5.5: Language Development

Language Development

Do newborns communicate? Absolutely! Newborns are naturally wired to seek human connection and communicate their needs, however, their communication is non-verbal. Babies communicate their thoughts and needs using their bodies, voices and facial expressions --- crying, cooing, and squealing, eye contact, smiling, and grimacing, and gestures or body movements like leg movements reflecting excitement or distress, and later on, pointing gestures.

Each baby has their unique nonverbal language. Notice and distinguish which cries indicate pain, hunger, pain, discomfort, or frustration, and learn to translate their different vocalizations, movements, gestures and facial expressions.Because the nature of the love and care they receive during these early stages greatly influence their future development, it's important caregivers are able to "tune in," be attuned to the nonverbal cues and signals babies provide.

Infant Communication - Nonverbal Cues

Fig. 5.5. Meanings/needs related to a baby's nonverbal cues.

Baby's Need	Baby's Nonverbal Cues
Hunger	strong sucking concentrated expression upset when feeding stops
Fullness	closes lips pulls or pushes away fussy loss of concentration discomfort
Tired	irritable crying or change in cry red eyes yawning lack of focus clenched fists rubbing face
Playful	bright eyes reaching for toys or faces excited expression waving arms and legs seeking stimulation
Boredom	closed eyes crying fussiness seeking attention wanting to be held yawning
Comfort	crying agitation seeking eye contact looking for closeness (security)

Stages of Language Development

Intentional Vocalizations

• Infants begin to vocalize and repeat vocalizations, such as cooing, within the first couple of months. Cooing is a gurgling, musical vocalization that can serve as a source of entertainment to an infant who has been laid down for a nap or seated in a carrier on a car ride.

• Cooing serves as practice for vocalization. The infant hears his or her own voice and tries to repeat sounds that are entertaining. Infants also begin to learn the pace and pause of conversation as they alternate their vocalizations back and forth with someone else. Cooing initially involves making vowel sounds like “oooo”. Later, consonants are added to vocalizations such as “nananananana”.

Babbling and Gesturing

At 4-6 months of age, infants begin making even more elaborate vocalizations with the ability to repeat whatever sounds are characteristic of the language heard. As the infant grows more accustomed to a language, these sounds will no longer be used.

• guttural sounds
• clicks
• consonants
• vowel sounds
• stand ready to equip the child

Deaf babies 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 one’s ability to communicate by making use of the ease of gesturing. The rhythm and pattern of language is used when deaf babies sign just as it is when hearing babies babble.

Understanding

At around 10 months of age, an infant can understand far more than they can say. This is similar to trying to learn a second language when t's easier to be able to follow a conversation that to contribute to it. This can also be called receptive language – language you understand when receiving (taking in).

Holophrastic Speech

Children begin using their first words at about 12-13 months of age and may use partial words to convey thoughts at even younger ages. These one-word expressions are 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 and when this is someone who has spent time with the child, interpretation is not too difficult. They know that “ju” means “juice” which means the baby wants some milk! But someone who has not been around the child will have trouble knowing what is meant. Imagine the parent who to a friend exclaims, “Ezra’s talking all the time now!” The friend hears only “ju da ga” which, the parent explains, means “I want some milk when I go with Daddy.” This is expressive language, language you make (express).

First Words and Cultural Influences

If a baby lives in an English-speaking environment, their first words tend to be nouns, and labels objects such as cup or ball. If a baby lives in a Chinese-speaking environment, which is a verb-friendly language, they will learn more verbs.

• different emphasis based on culture.
  • Chinese children may be taught to notice action and relationship between objects
  • American children may be taught to name an object and its qualities (color, texture, size, etc.).

Vocabulary Growth Spurt

Year-old babies typically have a vocabulary of about 50 words. By the time they become toddlers, they have a vocabulary of about 200 words and begin putting those words together in telegraphic speech (like an old school telegraph) or the more up to date "text message speech" that typically only includes the minimal amount of words to convey the message. For example, a child might say "Go car" instead of "Let's go ride in the car."

An 18-month-old toddler can typically combine words and express themselves further by using expressions 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. Unnecessary words are not used.

• “Give baby ball” is used rather than “Give the baby the ball.”

Language Milestones

In the first 3 years of life, children go from communicating by crying to being able to express themselves with words. Below is a table of common language milestones for infants and toddlers.

Fig. 5.5.1. Expected language milestones.

Typical Age	Language Milestone
2 months	coos, makes gurgling sounds turns head toward sounds
4 months	begins to babble babbles with expression and copies sounds he hears cries in different ways to show hunger, pain, or being tired
6 months	responds to sounds by making sounds strings vowels together when babbling (“ah,” “eh,” “oh”) and likes taking turns with parent while making sounds responds to own name makes sounds to show joy and displeasure begins to say consonant sounds (jabbering with “m,” “b”)
9 months	understands “no” makes a lot of different sounds like “mamamama” and “bababababa” copies sounds and gestures of others uses fingers to point at things
1 year	responds to simple spoken requests uses simple gestures, like shaking head “no” or waving “bye-bye” makes sounds with changes in tone (sounds more like speech) says “mama” and “dada” and exclamations like “uh-oh!” tries to say words you say
18 months	says several single words says and shakes head now points to show others what is wanted
2 years	points to show others what they want points to things or pictures when they are named knows names of familiar people and body parts says sentences with 2 to 4 words follows simple instructions repeats words overheard in conversation points to things in a book
3 years	says his or her name and age speaks 250 - 500 words answer simple questions speaks in sentences of five to six words, and speaks in complete sentences by age 4 speak clearly, although he may not be fully comprehensible until age 4 tells stories

Child-Directed Speech

Why is a horse a “horsie”? Have you ever wondered why adults tend to use “baby talk” or that sing-song type of intonation and exaggeration used when talking to children? This represents a universal tendency and is known as child-directed speech. It involves exaggerating the vowel and consonant sounds, using a high- pitched voice, and delivering the phrase with great facial expression.

Why is this done?

Child-directed speech plays a crucial role in the early stages of language development by making language more accessible and engaging for infants. The exaggerated intonation, slower tempo, and simplified vocabulary, helps the baby hear the sounds and captures their attention and facilitates language acquisition.

Research shows:

• infants are more able to respond to and engage with child-directed speech than they are with adult-directed speech
• child-directed speeech helps infants differentiate between sounds and develop phonetic recognition as they build toward future language development

Sources

• Leon, Ana R. Children’s Development. Licensed under CC BY 4.0
• Understanding Baby's Nonverbal Cues and Signals. Kabrita.com.