Session 3: The birth of language

Introduction

The previous session of this course concentrated on the social foundations of language acquisition. With infants now able to imitate and engage others, they become much more active in their communications. In this session you will follow their linguistic development from the advent of babbling to their first words; explore the neural coordination and articulatory gymnastics required to shape vowels and consonants in the mouth; and llearn about sign language development and the role that Child Directed Speech plays in shaping the language of children.

By the end of this session, you should be able to:

• describe vocalisations, babbling and sign language development
• understand the biological pathways of speech production
• explain the characteristics of Child Directed Speech
• consider children’s first words and multi-word utterances.