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ENGL256 CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
MOCK EXAM
PART A: Multiple choice
Note: there will be NO multiple-choice questions on the actual take-home exam, so this
section is just for revision purposes!
1. Which of the following is NOT a likely phonological simplification in child speech
(a) ‘banana’ /b nɑ n / → /nɑ n /
(b) ‘water’ / w t / → / w w /
(c) ‘blue’ /blu / → /b lu /
(d) ‘snow’ /sn / → /n /
(e) ‘leg’ /leɡ/ → /pleg/
2. What is the name of a well-known test for studying morphological development
(a) gavagai-test
(b) critical period-test
(c) wug-test
(d) Chomsky-test
(e) morpheme-test
3. According to the most recent research, which statement about code-switching is
FALSE
(a) Code-switching indicates a lack of cognitive control.
(b) Code-switching is often exhibited by very fluent bilinguals.
(c) Code-switching fulfills a large variety of different communicative functions.
(d) Code-switching does not result from a unitary language system.
(e) Code-switching in children is influenced by the amount of code-switching in the
input.
4. Indicate which of the following is an example of morphological language mixing:
(a) “Ahora es buena hora para dormir (It is now a good time to sleep). Turn off the
lights.”
(b) “La voy a poner en un frying pan (I am going to put it into a frying pan).”
(c) “Estoy eat-iendo una ensalada (I am eating a salad).”
(d) “Isabella’s pelota (Isabella’s ball – this would be ‘La pelota de Isabella’ in Spanish).”
5. Which of the following statements is NOT associated with the nativist approach to
language acquisition
a) Children begin life with some knowledge of the possible units of language.
b) Language learning is independent of other kinds of learning.
c) There are only a few fixed possibilities of language structures to learn.
d) General learning mechanisms account for all of language learning.
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PART B: Short answers (300-350 words each)
Question 1 (25 marks):
Provide a definition and some examples for overgeneralization errors in English. Why is
children’s trajectory when acquiring inflections in English sometimes referred to as ‘ushaped learning’
(Note: you may want to draw on Cazden (1968), as discussed in Rowland (2014, pp. 132-
133).
Question 2 (25 marks):
Briefly outline how you would go about testing the claim that “by about 4-years of age,
children are able to produce and comprehend some metaphorical language”. In your
answer, explain what data/method(s) you would use (and why) and discuss at least one
(theoretical/methodological/practical) issue you would have to address.
PART C: Analysis (50 marks)
Using the transcripts below as data, write a short essay (700-800 words) in which you define
and discuss at least three features each of a) child speech and b) child-directed speech. What
do the data suggest regarding a) the children’s emerging linguistic abilities and b) the
potential role played by child-directed speech
Note: it is fine to use Saxton (2009; see week 2 tutorial) as a starting point but you should
identify at least one other relevant reference, especially for your discussion of the child’s
speech.
Excerpt I (CHILDES, Trevor-corpus, 2;00.27)
1 *CHI: mm .
2 *FAT: whatcha [: what are you] doing munch
3 *CHI: hi .
4 *FAT: whatcha [: what are you] doing
5 *CHI: let’s play dis [: this] .
6 *CHI: let’s play dis [: this] together .
7 *FAT: play this together
8 *CHI: let’s play together .
9 *FAT: okay .
10 *CHI: ride you up .
11 *CHI: airplane .
12 *CHI: ooom@o .
13 *CHI: land in duh water .
14 *FAT: gonna land on the water
15 *CHI: yeah .
16 *FAT: like the ones out there
17 *CHI: yep .
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18 *FAT: oh , here comes one right now .
19 *FAT: o:h .
20 *FAT: here he comes .
21 *FAT: what’s he doing
22 *CHI: &-um he’s flying away .
23 *CHI: baby airplane .
24 *FAT: baby airplane .
25 *CHI: baby .
26 *FAT: look , he’s turning around .
27 *CHI: baby .
28 *FAT: what do you think he’s gonna do
29 *CHI: &-um , he’s gone .
30 *FAT: he’s gone .
31 *CHI: baby .
32 *FAT: where’d he go to
33 *FAT: oo , he’s coming back .
34 *CHI: oo , dere’s [: there’s] one .
35 *FAT: that’s another one
36 *CHI: yeah .
37 *CHI: dere’s [: there’s] another one coming back .
Excerpt II (CHILDES, Trevor-corpus, 3;10.24)
1 *FAT: what is it
2 *CHI: it’s a birplain [: airplane] .
3 *FAT: no .
4 *CHI: no it’s a twee [: tree] .
5 *FAT: no .
6 *CHI: yes .
7 *FAT: what is it
8 *CHI: it’s a weal [: real] twee [: tree] .
9 *FAT: no .
10 *CHI: yes .
11 *FAT: what is it
12 *CHI: grass .
13 *FAT: no .
14 *FAT: what is it
15 *CHI: a window .
16 *FAT: no .
17 *FAT: what is it
18 *CHI: what
19 *FAT: I don’t know .
20 *CHI: you see that
21 *FAT: yeah .
22 *CHI: what is it
23 *FAT: I don’t know .
24 *CHI: I don’t know .
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25 *FAT: oh don’t get my eye again .
26 *CHI: ah: are you weady [: ready]
27 *FAT: I’m ready .
28 *CHI: okay are you +…
29 *FAT: wait a minute .
30 *FAT: there are tomatoes on my plate .
31 *FAT: what am I going to do about this
32 *CHI: nothing .
32 *FAT: tomatoes with ketchup .
34 *FAT: what do you mean nothing
35 *FAT: I’m just going to leave them there
36 *FAT: but you have carrots on your plate .
37 *FAT: and also chocolate cookies .
38 *CHI: yum .
39 *FAT: what are you going to do with them
40 *FAT: nothing
41 *FAT: just leave them there
42 *CHI: yeah .
43 *FAT: yeah .
44 *FAT: really .
45 *CHI: until dessert .
46 *FAT: well if you eat this one carrot .
47 *FAT: open your mouth .
48 *FAT: if you eat that one carrot .
49 *FAT: then you can have all the chocolate cookies on that plate .
50 *CHI: I gonna eat all the chocolate cookies .
51 *FAT: you can have all of mine too .
52 *CHI: (o)kay .
53 *CHI: I took the whole bunch xxx xxx .
54 *FAT: yeah .
55 *FAT: then what’d you do
56 *CHI: I just ate it .
57 *FAT: you ate it .
58 *CHI: I ate it all at once .
59 *FAT: you ate it all a what
60 *FAT: you ate it all a what
61 *FAT: jeez I’m getting beat up here .
62 *CHI: Dada chocolate chip cookies at once .
63 *FAT: you ate all the chocolate chip cookies at xxx .
64 *FAT: hey how did you like your lunch today
65 *CHI: fine .
66 *FAT: did you know Mommy made that
67 *FAT: Mommy made your lunch today .
68 *FAT: did you know that
Transcription conventions:
weady [: ready] → pseudo-phonetic [: orthographic]; xxx = unintelligible