CETP - Child Language Development Exam
Preparation Kit 2025/26 | Authentic and Verified
Answers
The study of word structure - Morphology
The smallest meaningful unit of a language - Morpheme
-if it were subdivided any further, it would become meaningless
Free morpheme - -Words that have meaning, cannot be broken down into smaller parts,
and can have other other morphemes added to them (E.g., ocean, book, color)
Bound morpheme - -Cannot convey meaning by themselves; must be joined with free
morphemes to have meaning
-Can be a prefix (before the free morpheme; e.g., prearrange, misunderstand)
-Can be a suffix (after the free morpheme; e.g., arranged, understanding)
Common bound grammatical morphemes:
-present progressive -ing
-regular plural morpheme -s
-possessive inflection -'s
-regular past tense -ed
Study of sentence structure - Syntax
Passive sentence - -the subject receives the action of the verb (e.g.,"The cat was petted
by Mike")
Active sentence - -The subject performs the actions of the verb (e.g., "Mark petted the
cat")
Interrogatives - Questions (e.g., Did you see that gorgeous sunset?)
Declaratives - Statements (e.g.,The sunset was gorgeous)
,Imperatives - Commands (e.g., Shut the door)
Exclamatory sentences - Express strong feeling (e.g., I never said that!)
Compound sentence - Two or more independent clauses joined by a comma and a
conjunction or by a semicolon (e.g., the policeman held up the sign, and the cars stopped)
Clause - -Contains a subject and a predicate (predicate: part of a sentence and/or clause
containing a verb and stating something about the subject)
Independent clause - -Has a subject and a predicate and can stand alone
Complex sentence - -Contains one independent clause and one or more dependent or
subordinate clauses (e.g., I will drive my car to Reno if I have enough gas)
-Dependent clauses cannot stand alone; e.g., "if I have enough gas" would be a dependent
clause
Subject-verb-object - The basic syntactic structure in English; can also be called the
phrase structure or base structure
The meaning in language - Semantics
Vocabulary - -also known as lexicon
-Semantics includes someone's vocabulary
-Vocabulary is highly dependent upon environmental exposure and the individual capacity each
child brings
Important aspects of vocabulary - -Antonyms or opposites
-Synonyms, or words that mean similar things
-Multiple meanings of a word (e.g., rock)
-Humour (e.g., riddles, puns, jokes)
-Figurative language, including idioms, metaphors, and proverbs
-Deictic words, or words whose referents change depending on who is speaking (e.g., this, here,
that, come, go)
Semantic categories - -Used to sort words
-E.g., recurrence (concept of more), rejection (no), and causality (cause and effect)
, Overextension - -Common in young children; e.g., all men are "daddy"
Underextension - -Common in young children, e.g., "only my dog is a dog""
Word vs world knowledge - World knowledge: Involves a person's autobiographical and
experiential memory and understanding of particular events
Word knowledge: primarily verbal and contains word and symbol definitions
-A child's word knowledge depends heavily on his or her world knowledge e.g., a child who has
never been to a zoo (world knowledge) might have difficulty understanding and using the word
"zoo" (word knowledge)
Quick incidental learning/ Fast mapping - -Refers to a child's ability to learn a new word
just on the basis of a few exposures to it; important for children expanding their vocabulary
The study of rules that govern the use of language in social situations - Pragmatics
Functions of language - -Part of pragmatics (along with the context of utterances)
-Involves the purpose or goal of the utterances
Examples:
-labeling (naming something)
-protesting (objecting to something)
-commenting (describing or identifying objects)
Context of utterances - -Part of pragmatics (along with the function of utterances)
-The situation, the listener-speaker relationship
-Involves: where the utterance takes place, to whom the utterance is directed, what and who
are present at the time
Cohesion - -part of pragmatics
-Involves the ability to order and organize utterances in a message so they build logically on one
another
Direct speech acts vs indirect speech acts - -Direct speech acts: "Bring me the ball"
Preparation Kit 2025/26 | Authentic and Verified
Answers
The study of word structure - Morphology
The smallest meaningful unit of a language - Morpheme
-if it were subdivided any further, it would become meaningless
Free morpheme - -Words that have meaning, cannot be broken down into smaller parts,
and can have other other morphemes added to them (E.g., ocean, book, color)
Bound morpheme - -Cannot convey meaning by themselves; must be joined with free
morphemes to have meaning
-Can be a prefix (before the free morpheme; e.g., prearrange, misunderstand)
-Can be a suffix (after the free morpheme; e.g., arranged, understanding)
Common bound grammatical morphemes:
-present progressive -ing
-regular plural morpheme -s
-possessive inflection -'s
-regular past tense -ed
Study of sentence structure - Syntax
Passive sentence - -the subject receives the action of the verb (e.g.,"The cat was petted
by Mike")
Active sentence - -The subject performs the actions of the verb (e.g., "Mark petted the
cat")
Interrogatives - Questions (e.g., Did you see that gorgeous sunset?)
Declaratives - Statements (e.g.,The sunset was gorgeous)
,Imperatives - Commands (e.g., Shut the door)
Exclamatory sentences - Express strong feeling (e.g., I never said that!)
Compound sentence - Two or more independent clauses joined by a comma and a
conjunction or by a semicolon (e.g., the policeman held up the sign, and the cars stopped)
Clause - -Contains a subject and a predicate (predicate: part of a sentence and/or clause
containing a verb and stating something about the subject)
Independent clause - -Has a subject and a predicate and can stand alone
Complex sentence - -Contains one independent clause and one or more dependent or
subordinate clauses (e.g., I will drive my car to Reno if I have enough gas)
-Dependent clauses cannot stand alone; e.g., "if I have enough gas" would be a dependent
clause
Subject-verb-object - The basic syntactic structure in English; can also be called the
phrase structure or base structure
The meaning in language - Semantics
Vocabulary - -also known as lexicon
-Semantics includes someone's vocabulary
-Vocabulary is highly dependent upon environmental exposure and the individual capacity each
child brings
Important aspects of vocabulary - -Antonyms or opposites
-Synonyms, or words that mean similar things
-Multiple meanings of a word (e.g., rock)
-Humour (e.g., riddles, puns, jokes)
-Figurative language, including idioms, metaphors, and proverbs
-Deictic words, or words whose referents change depending on who is speaking (e.g., this, here,
that, come, go)
Semantic categories - -Used to sort words
-E.g., recurrence (concept of more), rejection (no), and causality (cause and effect)
, Overextension - -Common in young children; e.g., all men are "daddy"
Underextension - -Common in young children, e.g., "only my dog is a dog""
Word vs world knowledge - World knowledge: Involves a person's autobiographical and
experiential memory and understanding of particular events
Word knowledge: primarily verbal and contains word and symbol definitions
-A child's word knowledge depends heavily on his or her world knowledge e.g., a child who has
never been to a zoo (world knowledge) might have difficulty understanding and using the word
"zoo" (word knowledge)
Quick incidental learning/ Fast mapping - -Refers to a child's ability to learn a new word
just on the basis of a few exposures to it; important for children expanding their vocabulary
The study of rules that govern the use of language in social situations - Pragmatics
Functions of language - -Part of pragmatics (along with the context of utterances)
-Involves the purpose or goal of the utterances
Examples:
-labeling (naming something)
-protesting (objecting to something)
-commenting (describing or identifying objects)
Context of utterances - -Part of pragmatics (along with the function of utterances)
-The situation, the listener-speaker relationship
-Involves: where the utterance takes place, to whom the utterance is directed, what and who
are present at the time
Cohesion - -part of pragmatics
-Involves the ability to order and organize utterances in a message so they build logically on one
another
Direct speech acts vs indirect speech acts - -Direct speech acts: "Bring me the ball"
