Exam question 1 · How babies learn to talk

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises babbling in infants?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: babbling

This is exam question 1 of lesson 31 «How babies learn to talk» of the language course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: the test at school.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	babbling	babbling	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 infants	case
11	infants	infant	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		babbling				of the following statements; in infants; accurately property	tree rules

One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

The options

Option 1

It occurs only in infants of bilingual parents

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 occurs	nsubj
2	occurs	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	only	only	ADV	_	5 infants	advmod
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 infants	case
5	infants	infant	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 occurs	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 parents	case
7	bilingual	bilingual	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 parents	compound
8	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 infants	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occur	present	It	infants of bilingual parents					tree rules

Option 2

It constitutes the production of fully formed words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 constitutes	nsubj
2	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 production	det
4	production	production	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitutes	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 words	case
6	fully	fully	ADV	_	7 formed	advmod
7	formed	form	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 words	amod
8	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 production	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	It	the production of formed words		vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme production=Pivot
2	form	participle			fully property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	produce			formed words		nom production «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It constitutes the practice of speech sounds preceding the production of words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 constitutes	nsubj
2	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 practice	det
4	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitutes	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 sounds	case
6	speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 sounds	compound
7	sounds	sound	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 practice	nmod
8	preceding	precede	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 sounds	acl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 production	det
10	production	production	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 preceding	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 words	case
12	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 production	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	constitute	present	It	the practice of speech sounds	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme practice=Pivot
2	precede	gerund	speech sounds not said here	the production of words	vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme production=Co-Theme
3	practice			speech sounds	nom practice «act transitive»: of=patient
4	produce			words	nom production «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

It is an indication of a disorder of hearing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 indication	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 indication	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 indication	det
4	indication	indication	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 disorder	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 disorder	det
7	disorder	disorder	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 indication	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 hearing	case
9	hearing	hearing	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 disorder	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a indication				of a disorder of hearing	tree rules
2	disorder			hearing					nom disorder «state transitive»: of=patient

Text: the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (world/data/school/), as the course runner gave them to the student. Trees: Mova's own parse — the en model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/31-how-babies-learn-to-talk/e1/