---
title: "Child Language: How Speech Develops"
description: "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."
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/child-language-how-speech-develops-mt_GC3OSei4tC
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/child-language-how-speech-develops-mt_GC3OSei4tC.md
retrieved: 2026-09-12
---

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# 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.

Subject: English · Area: Speaking & Listening · Ages 17 to 18
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/child-language-how-speech-develops-mt_GC3OSei4tC

## Ready when they can

- 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

## Lesson: How children build speech

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.

*(drawing: Speech grows left to right: sounds first, then words, then grammar.)*

**Example.** 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.

**Tip.** 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.

**Recap.** Order samples by their features, read errors as learned rules, and weigh theories against evidence.

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Standard English Verbs](https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/standard-english-verbs-mt_ay0qkGj0jg)
- [Attitudes to Language Change](https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/attitudes-to-language-change-mt_IJ9Tv9T3Ua)

## Opens up

- [Discourse Analysis: How Conversation Is Organised](https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/discourse-analysis-how-conversation-is-organised-mt_MKUDTyGxXP)