What are cognitive cognates?

Cognitive cognates refer to words in different languages that share similar meanings, spellings, and origins. The correct choice accurately describes these words as being similar or identical in form and meaning in both English and the student's native language. This connection can greatly assist English language learners in expanding their vocabulary, as they can leverage their existing knowledge of these cognate words to understand new terms in English.

The usefulness of cognitive cognates lies in their potential to ease the transition into a new language, as students can recognize and relate to familiar words. For instance, the English word "information" has a corresponding cognate in many languages, making it easier for students to grasp the meaning of similar words in English.

In contrast, the other options present different categories of language relationships. Words that sound similar but have different meanings are referred to as false cognates, while borrowed words come from one language into another but may not retain the same meaning. Finally, words unique to a culture do not have a direct linguistic correlation between languages, further distinguishing them from the concept of cognitive cognates.