There are four main stages in language.
They are the:
- Babbling.
- Holophrastic or one-word stage.
- Two-word stage.
- Telegraphic stage.
Babbling Stage.
Babbling is the first stage of language acquisition occurs between birth and approximately 11 months of age. This is when children start to recognize and produce sounds. The sounds children produce in the babbling stage are universal. Children quickly learn which sounds attract the attention of their parents and which sounds are positively reinforced and encouraged, which supports the behaviorism approach towards language, as children here are simply learning and imitating what their parents want them to learn and reward them for this. Children in the babbling stage lack all features of language except for phonology, where they can form and recognize sounds/speech but could not use any of this information to form sentences or to define words/understand what words mean.
One-word (Holophrastic) Stage.
One word stage The one word or holophrastic stage occurs between approximately 11 months of age and 1.5 years of age. By this point in time, children can produce a small number of isolated, single words and many sounds. This is now more language specific rather than universal babbling. By this point in time, children know which sounds and words get the attention of their parents (e.g. mama, dada, etc) and are again, positively reinforced. Children will over-generalize to maximize the effectiveness of their communication, and might call all four-legged animals a dog for example.
This early stage of the one word stage is definitely behaviorism Later though, when the child moves into the more holophrastic part of this stage, it becomes more interactionism as the child starts using one word with the most information/meaning to replace whole phrases or even sentences. They learn to associate one word with multiple meanings, which generally isn't taught to them and it's just something they pick up from interacting with adults around them. An example of this holophrastic use is 'milk'. By only using the word milk, the child could mean multiple things such as 'I want milk', 'I spilled my milk', 'Where is the milk?', etc.
By this point, a child can use and understand many features of language. They understand phonology and can distinguish between the different sounds they hear. Children here are developing a wider lexicon, and are well on their way in understanding morphology and the different rules words have. While they may be in the holophrastic stage, they are developing their syntax and semantic skills
This early stage of the one word stage is definitely behaviorism Later though, when the child moves into the more holophrastic part of this stage, it becomes more interactionism as the child starts using one word with the most information/meaning to replace whole phrases or even sentences. They learn to associate one word with multiple meanings, which generally isn't taught to them and it's just something they pick up from interacting with adults around them. An example of this holophrastic use is 'milk'. By only using the word milk, the child could mean multiple things such as 'I want milk', 'I spilled my milk', 'Where is the milk?', etc.
By this point, a child can use and understand many features of language. They understand phonology and can distinguish between the different sounds they hear. Children here are developing a wider lexicon, and are well on their way in understanding morphology and the different rules words have. While they may be in the holophrastic stage, they are developing their syntax and semantic skills
Two-word Stage.
After a few months of producing one-word utterances, a child will begin to use two word utterances and continue to do so until they are around the age of 2.5 years old. These two-word utterances are usually in the form of noun-noun or noun-verb. Much of this is almost identical to one-word utterances, and so for awhile there may be a large overlap in the way they use one-word utterances and two-word utterances. An example of a two-word utterance (noun-verb) might be 'doggie bark', meaning the dog is barking. This stage only contains content words (no function words or morphemes yet). A child's lexicon usually develops to around 50 words and then takes a dramatic leap forward and is sometimes commonly called the 'word spurt' or the 'naming explosion'.
This is definitely interactionism, and somewhat nativism in the way that they definitely aren't taught how to structure their phrases, but know how to thanks to what is known as the LAD (Language Acquisition Device), which is located in the brain. The LAD is a language mechanism or process that is supposed to have the function of being able to learn and process symbolic nature easily.
The features of language are also very similar, the only change here though is that a child has a better understanding of syntax and semantics. Children here still highly abbreviate words and still lack many of the smaller grammatical words and endings of English such as 'the, of, -s' etc. as well as '-s possessive'. They are beginning to develop an understanding of the different rules some words possess, how to use these words, etc. They're developing an understanding of how to categorize words they hear from adults. Children at this stage don't necessarily need to be taught something, but instead can develop their own sense of meaning when it comes to words that they may have never heard before. If a child is offered something like lemonade, they may not know what lemonade is, but from the question they will understand that lemonade is a food, and then associate the taste of lemonade with that word. The word ordering a child uses at this stage is the same as an adults grammar.
This is definitely interactionism, and somewhat nativism in the way that they definitely aren't taught how to structure their phrases, but know how to thanks to what is known as the LAD (Language Acquisition Device), which is located in the brain. The LAD is a language mechanism or process that is supposed to have the function of being able to learn and process symbolic nature easily.
The features of language are also very similar, the only change here though is that a child has a better understanding of syntax and semantics. Children here still highly abbreviate words and still lack many of the smaller grammatical words and endings of English such as 'the, of, -s' etc. as well as '-s possessive'. They are beginning to develop an understanding of the different rules some words possess, how to use these words, etc. They're developing an understanding of how to categorize words they hear from adults. Children at this stage don't necessarily need to be taught something, but instead can develop their own sense of meaning when it comes to words that they may have never heard before. If a child is offered something like lemonade, they may not know what lemonade is, but from the question they will understand that lemonade is a food, and then associate the taste of lemonade with that word. The word ordering a child uses at this stage is the same as an adults grammar.
Telegraphic Stage.
The telegraphic stage is the last stage of language before a child can speak fluently and begins roughly around 2.5 years of age and onward indefinitely until a child has fluent language skills. As Stilwell Pecci (1999:29) points out, "There is no three-word stage as such. What follows is a period of two to three years of astonishing progress on a variety of fronts." Children at this stage progress very quickly and develop language at a much faster rate now that they have grasped the very essentials of language.
During this stage, children seem to have a much better understanding of syntax and semantics. Over the course of this stage (more specifically after the age of two), children often expand their lexicon by as many as ten to twelve new words a day, most of which are new social interaction words such as yes, no, please, by, etc. to discover these new words, many children at this age ask a large amount of questions typically beginning with 'wh', such as 'who, where, what' etc. and in a sentence they may look like 'Where Mummy? What that? etc'. They tend to develop a fairly good understand of what each individual word means and how to use it in a sentence. During this stage, children do not appear to be making word order errors, but their sentences are shortened dramatically. They generally follow the order of the subject, verb and object, such as 'doggie bark me' might mean 'the dog barked at me'. The first inflection children learn is usually 'ing', followed by an understanding of plurals and how plurals are formed as well as starting to develop exceptions. Simple prepositions (i.e. in, on, etc) are generally learnt after this.
Children may have a lot of trouble in terms of phonology. They know the difference between sounds and can distinguish between even the hardest sounds with ease, but they may not be able to physically pronounce them yet. This is known as the 'Fis Phenomenon' (see the link below). Children in the telegraphic stage are still lacking function words and morphemes and do not quite know how to use these in sentences, but when heard, they can understand them and how they give a sentence meaning.
During this stage, children seem to have a much better understanding of syntax and semantics. Over the course of this stage (more specifically after the age of two), children often expand their lexicon by as many as ten to twelve new words a day, most of which are new social interaction words such as yes, no, please, by, etc. to discover these new words, many children at this age ask a large amount of questions typically beginning with 'wh', such as 'who, where, what' etc. and in a sentence they may look like 'Where Mummy? What that? etc'. They tend to develop a fairly good understand of what each individual word means and how to use it in a sentence. During this stage, children do not appear to be making word order errors, but their sentences are shortened dramatically. They generally follow the order of the subject, verb and object, such as 'doggie bark me' might mean 'the dog barked at me'. The first inflection children learn is usually 'ing', followed by an understanding of plurals and how plurals are formed as well as starting to develop exceptions. Simple prepositions (i.e. in, on, etc) are generally learnt after this.
Children may have a lot of trouble in terms of phonology. They know the difference between sounds and can distinguish between even the hardest sounds with ease, but they may not be able to physically pronounce them yet. This is known as the 'Fis Phenomenon' (see the link below). Children in the telegraphic stage are still lacking function words and morphemes and do not quite know how to use these in sentences, but when heard, they can understand them and how they give a sentence meaning.