High Pitched, Exaggerated, and Repititious Reading Answers

Mar 19, 2024

High Pitched, exaggerated, and repititious Reading Answers is an academic reading answers topic. High Pitched, exaggerated, and repititious Reading Answers have a total of 12 IELTS questions in total. This topic has 6 questions in which you have to fill up the black choosing appropriate words from paragraphs. In the rest of the questions we have say choose the correct option from list.

Candidates should read the IELTS Reading passage thoroughly to recognize synonyms, identify keywords, and answer the questions below. IELTS Reading practice papers, which feature topics such as High Pitched, exaggerated, and repititious Reading Answers. Candidates can use IELTS reading practice questions and answers to enhance their performance in the reading section.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

High-pitched, Exaggerated and Repetitious

The typical way of talking to a baby - high-pitched, exaggerated and repetitious - is a source of fascination for linguists who hope to understand how 'baby talk' impacts on learning. Most babies start developing their hearing while still in the womb, prompting some hopeful parents to play classical music to their pregnant bellies. Some research even suggests that infants are listening to adult speech as early as 10 weeks before being born, gathering the basic building blocks of their family's native tongue.
Early language exposure seems to have benefits to the brain - for instance, studies suggest that babies raised in bilingual homes are better at learning how to mentally prioritize information. So how does the sweet if sometimes absurd sound of infant-directed speech influence a baby's development? Here are some recent studies that explore the science behind baby talk.
Fathers don't use baby talk as often or in the same ways as mothers - and that's perfectly OK, according to a new study. Mark VanDam of Washington State University at Spokane and colleagues equipped parents with recording devices and speech-recognition software to study the way they interacted with their youngsters during a normal day. We found that moms do exactly what you'd expect and what's been described many times over,' VanDam explains. 'But we found that dads aren't doing the same thing. Dads didn't raise their pitch or fundamental frequency when they talked to kids.' Their role may be rooted in what is called the bridge hypothesis, which dates back to 1975. It suggests that fathers use less familial language to provide their children with a bridge to the kind of speech they'll hear in public. 'The idea is that a kid gets to practice a certain kind of speech with mom and another kind of speech with dad, so the kid then has a wider repertoire of kinds of speech to practice,' says VanDam.
Scientists from the University of Washington and the University of Connecticut collected thousands of 30-second conversations between parents and their babies, fitting 26 children with audio-recording vests that captured language and sound during a typical eight-hour day. The study found that the more baby talk parents used, the more their youngsters began to babble. And when researchers saw the same babies at age two, they found that frequent baby talk had dramatically boosted vocabulary, regardless of socioeconomic status. 'Those children who listened to a lot of baby talk were talking more than the babies that listened to more adult talk or standard speech,' says Nairán Ramirez-Esparza of the University of Connecticut. 'We also found that it really matters whether you use baby talk in a one-on-one context,' she adds. 'The more parents use baby talk one-on-one, the more babies babble, and the more they babble, the more words they produce later in life.'
Another study suggests that parents might want to pair their youngsters up so they can babble more with their own kind. Researchers from McGill University and Université du Québec à Montréal found that babies seem to like listening to each other rather than to adults - which may be why baby talk is such a universal tool among parents. They played repeating vowel sounds made by a special synthesizing device that mimicked sounds made by either an adult woman or another baby. This way, only the impact of the auditory cues was observed. The team then measured how long each type of sound held the infants' attention. They found that the 'infant' sounds held babies' attention nearly 40 percent longer. The baby noises also induced more reactions in the listening infants, like smiling or lip moving, which approximates sound making. The team theorizes that this attraction to other infant sounds could help launch the learning process that leads to speech. 'It may be some property of the sound that is just drawing their attention,' says study co-author Linda Polka. 'Or maybe they are really interested in that particular type of sound because they are starting to focus on their own ability to make sounds. We are speculating here but it might catch their attention because they recognize it as a sound they could possibly make.'
In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a total of 57 babies from two slightly different age groups - seven months and eleven and a half months - were played a number of syllables from both their native language (English) and a non-native tongue (Spanish). The infants were placed in a brain-activation scanner that recorded activity in a brain region known to guide the motor movements that produce speech. The results suggest that listening to baby talk prompts infant brains to start practicing their language skills. 'Finding activation in motor areas the baby brain is engaged in trying to talk back right from the start, and suggests that seven-month -olds' brains are already trying to figure out how to make interesting finding was that while the seven-month-olds responded to all speech sounds regardless of language, the brains of the older infants worked harder at the motor activations of non-native sounds compared to native sounds. The study may have also uncovered a process by which babies recognize differences between their native language and other tonques.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation

Questions 14-17

Look at the following ideas (Questions 14-17) and the list of researchers below.

Match each idea with the correct researcher, A, B or C. Write the correct letter, A, B or C.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

the importance of adults giving babies individual attention when talking to them

Answer: B
Supporting statement:“........Some research even suggests that infants are listening to adult speech as early as 10 weeks before being born, gathering the basic building blocks of their family's native tongue...........”
Keywords: speech, native
Keyword Location: para 1, line 4
Explanation: Patricia Kuhl emphasizes the significance of adults engaging in direct and individualized communication with babies to facilitate language development.

the connection between what babies hear and their own efforts to create speech

Answer: C
Supporting statement:“........ 'The more parents use baby talk one-on-one, the more babies babble, and the more they babble, the more words they produce later in life.'..........”
Keywords: babble, more
Keyword Location: para D, line 10
Explanation: The research suggests that frequent exposure to baby talk leads to increased babbling in infants, which, in turn, promotes the development of their speech skills.

the advantage for the baby of having two parents each speaking in a different way

Answer: A
Supporting statement:“........'The idea is that a kid gets to practice a certain kind of speech with mom and another kind of speech with dad, so the kid then has a wider repertoire of kinds of speech to practice,' says VanDam...........”
Keywords: speech, mom, dad, another
Keyword Location: para C, line 10
Explanation: The study suggests that fathers may provide a unique linguistic environment for infants by using less conventional baby talk, thereby expanding the child's exposure to diverse language styles.

the connection between the amount of baby talk babies hear and how much vocalising they do themselves

Answer: B
Supporting statement:“........And when researchers saw the same babies at age two, they found that frequent baby talk had dramatically boosted vocabulary, regardless of socioeconomic status. 'Those children who listened to a lot of baby talk were talking more than the babies that listened to more adult talk or standard speech..........”
Keywords: talk, boosted
Keyword Location: para D, line 5
Explanation: The study indicates that infants who hear more baby talk tend to engage in increased vocalization themselves, contributing to their language development.

List of Researchers

Mark VanDam
Nairán Ramirez-Esparza
Patricia Kuhl

Questions 18-20

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each.

Research into how parents talk to babies

Researchers at Washington State University used (18)......, together with specialised

Answer: RECORDING DEVICES
Supporting statement:“......Spokane and colleagues equipped parents with recording devices and speech-recognition software to study the way they interacted with their youngsters during a normal day............”
Keywords: youngster, normal
Keyword Location: para C, line 3
Explanation: Researchers at Washington State University employed recording devices to capture interactions between parents and infants, allowing for detailed analysis of speech patterns and communication dynamics in everyday settings.

computer programs, to analyse how parents interacted with their babies during a normal day. The study revealed that (19)..... tended not to modify their ordinary

Answer: FATHERS / DADS
Supporting statement:“........It suggests that fathers use less familial language to provide their children with a bridge to the kind of speech they'll hear in public. ..........”
Keywords: children , speech
Keyword Location: para C, line 9
Explanation: The study conducted by Mark VanDam and colleagues found that fathers typically do not adjust their speech patterns significantly when interacting with their infants, in contrast to mothers who commonly engage in higher-pitched and exaggerated baby talk.

speech patterns when interacting with their According to an idea known as the (20)........ , they may use a more adult type of speech to prepare infants for the language they will hear outside the family home.

Answer: BRIDGE HYPOTHESIS
Supporting statement:“........Dads didn't raise their pitch or fundamental frequency when they talked to kids.' Their role may be rooted in what is called the bridge hypothesis, which dates back to 1975...........”
Keywords:
Keyword Location: para C, line 8
Explanation: The concept referred to as the "bridge hypothesis," proposed by Mark VanDam and others. It suggests that fathers' use of less familial language serves as a bridge for infants to familiarize themselves with the language they will encounter outside the family environment.

Questions 21-23

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each.

Research into how parents talk to babies

According to the researchers, hearing baby talk from one parent and 'normal" language from the other expands the baby's (21)....... of types of speech which they can practise.

Answer: REPERTOIRE
Supporting statement:“.......The idea is that a kid gets to practice a certain kind of speech with mom and another kind of speech with dad, so the kid then has a wider repertoire of kinds of speech to practice,' says VanDam............”
Keywords: repertoire, speech
Keyword Location: para C, line 10
Explanation: The researchers suggest that exposure to different speech styles from each parent broadens the range of linguistic input for infants. It enabled them to develop a diverse repertoire of language skills.

Meanwhile, another study carried out by scientists from the University of Washington and the University of Connecticut recorded speech and sound using special (22)........

Answer: (AUDIO RECORDING ) VESTS
Supporting statement:“.........collected thousands of 30-second conversations between parents and their babies, fitting 26 children with audio-recording vests that captured language and sound during a typical eight-hour day. .........”
Keywords: parents, captured
Keyword Location: para D, line 2
Explanation: Researchers from the University of Washington and the University of Connecticut utilized specialized audio-recording vests to capture speech and sound. And interactions between parents and infants over extended periods, providing valuable data for studying language development.

that the babies were equipped with. When they studies the babies again at age two the found that those who had heard a lot of baby talk in infancy had a much larger (23)…..... Than those who had not.

Answer: VOCABULARY
Supporting statement:“.........And when researchers saw the same babies at age two, they found that frequent baby talk had dramatically boosted vocabulary, regardless of socioeconomic status..........”
Keywords: frequent, status
Keyword Location: para D, line 5
Explanation: Follow-up analysis of infants who were exposed to frequent baby talk revealed that they exhibited significantly larger vocabularies by the age of two. Compared to infants with less exposure, underscoring the long-term impact of early language experiences.

Questions 24-26

Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-F.

a reference to a change which occurs in babies' brain activity before the end of their first year.

Answer: F
Supporting statement:“........In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a total of 57 babies from two slightly different age groups - seven months and eleven and a half ..........”
Keywords: sciences, eleven
Keyword Location: para F, line 1
Explanation: Pars F mentions a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which reveals that infant brains become activated in motor areas when exposed to baby talk, indicating early attempts to engage in speech production.

an example of what some parents do for their baby's benefit before birth

Answer: A
Supporting statement:“........The typical way of talking to a baby - high-pitched, exaggerated and repetitious - is a source of fascination for linguists who hope to understand how 'baby talk' impacts on ..........”
Keywords: repetitious, impacts
Keyword Location: para A, line 2
Explanation: Para A mentions the practice of playing classical music to pregnant bellies, suggesting that some parents believe this may benefit the unborn child's auditory development.

a mention of babies preference for the sounds that other babies make

Answer: E
Supporting statement:“........Researchers from McGill University and Université du Québec à Montréal found that babies seem to like listening to each other rather than ..........”
Keywords: babies, rather
Keyword Location: para E, line 3
Explanation: Para E describes a study conducted by researchers from McGill University and Université du Québec à Montréal. It suggests that infants demonstrate a preference for listening to sounds produced by other babies over those made by adults, indicating an early interest in social interaction and vocalization.

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