Language is one of the most common ways humans interact with one another. We say “hello”, “thank you”, and “please” every single day. As a growing child, when does language begin to form? Infants begin to communicate by crying for attention and making eye-contact and looking away. This is the beginning of the language process; interacting with other people.
Babies are listen to human speech constantly and mimic the sounds of words. This is the first stage of the language development process. Babies around 2 months old make sounds with vowels like “oo” and “aa” otherwise known as cooing. Later, they begin to add consonants and make combinations of vowels and consonants like “bababa” and “nanana”. This is called babbling. To be able to move further into their language process from babbling to actual words, they must hear human speech constantly. By 4 to 6 months, they begin to imitate sounds and pitches.
First words are usually said by the age of one. After the first word, soon will come 10 words, then 50 words and so on. Their vocabulary will grow overtime by hearing words corresponded with objects and people. Hearing a word paired with an object will help babies understand what word means what. After hearing the word corresponded with an object or person, they will begin to understand that the word means that object. It is important to point things out and say what they are.
Here are a few ways you can be involved in your child’s language development:
References
Bates, E., Dale, P. S., & Thal, D. (1995). Individual differences and their implications for theories of language development. The handbook of child language, 30, 96-151.
Vihman, M.M. (1996). Phonological Development: The Origins of Language in the Child.
Zimmerman, F. J., Gilkerson, J., Richards, J. A., Christakis, D. A., Xu, D., Gray, S., & Yapanel, U. (2009). Teaching by listening: The importance of adult-child conversations to language development. Pediatrics, 124(1), 342-349.