Language Development in Infancy

Stages of Language Development in Infancy

When do we, as humans, begin to develop our language skills? Language begins before speaking!

As babies, we have what is referred to as receptive language. But what is receptive language?

Fig. 1 Babies love to babble.

Research has shown that babies gain elements of receptive language much faster than other elements

Around four months old, babies begin their language -- babbling. You know the sounds "da-da", "ma-ma", and "ba-ba" as a few examples of the language of babies. And these noises are just that -- language. Even though you may not be able to identify any actual words, these noises are still, in fact, communication and language in infancy.

Babbling Stage -- At this stage in speech development, usually four months old, an infant will randomly spurt out various sounds unrelated to the language spoken in the home. This stage will quickly change into a more developed language at around ten months of age.

Babbling that Resembles the Language in the Home -- An infant's babbles will begin to change at ten months old. How so? A trained ear of the household can identify the babbling.

One-word Stage -- Babbling morphs into a more progressive language at twelve months. Words "Kitty" or "Go" are words that, by the ear of those in the household, are considered a full sentence; "The kitty goes there!". At one year of age, the infant understands that sounds carry meanings with repeated association. Amazingly, infants use sounds that make no sense to outsiders from family members.

Two-Word Speech -- Twenty-four months of age means that there is more production of two-words sentences. These sentences, being so short, contain mostly nouns and verbs such as "want teddy". There is the inclusion of syntax rules that are included making the arrangement of words easily understood. This two-word speech is referred to as telegraphic speech.

Beyond Two Words -- At two years old, infants are heading into childhood, attending elementary school equipped with the ability to use longer phrases in their communication.

Language Development in Infants Psychology

The development of language for infants moves quickly and with complexity. Infants do not start with language -- obviously. But, as soon as four months old, a baby can understand different speech sounds. Even more amazingly, babies can read lips!

Does this mean that a baby can secretly read your lips as you speak across the room to your friends? No. But a baby can look at faces while trying to find the source of the sounds they hear. Research shows that a baby is more inclined to look at a mouth that makes sounds such as "ah" or "ee". This recognition of sounds marks the beginning development milestones of receptive language -- the ability to slowly understand what is said to them or about them (so don't be mean to your baby brother or sister).

At six months, before even being able to utter coherent words, infants can recognize object names. Even more surprisingly, at seven months, an infant can hear an unfamiliar language and segment spoken words into individual words (Myers, 2013) (when adults do it, the syllables become a jumbled mess in their minds). A seven-month-old infant can identify word breaks and analyze which syllables most often go together.

Language Development in Infancy Examples

There are several examples of language development in infancy. Each stage of communication and language in infancy has its own set of examples to know which stage the infant is in (Language Development: Speech Milestones for Babies, 2022).

As the child is ending three months --

• Recognizes a parent's voice

• Makes "cooing" noises

• May smile when spoken to

Ending six months --

• Babbles to communicate

• May focus on music if played

• Moves eyes in direction of sounds

• Gurgles when being played with

• Can respond to changes in tone of people's voice

The ending of twelve months --

• Can understand simple instructions

• Turning and looking where sound originates from

• Can say a few words such as "mama"

At the end of eighteen months --

• Able to identify names of familiar people, objects, and body parts

• Follow simple directions when used with gestures

• Can say about ten words

Twenty-four months and older --

• Can speak with simple phrases ("Want juice")

• Able to ask one-word or two-word questions ("See baby?")

• Can also follow simple commands and instructions

Importance of Language Development in Infancy

Like many skills and functions as humans, language development is immensely important. Communication and language support many aspects of an infant's life and development. Language allows infants to have the ability to solve problems, think and learn, express and understand feelings (both their own and others'), and also allows room to develop relationships.

If the stages of learning language are disrupted, it can cause language skill issues later as the infant or child has missed a critical opportunity to learn this skill.

There is a limit or cut-off period on how long the delay in learning a language can be! There are critical stages that must be completed or met so that learning certain aspects of language can occur.

Language Development in Infancy Key Facts

Culture can be an important factor in communication and language in infancy. What one culture considers to be an important aspect of learning (language for example) may not hold the same importance or severity as another.

Either way, language development is still crucial for many reasons. Here are some key facts about language development in infancy:

• Reading books or sharing stories can increase and be beneficial to language development.

• Developing language starts with gesturing and sounds more than simply using words and sentences.

• Talking with infants and responding when they try to communicate in return can benefit language development.

• Cognition, literacy, and social development rely on language development.