Humans have a vast range of intelligences, one of which allows us to have language, or a system of communication that uses symbols in a way to create meaning. Language gives us the ability to communicate to others by talking, reading, and writing. Although other species have some ability to communicate, none of them have language as we do.

In Chapter 4, we learned that babies have a keen sense of hearing, which they begin to use when they are still in the womb during prenatal development. This sense allows babies to listen to their mother’s voices as well as overhear conversations and environmental noises. Listening and hearing language is the first step in the long journey toward language development. Once born, babies recognize their mother’s voices and can even distinguish between their mother’s language and other languages (Blossom & Morgan, 2006). In fact, babies prefer the sounds of their mothers voice over others and even show a preference for the native language used (Byers-Heinlein et al., 2010).

There are several theories that have been used to explain how young children develop language. Nativism, for example, assumes that children are hardwired to learn language and that there are universal grammar structures that underlie all human languages. While theory is important in helping us understand patterns of behavior and learning, it can be limiting in understanding how culture and society influence the way children learn language and how language is used to communicate. Let’s begin our understanding of language development by reviewing typical American language progression and communication.

Language Progression and Communication

Children’s ability to understand language develops before they produce speech. Infants can understand more than they can say, which is referred to as receptive language. You may have experienced this phenomenon as well if you have ever tried to learn a second language. You may have been able to follow a conversation more easily than verbally contribute to it.

Long before they speak, young children communicate information through gesturing, and there is some evidence that gesture usage predicts subsequent language development (Iverson & Goldin-Meadow, 2005). Babies who are deaf also use gestures to communicate wants, reactions, and feelings. Because gesturing seems to be easier than vocalization for some toddlers, sign language is sometimes taught to enhance their ability to communicate. The rhythm and pattern of language is used when babies sign, just as it is when babies verbally communicate.

The earliest type of language communication babies use is in the form of cooing, which is something they do almost immediately. Cooing is a one-syllable combination of a consonant and a vowel sound (e.g., “coo” or “ba”). Infants begin to learn the pace and pause of conversation as they alternate their vocalization with that of someone else and then take their turn again when the other person’s vocalization has stopped. Interestingly, babies replicate sounds from their own language. A baby whose parents speak French will coo in a different tone than a baby whose parents speak Spanish or Urdu.

At about 7 months, infants begin babbling, engaging in intentional vocalizations that lack specific meaning and comprise a consonant-vowel repeated sequence, such as “ma-ma-ma” or “da-da-da.” Children babble as practice in creating specific sounds, and by the time they are 1 year old, the babbling primarily uses the sounds of the language that they are learning (de BoyssonBardies, Sagart, & Durand, 1984). These vocalizations have a conversational tone that sounds meaningful even though it is not. Babbling also helps children understand the social, communicative function of language. Children who are exposed to sign language babble in sign by making hand movements that represent real language (Petitto & Marentette, 1991).

Children begin using their first words at about 12 or 13 months of age and may use partial words to convey thoughts at even younger ages. The use of one-word expressions is referred to as holophrastic speech. For example, the child may say “ju” for the word “juice” and use this sound when referring to a bottle. The listener must interpret the meaning of the holophrase. When the listener is someone who has spent time with the child, interpretation is not too difficult. But, someone who has not been around the child will have trouble knowing what is meant.

By the time they become toddlers, children have a vocabulary of about 50–200 words and begin putting those words together in telegraphic speech, such as “baby bye-bye” or “doggie pretty.” Words needed to convey messages are used, but the articles and other parts of speech necessary for grammatical correctness are not yet used. These expressions sound like a telegraph or read like a text message.

Children’s pronunciations become increasingly accurate between 1 and 3 years old, but some pronunciation and grammar errors persist and are expected for this stage of development. For example, a child knows their family dog as “doggie” but they do not use the word “doggie” for other dogs. The child may think that the word “doggie” can only apply to their own pet, rather than all dogs that exist, known as an underextension. Similarly, when children overapply a word for a specific object to other similar objects, this is known as an overextension. For example, all animals become “doggies.”

Social and Cultural Influences in Language

Language is an important part of one’s social and cultural experience. We not only learn words and how to articulate them, we also learn how to make meaning of language in culturally specific ways. Humans are wired to learn language, yet there is variability in the way a language is used within a culture, how it is taught, and how it is learned (Fitneva & Matsui, 2015). Referring back to Bronfenbrenner’s systems theory, we can see that a child will develop language through the various interactions they have with their caregivers, extended family, and cultural groups. As children get older, the influence of peers and the school system increases (Kaderavek, 2011).

Social and cultural norms are powerful forces that impact the way that caregivers communicate with their young children. Cross-cultural studies show that caregivers from different cultures talk to their children in distinct ways. For example, in the United States and United Kingdom, parents make direct eye contact and talk to children face-to-face (Ochs & Schieffelin, 1984 as seen in Rowe & Weisleder, 2020). Caregivers from these cultural groups often use “baby talk” or child-directed speech, a type of speech characterized by slower delivery of words, higher tones, and pronounced facial expressions (Clark, 2009). Infants may be more attuned to the intonation of speech rather than the words themselves.

One study estimated that young American children raised in urban environments may hear up to three times more child-directed speech than rural American children, or children from other rural based countries (Cristia et al., 2019). Rural parents may attend to their child’s needs with physical touch or closeness, rather than directly talking to them (Fitneva & Matsui, 2015). In cultures where young children are not directly talked to often, children rely on overhearing as well as adult visual and facial cues to attend to the language around them. This demonstrates that young children can learn language, vocabulary, and communication rules by simply listening and paying attention rather than being talked to directly (Akhtar, 2005).

Language development is further impacted by region and specific language components. For example, children who learn in the English language tend to have first words that center around nouns, such as “ball” or “mama.” These children tend to follow the course of language development most present in American literature where first words appear by 12–18 months old (Fitneva & Matsui, 2015). Children who learn in Mandarin tend to focus more on verbs, perhaps because the relationships between objects or persons is emphasized (Imai et al., 2008). These children tend to produce more holistic language, rather than going through distinct stages of development (Fitneva & Matsui, 2015).

Licenses and Attributions for Early Language Development

“Early Language Development” by Christina Belli licensed under CC BY 4.0.

“Language Progression and Communication” by Christina Belli, adapted from Lifespan Development – A Psychological Perspective by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French, is licensed under CC BY 4.0; moderate edits and reorganization.

Figure 5.5. Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash.