Child Language: How Speech Develops
Follow how children get from single words to grammar: what they overgeneralise, what the people around them do, and what an error reveals about the rule a child has built.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Explain what a child's error shows about a rule they have worked out
- Put samples of child speech into a plausible order of development and justify it
- Weigh one account of how children learn language against a piece of evidence
1 · Read
Babies often pass through stages in a steady order, though pace varies. They coo, then babble strings like ba ba, then say first words, then join two words, then build longer sentences with small grammar words. Each stage builds the machinery the next one needs.
A two-year-old says goed instead of went. She has found the regular past rule, add ed, and stretched it to every verb. The error is good news because it proves the rule is learned. What remains is learning the exceptions, like went.
Theories disagree about where language comes from. One side stresses built in machinery, a second stresses copying and reward, and a third stresses social chat with carers. Weigh them with evidence, not loyalty: ask which account best predicts a finding, like the effect of carer speech or the steady babbling stages.
To justify an order, name the feature that places each sample. A two word utterance sits earlier than one with grammar words, and you must say why. Samples with words for plans and memories show a mind past the here and now.
Order samples by their features, read errors as learned rules, and weigh theories against evidence.
The rewritten readings were written for this dataset.
More to read
Recognising early speech stages
Infants generally coo before babbling, then begin using words and combining them. Earlier sound practice supports later speech development.
Arrange speech samples using their features and explain your choices. A two-word combination usually precedes a more developed utterance containing grammatical words, but stages can overlap.
What a speech error can reveal
Young children's sentences develop rapidly. Applying a regular past-tense ending to an irregular verb can show that a child has learned a pattern but not its exceptions.
Identify the rule suggested by the error, explain how the form supports your interpretation and describe what remains to learn.
Testing explanations of language learning
Accounts of language development give different weight to innate abilities, imitation and reinforcement, or interaction with other people.
Compare their predictions with findings. For example, consider babbling stages or the influence of caregiver speech, then explain which account best fits that evidence.
Connecting speech with developing thought
Children's language and thinking develop together. Hearing words can support concept learning, while new concepts can encourage more complex grammar.
Use this relationship cautiously when ordering samples. References to memories or plans may suggest thinking beyond immediate events, but one sample cannot establish a fixed developmental stage.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Optional connections
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.