In this exercise, review the following examples of language use, and decide whether each provides evidence of the impact of nature, nurture, or the interaction of nature and nurture in language development. Explain your reasoning.

1. Even in her very first sentences, 21-month-old Melissa has obviously figured out the basics of subject-predicate word order. Seeing her mother returning from work, for example, she says, "Mommy home," rather than "Home mommy."

Position Supported:

1. Seven-month-old Tara who is deaf, has begun to babble manually at about the same time hearing infants begin babbling orally.

Position Supported:

1. When Michelle was an infant, she was able to perceive differences among the spoken sounds of many languages. As she grew older, her preference for hearing her native language influenced the development of her brain. Now a teenager, Michelle can no longer perceive certain speech sounds from languages other than her own.

Position Supported: