ABSTRACT
Children usually begin to acquire spoken language as they approach their first birthday but, as in all other forms of learning, much practice has to take place first! The babbling that a baby does is just that: learning what talking sounds like and practising making the noises that will form the words that they will need to communicate effectively. Their first recognisable word is often ‘Mama’ or a variation of what they call their mother. This may be because it is a straightforward sound to make, but possibly because it is the word they need to connect with the person who means most to them. The language that is used to talk to a baby is often called ‘motherese’, or, more accurately perhaps, ‘infantdirected speech’, and is designed to emphasis high and low notes that a baby can easily distinguish. It is also spoken at close range to the baby’s face and is accompanied by exaggerated facial expressions. This all emphasises the meaning of the words and helps the baby enormously as the baby can extract the meaning from body language and facial expressions long before spoken language is acquired. In fact, body language remains key in our communications with others even when we, as adults, are skilled linguistically.
