Oral Language Development

Oral Language
Development
Similar Routes in First and
Second Languages

First Language Development
Birth to Three months
Vocal Play (vowel-like, rising and falling volume + pitch, full
range of sounds gradually fade)
Distinguish verbal from non-verbal sounds
within a few days after birth babies are highly responsive to
speech sounds
preverbal infants can discriminate between /b/ and /p/
The brain is a pattern detector - keeps track of recurring
segments of speech and continually updates guesses about
language and its underlying rules within the context of the
speech act.

Three to Six Months
Vocal Play [consonant sounds: lips
(/m/b/p/); tongue (/t/g/l/)]

Six to Nine Months
Babbling [Repeated sound
combinations, consonant/vowel
combinations (mama,baba)]
Emergence of first true word (holding
meaning) around eight months.

Nine to Twelve Months
Receptive language much more
noticeable
Deaf children stop babbling and rarely
produce words

Twelve to Fifteen Months
Jargoning (babbling with tone and inflection
- sentence-like)
One-word stage
(use different intonation to signal different
meanings)
multi syllabic words become reduplicated
button, baby, butter - bubba
single syllable words become
consonant/vowel combination duck - du
Approx. 3 words*

Fifteen to Eighteen Months
Imitation with more recognizable
words - continued jargoning
Approx. 22-25 words*

Eighteen to Twenty-Four Months
Phrases (short and often
ungrammatical combinations, often
difficult to understand)
Beginning use of pronouns (but still
refers to self by name)
Begin to acquire regular patterns of
pronunciation (after approx. 50 words)
Approx. 272 words*
Two-word stage.

Twenty-Four to Thirty-Six Months
(2-3 yrs)
Sentences/Questions (2-3 word
sentences to 4-5 words)
Accurate discrimination of speech
sounds develops
Why, What, Where (for information,
understanding contexts for use and
conversational turn-taking)
Approx. 896 words

Thirty-Six to Forty-Eight Months (3-
4 yrs)
Paragraphs
Non-fluency possible in expressive
language (to approx. 5 yrs. of age)
Approx. 1870 words*

Forty-Eight to Sixty Months (4-5yrs)
Nearly full control of grammar
Continued growth in Metalinguistic
awareness, Literacy and
“Communicative Competence”
[grammatical; sociolinguistic: requests,
suggestions, complaints ; discourse:
narrative, argumentation ; strategic
competence] continues through life
span.

Sources
* Samples taken from children of average IQ. -
Source Diagnostic Methods in Speech
Pathology, p.192
Schwarts, S. & Heller Miller, J.E. (1988). The
language of toys.: Teaching communication
skills to special-needs children. Washington,
D.C.: Woodbine House
Durkin, D.B. (Ed.). (1995). Language issues:
Readings for teachers. New York: Longman.
de Villiers, P.A. & de Villiers, J.G. (1975).

* These are general descriptions because
of great range of variable such as varying
levels of L1, cognitive development and
individual differences.

B. Noel
L1
L2

Elaborations on Venn- L1:L2
Babbling
Occurs as a result of physical maturation instead of exposure to
speech. Similar across various languages. Social rewards affect
the frequency but do not influence the range of sounds produced.
Common patterns in babbling and early words.
- few consonant clusters (one of the last aspects of the English
phonology acquired; spoon - poon)
- frequent reduplicated syllables
- more initial consonants the final consonants
- initial consonants are voiced and final consonants unvoiced
Physical maturation of speech organs determine sound
preferences and influence the types of errors and substitutions in
early words.

One-Word Stage
Function precedes form. Objects are named at varying levels of
generality. Over-extensions - use one word to refer to objects that
normally fall outside the range of application. (Doggy - cows,
horses, sheep, cats). Temporary until new words are learned.
Connects the meaning of the word with only one property - most
commonly shape, size, sound, texture. Under extensions animal
only means mammal. Children usually learn words at an
intermediate level of generality plants - flower - roses. Will learn
flower before plants or roses. Often because of naming practices of
care givers who adjust their speech. Referential - Expressive
continuum influenced by mother’s verbal style (de Villiers p. 39).
Single words first accompanied by gestures, pointing, grasping
object. Then intonation is added to signal different meanings.

Two-word stage
Word combinations to express actions
(Me Fall), possession (My Teddy),
Location (Mommy outside), etc.
Prefabricated routines. Formulaic Speech.
(Howdoyoudo) Sentences reproduced
without being composed often in a vertical
format.

Grammatical morphemes
overgeneralize rule (holded), first to
denote activities that show completion
(dropped, closed)

Question Formation
First signaled by rising intonation. (I have some?) Occasionally
auxiliary gets placed in mid sentence (We can go home?) Instead
of at the beginning. Negative question formations and constructions
are rare in children’s language because they are very complex.
Wh- tagged at end for more emphasis until it gets incorporated into
the sentence.
Can answer what, who, and where questions earlier because their
own sentences can handle the responses for agents, objects, and
locations. Why questions take longer because they still need to
understand the concepts of manner, causation, purpose, or time.
They often give wrong answers to wh-questions because they don’t
understand their underlying ideas. They ask why questions to
understand the conditions for their use. Adults ask questions for
many other reasons than just to gain information. (Would you
mind...? how many times do I have to tell you ...?) Direct and
indirect speech. Rhetorical questioning (what color is this?).

Caveat
First and second language learners [are]...
different in what they bring to the learning
situation but similar in their capacity to acquire
language and similar in what they end up with
through the acquisition process provided that
there is equal amount of time and the learning
contexts are similar (Hakuta, 1986, p. 132).