How Newborns Learn Language and at What Pace

How quickly babies learn and how they learn is an astonishing process if you take the time to think about it. In my reading of the book "Lifespan Development" by Denise Boyd and Helen Bee, and my own knowledge from other subject areas I would have to side with the Interactionist View of how language is learned and developed in babies. It is theorized that babies are born with an L.A.D or language acquisition device that contains the basic structure of all human language (In my opinion this could be evidence or proof that genetic memory exists). The baby utilizes this acquisition device in their brain to start grasping language from birth. This L.A.D causes them to always divert attention toward the sounds of language, basically selecting, organizing and trying to interpret linguistic information and giving it a higher priority than any other sensory information. Research has shown that IDS or infant directed speech is preferred by newborns and the repeating of words and restructuring of words especially by the mother. The baby will learn the words quicker and easier this way. IDS seems to explain why children with parents who are educated have better communication and language skills than those children who had parents with little education. The following is a timeline of how language progresses in newborns.

First 6 months

At around this age the baby has learned very few words, on average around 30 words. Even though they have learned these words they have not grasped or made the connection that words are symbolic. For instance Doggie to them only refers to the family dog they see everyday not all dogs in general.

First words
Can be even a form of a word like ba for bottle and according to linguists it does not even have to be a word in English. And these first words are used in specific situations with high prompting.

9-10 months
They understand more words than they can actually speak. This is a good reason why you should watch what you say in front of children especially babies.

12-13 months

At this stage of their development can produce, understand, and respond to meaningful words

16-24 months

At this stage develop mentalists refer to it as a Naming Explosion. Words are learned rapidly with very little repeating necessary,50 words for 16 month olds and 320 for 24 months. Words are learned in spurts over this time and are usually made up only of names of people or things like doggie or ball or he.

First sentences 18-24 months

After building up their vocabulary between 100 and 200 words of one language the baby will speak short simple sentences made up of two or three words. These sentences true meaning can only be derived by the context in which they are stated by the baby.

Three ways I see of enriching this development are for the Mother to:

1. Speak in IDS as much as possible and avoid baby talk/babble.
2. Expose the child to many objects and ideas and read to them to expose them to as many words as possible and in context.
3. Minimize slang and improper grammar or speaking in front of within ear shot of the child.

A lot of people think that babies should learn another language at a young age since they learn it so easily and quickly. A lot of people even think the sooner the better. I used to always agree with them until I read this chapter. I do think they should learn a second language but only after they have reached the first sentence stage. I believe if you start to early the child may learn 100 words but they will be mixed between the languages and the child will have trouble distinguishing them as different. This will cause them to take longer to speak properly as they will have to learn 100 words from each language. Also research has shown infants that have learned two languages that are very different in structure never truly become fluent in either language, or they may become fluent in the second language and not the accepted language of their birth nation. I do think that sign language should be introduced as soon as possible as research has shown that this has helped babies to better grasp communication principles. Studies on teens and adults that were taught sign language before they were able to speak show that they have higher test scores and have better temperaments than those who did not. Sign language in my opinion could probably help to understand or make the connection in their head early on or earlier, that words are symbolic.