Wug Test Survey Results

Linda Bond
Fall 2015
Page 1
I agree with Steven Pinker when he stated in his Ted Talk: Human Nature and the Blank Slate
that most people believe that everything is causal. He is right; we parents are bombarded with
information that suggests that if we do all the right things, our children will turn out the right
way. Conversely, if we miss something, fail to do something, or do something wrong, our
children will not turn out well.
Pinker asks a good question; do genes play a part in how our children turn out? I had always
been told that the human mind is a blank slate; our experiences and environment dictated the
outcome. I had no reason to challenge this theory until I read a study years ago that showed the
descendants of people who chose to be good (i.e. pastors and humanitarians) versus the
descendants of people who chose to be bad (i.e. cruel murders.). I was shocked that generations
later, good and bad seemed to follow the bloodlines. Although I could not produce that
study again (I dont recall where I saw it), I did find Bad to the bone Some children are just
born to be evil. The title is a chilling thought and the picture included in the article
(http://www.sott.net/article/235158-Bad-to-the-bone-Some-children-are-just-born-evil) was even
more so!

Steven Pinker suggest that children are shaped in part by their genes, by their culture, by the
culture of the country at large, by their peer groups, by chance events in the wiring of the brain in
utero, and by chance events as they live their lives. It is uncomfortable to believe that genes
have anything to do with how a child will turn out because we want to believe, socially, that we
all have an equal chance in life. And yet, how often have I heard the expression the apple
doesnt fall far from the tree? Is that due to genetics, or due to environment? It is an interesting
question to ponder. Ill be interested to know the answer if there is definitive evidence.
I loved Patricia Kuhls Ted Talk: The linguistic genius of babies. I found it utterly fascinating
and would love to see further research in this area. I was particularly interested in the critical
period for sound. The narrow window of opportunity only two months is obviously a
crucial time as children prepare to learn their own language, as well as sounds associated with a

Wug Test Survey Results

Linda Bond
Fall 2015
Page 2
second language. I wish that all parents could know about this study before their children
reached that age so they could expose them to more languages during that time.
Learning that children are geniuses at acquiring a second language until age 7 helped me to
finally understand why learning sign was easy for me. I learned to sign out on the playground
with deaf friends when I was 5 years old. Within a short time I was interpreting for them and
for the hearing kids in the lunchroom. Each group wanted to know what the other group was
saying and I was the only child who understood both languages. When I later pursued a career in
interpreting, ASL classes seemed logical and simple; now I understand why.
Patricia Kuhl noted that after age seven, there is a systematic decline. Indeed, after puberty we
fall off the map. How then do we manage to learn a second language as adults? How did my
students learn ASL when they were exposed to it for the first time in college? I am hoping that
by the end of this class I will have an answer.
The wug test (http://www.onbeing.org/blog/sunday-morning-exercise-take-wug-test/2510) was
fascinating. Not only did I enjoy taking the test, but I had the pleasure of asking four of my
friends to test their children and report their findings to me. The questions are listed below and a
table provides the childrens answers. Out of curiosity I also asked the parents to tell me what
they thought of the test and what their children thought of it.
1. This is a wug. Now there is another one. There are two of them. There are two ____.
2. This is a gutch. Now there is another one. There are two of them. There are two ____.
3. This is a man who knows how to spow. He is spowing. He did the same thing yesterday.
What did he do yesterday? Yesterday he ____.
4. This is a KazH. Now there is another one. There are two of them. There are two ____.
5. This is a man who knows how to rick. He is ricking. He did the same thing yesterday.
What did he do yesterday? Yesterday he ____.
6. This is a wug. This is a very tiny wug. What would you call a very tiny wug? ____This
wug lives in a house. What would you call a house that a wug lives in?
7. This is a tor. Now there is another one. There are two of them. There are two ____.
8. This is a dog with quirks on him. He is all covered with quirks. What kind of dog is he?
He is a ___ dog.
9. This is a lun. Now there is another one. There are two of them. There are two ____.

Wug Test Survey Results

Linda Bond
Fall 2015
Page 3
Table: Answers to the Wug Test
Note: The names have been changed to protect the childrens identities
Name:
Age:
DOB:
Answer to #1:
Answer to #2:
Answer to #3:
Answer to #4:
Answer to #5:
Answer to #6:
Answer to #6.1:

Brian
(almost 7)
9-1-08
squirrels/wugs
gutch
spowed
kazhs
ricked
wug
wug house

Edward
(9)
11-17-05
wugs
gutches
spowed
kazhs
ricked
wugling
wug house

Dale
(11)
5-20-04
wugs
gutch
spow
kazh
ricked
weeg
wug house

Answer to #7:
Answer to #8:
Answer to #9:
Answer to #10:

tors
Quirk dog
luns
niz

tors
quirked
luns
nizzes

tors
quirks
luns
nizzes

Richard
(13)
6-26-02
wugs
gutches
Was spowing
kazhes
was ricking
a wuglet
a wughouse-like
a doghouse
except for wugs
tors
quirky
luns
nizzes

Reaction (Brian and parent)

Brian definitely only has the attention span of a 6-year-old boy. About half way through
there was an "Oh, man how long is this?" But, he didn't really understand the exercise at
first. When I read the first page to him, his first answer was "squirrels" so I had to explain
until he understood all I wanted to know was if you call one of these things ____, then
tell me what two of those are called. It took him a minute because I'm sure he'd rather be
playing Legos or something.
The mother who has raised Brian alone thus far is Deaf, so she asked her new (hearing)
fiance to administer the spoken-aloud test. The new moms reaction:
The only thought I had about it was that his answers were dependent upon whether or
not I was able to pronounce these made up words correctly. Or, rather, in the way they
were intended to be pronounced. So, if I guessed wrong, it may have changed the way he
answered the question.
The Deaf mother said (regarding the use of the word squirrel), I think he was hearing
random words, so he just decided to pick a random word.
She added: Deaf kids probably would not benefit from this unless the words were spelled
out like w-u-g.

Wug Test Survey Results

Linda Bond
Fall 2015
Page 4
Reaction (Edward and parent)
Edward: I thought it was funny.
Moms reaction: I thought it was an interesting and entertaining way to test grammar.
Reaction (Dale and parent)
Dale has an IEP. He was nervous because he thought he was being tested in some way.
He didnt understand why the words didnt make sense. He needed reassuring through
the process.
Moms reaction: I liked it because she could see that he needs continued work in
language and context clues.
Later Addition: Dale was over it soon. I reminded him that YOU were the student not
him.
Reaction (Richard and aunt)
Richard: "It was kinda a little bit easy, but it was interesting for the interesting names."
Aunt who administered the test: "I thought it was cute. Fun to see how far he's come with
language since he has always had verbal language learning disabilities."
I found it particularly interesting that when asked, This is a man who knows how to rick. He is
ricking. He did the same thing yesterday. What did he do yesterday? Yesterday he ____.
Richard (13) appeared to have mentally visualized an ongoing action in the past. Instead of the
expected answer ricked, he answered was ricking. I wish I knew what that means in regards
to his age and language capabilities.
I wonder if I have a future in research; I found this activity most exciting. Discovering the
childrens answers, as well as their reactions to the test, was thrilling. As a result, I searched the
web and enjoyed reading more information about the wug test. Although I had no more children
on which to test, I found another, longer wug test on line
(http://www.sporcle.com/games/Alcas/wug_lyfe) that was interesting and fun to take. The testtaker has 5 minutes to complete the test. I received a score of 100% and was informed that the
average score was 75%. The correct answers were then provided. Admittedly, I didnt think
that all of them had a correct answer. For example, when I took the first wug test (above), I
initially thought of wug house, but changed it to wug hut because I liked the uh sound that
united the two words. Was that wrong? I dont think so. Was Richard wrong when he
responded was ricking versus ricked? Again, I dont think so. This website suggests that
there are correct and incorrect answers. See the table below to compare your answers to what
they believe are the correct answers.

Wug Test Survey Results

Linda Bond
Fall 2015
Page 5

Note: The following information was submitted to me after the deadline, but I wanted to include
it here because I find every childs response very interesting.
Russel's (Age 5 - Sept 10, 2009) responses -1. WUGs
2. GUTCHes
3. SPOW
4. KAZHes
5. RICK

6. A tin can/sand
7. TORs
8. Spotted
9. LUNs
10. NIZzes

Reaction (Russell and parent)

Mom: He thought the test was silly. We need to work on past tense