Language development

Humans are predisposed to language and its properties since they are in the womb (DeCasper & Spence, 1986; Mehler et al., 1978). At birth, they are recognized as “universal listeners” as they are able to discriminate phonemes present in all languages ​​(Eimas et al., 1971) but also languages ​​based on their rhythmic and prosodic properties (Mehler et al., 1988; Nazzi et al., 1998). During the first year of life, through the mechanisms of “perceptual narrowing”, the child’s perceptual system becomes specialized on the properties of the mother tongue (i.e. the one to which they are predominantly exposed) while it reduces its initial capacity to learn other languages ​​and phonemes (Werker & Tees, 2002; Kuhl et al., 2005).

Understanding these and other early learning mechanisms is crucial not only for understanding language development itself but also for other aspects of cognitive development (Tsao et al., 2004) and social-relational development (Gómez & Strasser, 2021). Furthermore, some research shows that early language skills significantly predict later capacities at school age (Bleses et al., 2016; Bornstein et al., 2014).

References:
  • Bleses, D., Makransky, G., Dale, P., Højen, A., & Ari, B. (2016). Early productive vocabulary predicts academic achievement 10 years later. Applied Psycholinguistics, 37(6), 1461-1476. doi:10.1017/S0142716416000060
  • Bornstein, M. H., Hahn, C. S., Putnick, D. L., & Suwalsky, J. T. (2014). Stability of core language skill from early childhood to adolescence: A latent variable approach. Child Development, 85, 1346–1356.
  • DeCasper, A.J., & Spence, M.J. (1986). Prenatal maternal speech influences newborns’ perception of speech sound. Infant Behavior and Development, 9(2), 133-150. https://doi.org/10.1016/0163-6383(86)90025-1
  • Eimas, P. D., Siqueland, E. R., Jusczyk, P., & Vigorito, J. (1971). Speech perception in infants. Science, 171(3968), 303–306. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.171.3968.303
  • Gómez, E., & Strasser, K. (2021). Language and socioemotional development in early childhood: The role of conversational turns. Developmental Science, 24(5), e13109–n/a. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13109
  • Kuhl, P. K., Conboy, B. T., Padden, D., Nelson, T., & Pruitt, J. (2005). Early speech perception and later language development: Implications for the “critical period.” Language Learning and Development, 1(3-4), 237–264. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15473341lld0103&4_2
  • Mehler, J., Bertoncini, J., Barrière, M., & Jassik-Gerschenfeld, D. (1978). Infant recognition of mother’s voice. Perception, 7(5), 491–497. https://doi.org/10.1068/p070491
  • Mehler, J., Jusczyk, P. W., Lambertz, G., Halsted, N., Bertoncini, J., & Amiel- Tison, C. (1988). A precursor of language acquisition in young infants. Cognition, 29, 143-178.
  • Nazzi, T., Bertoncini, J., & Mehler, J.(1998). Language discrimination by newborns: toward an understanding of the role of rhythm. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform, 24(3):756-66. doi: 10.1037//0096-1523.24.3.756. PMID: 9627414.
  • Tsao, F. M., Liu, H. M., & Kuhl, P. K. (2004). Speech perception in infancy predicts language development in the second year of life: a longitudinal study. Child Development, 75, 1067–1084.
  • Werker, J.F., & Tees, R. C. (2002). Cross-language speech perception: Evidence for perceptual reorganization during the first year of life. Infant Behavior & Development, 25(1), 121–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-6383(02)00093-0


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