Child Language Development
What I’d like to talk to you about today is the topic of child language development_. I know that you all are trying to develop a second language, but for a moment, let’s think about a related topic: How children develop their first language. What do we know about how babies develop their language and communication ability? Well, we know babies are able to communicate _as soon as they are born__
--even before they learn to speak their first language. At first, they communicate by crying. This crying lets their parents know_ when they are hungry, or unhappy, or uncomfortable. However, they soon begin the process of acquiring their language. The first stage of language acquisition begins a few weeks after birth. At this stage, babies start to make cooing noises when they are happy. Then around four months of age they begin to babble. Babies all over the world begin to babble around the same age, and they all begin to make the same kinds of babbling noises. By the time they are ten months old_, however, the babbling of babies from different language backgrounds sound different. For example, the babbling of a baby in a Chinese speaking home sounds different from the babbling of a baby in an English speaking home. Babies begin a new stage of language development when they begin to speak their first words. At first, they invent their own words for things. For example, a baby in an English speaking home may say “bada” for the world “bottle” or “kiki” for “cat.” In the next few months, babies will acquire a lot of words. These words are usually the names of things that are in the baby’s environment, words for food or toys, for example. They will begin to use these words to communicate with others. For example, if a baby holds up an empty juice cup and ____ says “juice,” to his father, the baby seems to be saying, “I want more juice, Daddy” or “May I have more juice, Daddy?” This word “juice” is really a one-word sentence. The next stage of language acquisition
--even before they learn to speak their first language. At first, they communicate by crying. This crying lets their parents know_ when they are hungry, or unhappy, or uncomfortable. However, they soon begin the process of acquiring their language. The first stage of language acquisition begins a few weeks after birth. At this stage, babies start to make cooing noises when they are happy. Then around four months of age they begin to babble. Babies all over the world begin to babble around the same age, and they all begin to make the same kinds of babbling noises. By the time they are ten months old_, however, the babbling of babies from different language backgrounds sound different. For example, the babbling of a baby in a Chinese speaking home sounds different from the babbling of a baby in an English speaking home. Babies begin a new stage of language development when they begin to speak their first words. At first, they invent their own words for things. For example, a baby in an English speaking home may say “bada” for the world “bottle” or “kiki” for “cat.” In the next few months, babies will acquire a lot of words. These words are usually the names of things that are in the baby’s environment, words for food or toys, for example. They will begin to use these words to communicate with others. For example, if a baby holds up an empty juice cup and ____ says “juice,” to his father, the baby seems to be saying, “I want more juice, Daddy” or “May I have more juice, Daddy?” This word “juice” is really a one-word sentence. The next stage of language acquisition