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The document outlines the stages of language acquisition in children, highlighting key milestones from birth to three years. It details the progression from cooing and babbling to the one-word and two-word stages, emphasizing the biological basis and social interactions involved in language development. Variations among children are noted, with age-related milestones provided as general approximations.

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12 views

Untitled Document

The document outlines the stages of language acquisition in children, highlighting key milestones from birth to three years. It details the progression from cooing and babbling to the one-word and two-word stages, emphasizing the biological basis and social interactions involved in language development. Variations among children are noted, with age-related milestones provided as general approximations.

Uploaded by

ibadzbi544007
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Acquisition Schedule

All normal children develop language around the same time and follow a similar schedule.

Language acquisition follows a pattern like other physical activities (sitting up, crawling,
walking).

The schedule is tied to the biological development of motor skills and brain maturation.

Children have a biological capacity to identify linguistic input at different stages.

Before speaking: Children actively process speech sounds.

Changes in sucking behavior and head-turning indicate attention to sounds.

1 month: Infants can distinguish between [ba] and [pa].

First 3 months:

Babies produce big smiles in response to speaking faces.

They begin creating distinct vocalizations.

Cooing

The earliest speech-like sounds are described as cooing.

First few months:

Babies gradually produce sequences of vowel-like sounds, particularly high vowels [i] and [u].

By 4 months:

Babies can bring the back of the tongue into regular contact with the back of the palate, creating
sounds similar to velar consonants [k] and [g].

These sounds are called "cooing" or "gooing."

By 5 months:
Babies can hear the difference between the vowels [i] and [a].

They can discriminate between syllables like [ba] and [ga].

Babbling

6-8 months:

The child is sitting up and producing different vowel and consonant combinations, such as "ba-
ba-ba" and "ga-ga-ga."

This is the babbling stage.

9-10 months:

Recognizable intonation patterns emerge in consonant and vowel combinations.

There is variation in combinations, such as "ba-ba-da-da."

Nasal sounds (e.g., ma-ma-ma, da-da-da) become common.

Parents often interpret these sounds as "mama" and "dada" and repeat them back to the child.

10-11 months:

As children start standing, they use vocalizations to express emotions and emphasis.

The late babbling stage is characterized by more complex syllable combinations (e.g., "ma-da-
ga-ba").

Sound play and attempted imitations occur.

This prelanguage use of sound helps the child experience the social role of speech.

Adults tend to react to babbling as if it is part of social interaction.

By 12 months:
Most children produce distinct gestures, such as pointing or holding out objects, along with their
vocalizations.

This suggests a close connection between using the hands and vocal organs.

> Note: Child language researchers report age-related linguistic milestones with care but
emphasize variation among children. Statements like "by six months" or "by the age of two" are
general approximations and vary for each child.

The One-Word Stage

12-18 months:

Children produce a variety of recognizable single-unit utterances.

This period is traditionally called the one-word stage.

Examples include "spoon" (often pronounced [pun]).

Holophrastic speech:

Single forms function as entire phrases or sentences (e.g., "What's that" might be reduced to
"see" [see]).

While many holophrastic utterances name objects, they may also refer to other situations:

E.g., an empty bed might prompt the child to say the name of a person who usually sleeps
there, showing they are extending language use.

Children may refer separately to people and objects but are not yet ready to combine words into
more complex phrases.

At this stage, it is a lot to expect from a child who can only walk with a stagger or come
downstairs backward.

The Two-Word Stage


18-20 months:

The two-word stage begins as the child's vocabulary exceeds 50 words.

Combinations of two words start to appear, such as "baby chair," "mommy eat," "cat bad."

The interpretation of these combinations depends on context:

"Baby chair" could mean possession (this is the baby's chair), a request (put the baby in the
chair), or a statement (the baby is in the chair).

Some other common combinations in this stage:

"big boat"

"doggie bark"

"hit ball"

"mama dress"

"more milk"

"shoe off"

These combinations suggest that the child is communicating intentions, and adults or older
children react as though communication is taking place.

By 2 years:

Children may have a vocabulary of 200-300 distinct words.

They are capable of understanding five times as many words as they produce.

Telegraphic Speech

2-2.5 years:
Children produce a large number of utterances classified as multiple-word speech.

This stage is known as telegraphic speech.

It is characterized by strings of words (lexical morphemes) like "this shoe all wet," "cat drink
milk," and "daddy go bye-bye."

Sentence-building ability is clear, and word order is correct.

Simple prepositions (in, on) and inflections (-ing) begin to appear.

2.5 years:

The child's vocabulary expands rapidly, and they initiate more conversations.

Increased physical activity (running, jumping) accompanies speech development.

By 3 years:

The child's vocabulary includes hundreds of words.

Pronunciation becomes clearer.

It is at this point that the role of adults in influencing speech development becomes important.

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