---
title: What would happen if a Deaf baby only ever saw sign language at home? — Sign language · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a Deaf baby only ever saw sign language at home? Test 8 of lesson 32 «Sign language» of the language course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 8 · Sign language

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a Deaf baby only ever saw sign language at home?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Deaf baby · **What happens:** happen, see · **To what, where:** sign language, home

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 32 «Sign language» of the language course of Mova's primary school. 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/32-sign-language/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:t8:1
# text = What would happen if a Deaf baby only ever saw sign language at home?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Deaf	deaf	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	only	only	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	10	advmod	_	_
10	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
11	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a Deaf baby | sign language |  | home | ever |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer language=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She would only learn to wave

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:t8:o1:1
# text = She would only learn to wave
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	wave	wave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | would | She |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **wave** | to-infinitive | She *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She would learn sign language, even babbling with her hands

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:t8:o2:1
# text = She would learn sign language, even babbling with her hands
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	even	even	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	babbling	babble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | would | She | sign language |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent language=Topic |
| 2 | **babble** | gerund | She *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with her hands | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with hand=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She would never learn any language at all, because language needs sounds

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:t8:o3:1
# text = She would never learn any language at all, because language needs sounds
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
13	sounds	sound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **learn** | would | She | any language |  | all |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent language=Topic |
| 2 | **need** | present | language | sounds |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot sound=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She would learn spoken English by herself

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:32-sign-language:t8:o4:1
# text = She would learn spoken English by herself
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | would | She | spoken English |  |  |  | by English | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent english=Topic |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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- ← previous: [Sign language, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/32-sign-language/t7/)
- next →: [Sign language, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/32-sign-language/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Sign language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/32-sign-language/)