Nelson's categories of speech include which four categories?

Nelson's categories of speech include which four categories?

• A. Verbs; Nouns; Adjectives; Prepositions
• B. Content words; Function words; Pronouns; Determiners
• C. Theoretical terms; Pragmatic markers; Interjections; Interrogatives
• D. Nominals; Action words; Personal-social words; Modifiers

Answer: (D)

Nelson's categories of speech group early child words into four semantic types: nominals, action words, personal-social words, and modifiers. Nominals are the words that name people, places, substances, or things—basically the names you use for objects and entities. Action words, or verbs, are the ones that describe actions or states, like run, eat, or think. Personal-social words cover language used in social interactions and emotional exchanges—words like please, thank you, hi, bye, yes, no. Modifiers are descriptive words that give qualities or properties to nouns, such as big, red, or good. This framing is different from other common linguistic classifications and fits Nelson’s focus on how children rapidly acquire language by grouping words according to their communicative function in early speech. So the option listing these four categories matches Nelson’s scheme best.

Nelson's categories of speech group early child words into four semantic types: nominals, action words, personal-social words, and modifiers. Nominals are the words that name people, places, substances, or things—basically the names you use for objects and entities. Action words, or verbs, are the ones that describe actions or states, like run, eat, or think. Personal-social words cover language used in social interactions and emotional exchanges—words like please, thank you, hi, bye, yes, no. Modifiers are descriptive words that give qualities or properties to nouns, such as big, red, or good.

This framing is different from other common linguistic classifications and fits Nelson’s focus on how children rapidly acquire language by grouping words according to their communicative function in early speech. So the option listing these four categories matches Nelson’s scheme best.