Language Development
Multiple Choice
Which of the following best describes what research on infants' recognition of language sounds demonstrates?
A
Infants are only able to recognize phonemes from the language spoken in their household from birth.
B
Infants can only recognize vowel sounds and not consonant sounds in any language.
C
Infants can distinguish between phonemes from all languages, but this ability narrows to their native language as they age.
D
Infants do not show any ability to recognize language sounds until they begin speaking.
Verified step by step guidance1
Understand the concept of phoneme recognition in infants, which refers to their ability to distinguish between the smallest units of sound in language.
Recognize that research shows infants are born with the ability to perceive phonemes from all languages, not just the language spoken in their household.
Note that this ability to distinguish phonemes from multiple languages gradually narrows as infants grow older, focusing more on the phonemes of their native language—a process known as perceptual narrowing.
Consider that this early broad phoneme recognition is crucial for language acquisition, allowing infants to adapt to any language environment they are exposed to.
Conclude that the best description is that infants can distinguish between phonemes from all languages initially, but this ability becomes specialized to their native language over time.
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