---
title: Ascertain the term designating the mixing of two languages within a… — How babies learn to talk · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the term designating the mixing of two languages within a single utterance by a bilingual child. Exam question 4 of lesson 31 «How babies learn to talk» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choic
---

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# Exam question 4 · How babies learn to talk

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the term designating the mixing of two languages within a single utterance by a bilingual child.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, term · **What happens:** ascertain, designate, mix · **To what, where:** term, mixing, two languages

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This is exam question 4 of lesson 31 «How babies learn to talk» of the language course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/31-how-babies-learn-to-talk/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the term designating the mixing of two languages within a single utterance by a bilingual child.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	term	term	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	designating	designate	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	mixing	mixing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	languages	language	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
10	within	within	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	utterance	utterance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	bilingual	bilingual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the term |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent term=Topic |
| 2 | **designate** | gerund | the term *not said here* | the mixing of two languages |  |  |  | within a single utterance; by a bilingual child | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mixing=Theme |
| 3 | **mix** |  |  | two languages |  |  |  |  | nom mixing «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Overregularisation

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:e4:o1:1
# text = Overregularisation
1	Overregularisation	Overregularisation	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Bilingual babbling

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:e4:o2:1
# text = Bilingual babbling
1	Bilingual	bilingual	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	babbling	babbling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Code-switching

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:e4:o3:1
# text = Code-switching
1	Code	code	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	switching	switching	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Telegraphic speech

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:31-how-babies-learn-to-talk:e4:o4:1
# text = Telegraphic speech
1	Telegraphic	telegraphic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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