Which of the following correctly summarizes what we currently understand about infant’s phoneme discrimination abilities?

• A. Young children are born with the ability to hear all phonemes.
• B. Over the first year of life, children get better at discriminating phonemes in their native language.
• C. Around 10-12 months, infants begin to lose the ability to discriminate phonemes in non-native languages.
• D. All of the above are correct.

Answer: (D)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand that phonemes are the smallest units of sound in a language that can distinguish one word from another.
2. Recognize that infants are born with the ability to hear and discriminate between all phonemes across different languages, which is a universal ability.
3. Acknowledge that as infants grow, particularly over the first year, they become more attuned to the phonemes of their native language, improving their ability to discriminate these sounds.
4. Note that around the age of 10-12 months, infants start to lose the ability to discriminate phonemes that are not present in their native language, as their perceptual system becomes specialized.
5. Conclude that all the statements provided in the problem are correct, as they collectively describe the developmental trajectory of phoneme discrimination in infants.