So how does language acquisition work in the first place?
First language acquisition is remarkable for the speed at which it takes place. All normal children, regardless of culture Develop language at roughly the same time, along much the same schedule. However there are some general ‘basic requirements’ such as the first two or three years are vital and require the interaction between the child and other language users to help with the development of ‘language- faculty’.
Linguist states that the crucial period of language acquisition ends around the age of 12 years. He claims that if no language is learned before then, it can never be learned in a normal and fully functional sense. This is known as the "Critical Period Hypothesis".
An interesting example of this is the case of , otherwise known as "The Wild Child". A thirteen-year-old victim of lifelong child abuse, Genie was discovered in her home on November 4th, 1970, strapped to a potty chair and wearing diapers. She appeared to be entirely without language. Her father had judged her retarded at birth and had chosen to isolate her, and so she had remained up until her discovery. It was an ideal opportunity to test the theory that a nurturing environment could somehow make up for a total lack of language past the age of 12. Sadly, she was unable to acquire language completely. Due to this and other complications, she eventually ended up in an adult foster care home.
Once the child has began its basics of language acquisition it then requires a sufficient and constant input from other more advanced language users (Adults) in order to grasp and work out the regularities of that language.
There are also Pre—language stages. These pre-linguistic sounds which are made in the early stages in the Childs language acquisition are simply called ‘cooing’ and ‘babbling’. By roughly 4 to 6 months of age babies start to make many more sounds. Before speaking words, babies go through a period of babbling, in which they are practicing the sounds, intonations and rhythms of language. They learn to replicate sounds they hear and how moving their tongue and lips change the sounds they are making. They learn to adjust their voice, to yell and whisper. They start to babble in reaction to stimuli, and eventually use it to manipulate others by expressing needs and wants. By 9-12 months the child's babbling becomes more harmonious. starts to sound more like adult patterns. At first the sounds will be mainly drawn out vowel sounds. Soon after they will add consonant sounds and repetitive sounds, like "da" and then "dada." They may combine these first sounds with gestures. A squeal and point may be the child's way of telling you he wants something over in that general direction.
By 10 to 12 months babies become desensitized to sound differences in other languages that don't exist in the language (or languages) they are exposed to. This is also the stage in which children learn to recognize words and even begin to understand their meaning. This is quite an achievement considering how most people speak. Adults don't generally pronounce each word, pause between them, and point to an object that explains the word meaning. Through normal adult conversation children must learn to pick out sound patterns that are repeated and attach meaning to them. Baby talk is a natural, instinctive way that parents help this process along.
With a combination of , repetitive observation and instinctive ability, by the end of the first year babies may have a vocabulary of 50 or more words. You can ask a 10 month old where his blue car is and chances are he'll look around or point to it, maybe even crawl over to it. They are unable, at this point to say the words, however. It takes time and practice to open their mouths and produce a specific sound on purpose. They are storing these words and meanings and slowly learning to make sounds. Eventually they will put them together and learn to speak words.
A child's first words are produced around 14 to 20 months of age. This is a general guideline and not all children will speak when the scientists say they should. They begin with . These would include ‘mama’ or ‘dada’ or ‘book’ or ‘car.’ Of course they may not sound exactly like you would expect. "Book" may sound like "boo." It is common at this early stage to leave off consonants or consonant clusters from the beginning or end of a word. Sometimes a single word may represent an entire thought. ‘Boo’ may mean ‘read me a book.’ This is called a holophrase. If a baby wants a bottle and is just beginning to learn to use language to manipulate, he may point to his bottle, say (or scream) ‘ba’ or ‘baba,’ which obviously means, ‘give me my bottle, now!’ Of course this becomes problematic when a child yells ‘BA!’ and the parent do not know whether he wants a bottle or a ball or a book, or if he just feels like yelling.
So in conclusion, I believe that the opening statement ‘Hearing English and trying to speak it yourself are the only tools you have at your disposal when you are learning your native language.’ Is a true statement. This is because of all of the theories and known facts about child language acquisition all say basically that hearing and speaking English is all that a child will use in order to acquire that language.
