Early language development

Human language development begins at about the same time for everyone and proceeds in a predictable and consistent manner and because of this it cannot be suppressed. That is, you can't stop language from developing in an infant given normal development and exposure. However, like all human behaviour there are individual differences:

• in language learning achievement (e.g., some babies reach speaking milestones earlier or later than others) and
• in the process of acquisition (e.g., some imitate more than others, some play with sounds more than others, some have greater speaking clarity than others, some are noisier and others are quieter).

• Crying is triggered by external stimuli;
• Mutual gaze behaviour is possible;
• By two weeks an infant can distinguish her caregivers' face and voice from others;
• An infant can respond to familiar faces and voices with a smile;
• Sounds are produced by an infant, not in isolation, but in sequence;
• By one month a child can discriminate individual speech sounds.

Between 1 and 4 months

• An infant can visually find the source of noise;
• The infant develops distinct cries (to call, to request, to signal discomfort), begins to laugh and to “coo”;
• The voice pre-imitation stage begins: Baby: goo-goo
  Mother: goo-goo
  Baby: goo-goo
  
• Similar behaviour can occur with gestures, mutual pointing at or grasping of objects.

Between 4 and 8 months

• The infant enters the imitation and babbling stage;
• Consonant-like sounds begin to emerge in his babbling (e.g., mamamama, gagagaga, kakakakaka);
• These sounds correspond to his ability to discriminate between different syllables and often represent pre-words once used consistently for the same object;
• By the time the infant is 6 months old he can recognise and imitate intonation patterns (i.e., the melody of the language – how you say what you say).

Between 8 and 12 months

• The child begins to learn that things have names. But initially she will understand more than she can produce;
• Gestures and babbling are used to communicate in intentional and very specific ways;
• Sounds and actions can be interpreted by family members who respond to the baby's requests;
• At this stage, the child is using language for the following functions:
  • Instrumental (to satisfy needs and wants);
  • Regulatory (to control the behaviour of other people);
  • Interactional (to establish and maintain interpersonal contact);
  • Personal (to express emotion, interest, or attitude).