Patricia Kuhl's research has demonstrated that from birth up to about six months of age, infants are "citizens of the world." In the context of Kuhl's research, what does this expression convey?

Patricia Kuhl's research has demonstrated that from birth up to about 6 months of age, infants are "citizens of the world." In the context of Kuhl's research, what does this expression convey? Answers:

A. Long before infants speak recognizable words, they produce a number of vocalizations in order to specifically imitate the language their parents speak.

B. Infants respond quickly to polite speech in their native language between birth and 6 months of age.

C. Infants recognize when sounds change most of the time, irrespective of the language being spoken.

D. Infants are exclusively sensitive to the language their parents speak between birth and 6 months of age.

Solution

Patricia K. Kuhl in her study on early language acquisition showed that brain of infant is capable enough to understand the phonetic stimuli associated with any language at the age of 2 only. Till the age of 5 years, young infants can easily understand the phonetic unit of any language irrespective of their social context. Due to their (infant’s) ability to understand any language, children of age 2-5 years are considered as Children of world. As they proceed towards adulthood, language gets modularized.

Hence, option C is correct