Children Development
Although how children learn to speak is not perfectly understood, most
explanations involve both the observation that children copy what they hear and
the inference that human beings have a natural aptitude for understanding
grammar. Children usually learn the sounds and vocabulary of their native
language through imitation, and grammar is seldom taught to them; that they
rapidly acquire the ability to speak grammatically. This supports the theory of
Noam Chomsky (1959). That children are able to learn the grammar of a particular
language because all intelligible languages are founded on a deep structure of
universal grammatical rules that corresponds to an innate capacity of the human
brain. Adults learning a second language pass through some of the same stages,
as do children learning their native language. In the first part of this paper I
will describe the process of language acquisition. The second part will review
how infants respond to speech.
Language Acquisition Language is multifaceted. It contains both verbal and non-verbal aspects that children seem to acquire
quickly. Before birth virtually all the neurons (nerve cells) are formed, and
they migrate into their proper locations in the brain in the infant. When a baby
is born, it can see and hear and smell and respond to touch, but only dimly. The
brain stem, a primitive region that controls vital functions like heartbeat and
breathing, has completed its wiring. Elsewhere the connections between neurons
are wispy and weak. But over the first few months of life, the brain's higher
centers explode with new synapses. This helps an infant to be biologically
prepared to face the stages of language acquisition.
According to the book Child Development: A Thematic Approach, 3rd Edition (D. Bukatko & M.W.Daehler, 1996, p. 252) there are four main components to language acquisition. These components are phonology, semantics, syntax and pragmatics. Phonology is the study of how speech sounds...
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