When a child is first born it is capable of very little in
the way of speech. So how is it that by the age of 18 months a child has a
vocabulary of roughly 50 words?
The path to language acquisition starts relatively early
with children beginning to babble and make up their own forms of language
between the ages of five and seven months. Even before they are ‘talking’ they
can often recognise their mother’s voice and research has shown that babies cry
in the some tone as the language of their mother tongue.
Interestingly, babies who are brought up by deaf parents who
sign develop signing at the same rate as their babbling. Even before babies
have language in the form of speaking they are pointing and using hand gestures
to be understood. Children begin to use their hands as expressive language even
before they babble as it is easier for them to control their hands than the
muscles needed for speech. This form of expressive language can be understood
by most, even in adult language (travelling in foreign country and needing
directions).
Many people argue that the earlier a child starts to speak,
the more intelligent they are. This is untrue. Every child develops at a
different rate in every area of their life. Reports say that Albert Einstein
didn’t begin to speak until the age of three or four. Yet even with later
speech development he is one of the world’s greatest genius’.
In the opinion of many linguists there are many reasons as
to why children develop language at such a rapid rate. One of these reasons is
that as a child is learning a language, it is also discovering the world;
everything is new to them. Many believe that this blank slate makes language acquisition
infinitely easier than learning a language later in life. As well as this,
children are never without the opportunity to develop their language.
Child language will always be a research topic, and realistically
all of the answers desired will never be known.
Bibliography:
Love the Lingo
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