Stages of Language Development Quiz for High School Psychology

📚 Quick Study Guide

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• Prelinguistic Stage (0-12 months): Characterized by crying, cooing, and babbling. Infants experiment with sounds but don't yet produce recognizable words.
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• Holophrastic Stage (12-18 months): Single words (holophrases) are used to convey entire thoughts. Example: "Juice" might mean "I want juice."
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• Two-Word Stage (18-24 months): Children begin to combine two words into simple sentences, often focusing on nouns and verbs. Example: "Mommy up."
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• Telegraphic Stage (2-3 years): Sentences become longer but still lack grammatical elements like articles and prepositions. Example: "Doggy eat food."
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• Later Multiword Stage (3+ years): Language becomes more complex with grammatical rules being applied (sometimes incorrectly, leading to overregularization). Vocabulary expands rapidly.
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• Overextension: Applying a word to a wider range of objects than is appropriate (e.g., calling all four-legged animals "doggy").
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• Underextension: Applying a word to a narrower range of objects than is appropriate (e.g., only calling *your* pet "doggy," not other dogs).

Practice Quiz

1. What is the hallmark of the holophrastic stage of language development?
   1. A) Use of complex grammatical structures
   2. B) Use of single words to convey meaning
   3. C) Production of babbling sounds
   4. D) Combining three or more words in a sentence
2. During which stage would a child typically say "Mommy up"?
   1. A) Prelinguistic Stage
   2. B) Holophrastic Stage
   3. C) Two-Word Stage
   4. D) Telegraphic Stage
3. Which of the following is an example of overextension?
   1. A) Calling only your cat "cat"
   2. B) Calling all animals "doggy"
   3. C) Using correct grammar in all sentences
   4. D) Not speaking at all
4. The telegraphic stage is characterized by:
   1. A) Complex sentence structures
   2. B) Complete grammatical accuracy
   3. C) Short sentences lacking grammatical elements
   4. D) No language production at all
5. At what age do children typically begin to combine two words?
   1. A) 0-6 months
   2. B) 6-12 months
   3. C) 12-18 months
   4. D) 18-24 months
6. What is the earliest stage of language development?
   1. A) Telegraphic Stage
   2. B) Holophrastic Stage
   3. C) Prelinguistic Stage
   4. D) Two-Word Stage
7. A child who refers only to *their* specific blanket as "blankie" and doesn't apply the word to other blankets is demonstrating:
   1. A) Overextension
   2. B) Underextension
   3. C) Proper extension
   4. D) Telegraphic speech