Self-study
Scientist: Support In testing whether a baby's babbling is a linguistic task or just random sounds, researchers videotaped the mouths of babies as they babbled. ████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ██████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██████ █████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ███████████ ████ ██████ █████████████ █████████████ ██████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ██ ██ █ ██████████ █████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that a baby’s babbling is a linguistic task. This is based on tests that show babbling babies open the right sides of their mouths wider than the left. Other studies show that when making nonlinguistic sounds, people generally open the left side of the mouth wider than the right.
Describe Method of Reasoning
The author uses the studies to eliminate the nonlinguistic interpretation of babbling. Since babies’ mouths don’t open the left side wider than the right, the author thinks this is inconsistent with the nonlinguistic interpretation. That’s how the author reaches the conclusion that babbling is linguistic.
4.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ███ ███████████ ████████ █████████
a
It describes an ████████ ███ █ █████ ██████████ ███ ████████ █ ███████████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████████
The author doesn’t counter a different argument. We never got an argument that babbling is nonlinguistic. So the author never countered such an argument.
b
It questions the ████████ ██ █ █████████ ████████ █████████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██ █████████ ████ ██████████ ███ ██████ █ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████
There is no “generally accepted principle.” The fact babies babble isn’t a principle. Nor is the idea that babbling is nonlinguistic. So the author doesn’t undermine any principle in order to reach the conclusion that babbling is linguistic.
c
It raises a █████████ █████████ █ █████████ ████████████ █████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ██████ ███ █████████
The author doesn’t describe a potential experimental test; he describes an actual test that was done and its results. The author also does not argue that we need a new test.
d
It describes an ███████████ ███ ████ ██████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ██ ███████ █████ ████
There are no assertions that an explanation is unlikely to be correct. Nobody argued against the idea that babbling is a linguistic task. So the author didn’t counter assertions that this explanation is incorrect.
e
It presents two ████████ ███████████████ ██ █ ██████████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████
The two possible interpretations are linguistic task or random sounds. The author presents studies suggesting babbling isn’t just random sounds (nonlinguistic vocalizations). This evidence supports the interpretation that babbling is linguistic.