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Infants start without knowing a language, yet by 10 months, babies can distinguish speech sounds and engage in babbling. Some research has shown that the earliest learning begins in utero when the fetus starts to recognize the sounds and speech patterns of its mother's voice and differentiate them from other sounds after birth. [1]
Around 11 months, babies imitate inflections, rhythms, and expressions of speakers. [14] By 12 months, babies typically can speak one or more words. These words now refer to the entity which they name; they are used to gain attention or for a specific purpose. [14]
An early record of a study of this kind can be found in Herodotus's Histories.According to Herodotus (c. 485–425 BC), the Egyptian pharaoh Psamtik I (664–610 BC) carried out such a study, and concluded the Phrygians must antedate the Egyptians since the child had first spoken something similar to the Phrygian word bekos, meaning "bread". [2]
The learning mechanisms involved in language acquisition are not specific to oral languages. The developmental stages in learning a sign language and an oral language are generally the same. Deaf babies who are exposed to sign language from birth will start babbling with their hands from 10 to 14 months.
Starting around 6 months babies also show an influence of the ambient language in their babbling, i.e., babies’ babbling sounds different depending on which languages they hear. For example, French learning 9-10 month-olds have been found to produce a bigger proportion of prevoiced stops (which exist in French but not English) in their ...
Learning a new word, that is, learning to speak this word and speak it on the appropriate occasions, depends upon many factors. First, the learner needs to be able to hear what they are attempting to pronounce. Also required is the capacity to engage in speech repetition.