How Children Learn Language
Advanced (C1)
Science
British Accent
93s
A linguistics lecturer describes the stages children go through when learning their first language, from babbling to grammar mistakes that reveal how they learn.
Vocabulary Highlights
- innate /ɪˈneɪt/
- Present from birth rather than learned through experience.
- "Some scientists believe the ability to learn language is innate." — present from birth
- "She has an innate sense of rhythm." — a natural quality
- "Babies have an innate fear of falling." — not taught
Dialogue Transcript
Speaker 1:
Today we're turning to one of the most fascinating questions in linguistics: how do young children acquire their first language, seemingly without effort?
Speaker 1:
In the first few months, babies communicate mainly through crying, but they're already tuning in to the sounds around them.
Speaker 1:
By around six months, most begin babbling, repeating simple syllables over and over.
Speaker 1:
Remarkably, at this stage, infants can distinguish sounds from any language, an ability that fades by their first birthday.
Speaker 1:
Somewhere around twelve months, the first recognisable words appear, typically names for familiar people, food or toys.
Speaker 1:
This is followed by what's sometimes called the vocabulary spurt, when children may pick up several new words a day.
Speaker 1:
By the age of two, they start combining words into two-word phrases that leave out small grammatical words.
Speaker 1:
Then comes a particularly revealing stage, in which children make errors like saying goed instead of went.
Speaker 1:
Far from being a sign of confusion, these mistakes show that they've worked out a rule and are applying it, albeit too widely.
Speaker 1:
Researchers still disagree about how much of this ability is innate and how much depends on interaction with caregivers.
Speaker 1:
What nearly everyone accepts, however, is that talking and reading to children makes a measurable difference.
Ready to shadow this lesson?
Practice in Shadowee with interactive phrase-by-phrase audio playback, Echo mode, and Focus mode.
Start Practice Now