The Textbook Authors Note That the Word for Mother in Most

question 135

Multiple Choice

The textbook authors note that the word for mother in most languages begins with an "m" or "n" sound.They speculate that this may be because

• A)they all derive from the Latin word mater.
• B)these are the most common phonemes in all languages.
• C)all languages have the same origin.
• D)these phonemes tend to be the first that children acquire.

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Definitions:

Additive Genes

Genetic models where the effects of individual genes add up to influence a trait, without dominance between alleles.

Dominant Genes

Genes that express their traits in the phenotype, regardless of the presence of their recessive counterparts in an organism's genotype.

Recessive Genes

Genes that produce their characteristic phenotype only when their allele is identical and not masked by a dominant allele in a pair.

Additive Genes

Genes that contribute incrementally in varying degrees to the phenotype of an organism.