In the Wug test, what linguistic feature is assessed?

In the Wug test, what linguistic feature is assessed?

• A. Productive morphological rules such as plural -s.
• B. Receptive vocabulary knowledge.
• C. Pragmatic language use.
• D. Nonverbal communication.

Answer: (A)

Productive morphological rules are what the Wug test assesses. By using a made-up word like “wug” and asking the child to form its plural, the test checks whether the child can generalize a grammatical rule—the addition of -s—to a word they’ve never heard before. This shows productive, rule-governed language use rather than memorized vocabulary. It isn’t about understanding known words (receptive vocabulary), nor about social use (pragmatics) or nonverbal communication, which are outside what the Wug test measures.

Productive morphological rules are what the Wug test assesses. By using a made-up word like “wug” and asking the child to form its plural, the test checks whether the child can generalize a grammatical rule—the addition of -s—to a word they’ve never heard before. This shows productive, rule-governed language use rather than memorized vocabulary. It isn’t about understanding known words (receptive vocabulary), nor about social use (pragmatics) or nonverbal communication, which are outside what the Wug test measures.