Which of the following illustrates a protoword?

• A. "mama" used to mean mother
• B. "dog" used as a conventional word
• C. "dada" used to mean father
• D. "wawa" used consistently to mean water

Answer: (D)

A protoword is a child-made, consistent sound that the child uses to refer to a specific referent, but it isn’t an established word in the language. It’s idiosyncratic to the child and can’t be reliably understood by others as a standard term.

In this example, the child uses “wawa” consistently to mean water. That fits the idea of a protoword: a stable, referent-specific form that isn’t the conventional word for water in the language, illustrating how children map meaning with invented forms before they acquire real words.

By contrast, terms like “mama” or “dada” that function as mother or father are typical early true words or shared infant vocabulary, and “dog” used as a conventional word is a standard lexical item in the language, not an idiosyncratic child form.