Learning to Talk: The Process of Spoken Acquisition

Acquisition of spoken language is a natural, albeit complex, process that involves gradual learning and mastering of lexical, phonetic, syntactic, and semantic structures.
Children typically start with babbling stage and progress to producing single words, then two-word utterances, and later, complex sentences.
According to several studies, the first sound that infants learn to produce is typically /p/, followed by /b/ and /m/.
From birth to about 6 months, infants engage in a phase of exploration where they experiment with a multitude of sounds, many of which do not exist in their native language.
By around 12 months, a stage known as ‘phonetic contraction’ occurs, in which the infant stops producing sounds not in their native language and begins to narrow down to the phonetic range of it.
Some researches disagree on the exact process of spoken acquisition. Chomsky argued that children have an innate ability to learn language, referred to as the ‘Language Acquisition Device’, whilst social interactionists emphasise the role of environment and interaction.
The meanings children attach to words tend to develop in a predictable sequence. From 12 to 18 months, children often learn nouns for tangible objects. As they approach their second birthday, they begin to understand verbs, adjectives and prepositions.
Syntax acquisition also follows a predictable pattern. Children start with ‘pivot’ words and open class words, combining these two to create ‘pivot’ schemas. In time, these ‘pivot’ schemas transform into sentences.
Brown’s Stages of Language Development is a useful reference point when studying this topic. The five stages demonstrate the manner in which children gradually increase sentence length, use different sentence structures, and improve grammatical accuracy.
Children also learn the pragmatics of language, gaining skills in conversation, narrative skills, politeness and appropriacy.
Finally, input and correction affect language development but not in a straightforward way. Parents typically do not correct their children’s grammatical mistakes but do correct mispronunciations or factual errors. This is indicative of the ‘Naturalistic Approach’ to learning, where comprehension is more important than correction.
Errors in children’s early speech often show that they are actively working on the rules of language, sometimes overgeneralising these rules, which are known as overextension and underextension.
Lastly, remember that exact ages for each developmental milestone can vary greatly among individuals, and there is often overlap between the stages. Language acquisition is influenced by a host of factors, including the child’s individual temperament, their environmental influences, and the specific language or languages they are learning.