in the last months of pregnancy than to a new poem.
They even show some recognition of their own moth-
er’s voice. Further, it is now known that even two-day-
old infants can distinguish between their own lan-
guage and a foreign language. Four-month-old
infants recognize their own names. Six-month-olds
understand the names ‘‘mommy’’ and ‘‘daddy’’ and
can accurately indicate which label goes with which
person. Research shows that eight-month-olds are so-
phisticated statisticians, finding patterns of syllables
in the speech that they hear. They quickly learn that
they had heard some patterns in the speech they
heard and not others. And nine-month-olds already
know that in English most words start with heavy
stress as in ‘‘KITCHen’’ and ‘‘STAple’’ and not with
weak stress as is found in such words as ‘‘enJOY’’ and
‘‘reGARD.’’
Advancements in science and new methodologies
have also shown that ten-month-olds are no slouches.
They comprehend about ten to twenty words, and by
sixteen months they understand around one hundred
words. By sixteen months these babies, who are one-
word speakers, are five- or six-word listeners. They
know that the sentence ‘‘Big Bird is tickling Cookie
Monster’’ means something different than the sen-
tence ‘‘Cookie Monster is tickling Big Bird.’’ Togeth-
er these new findings indicate that babies who are
only babbling and pointing are really working very
hard—on the inside—to master the many compo-
nents of language and to use them in an organized
way. Before they utter their first word, babies have
cracked the sound code, learned a lot about what
words refer to, and have started noting the patterns
of grammar. A complete account of language devel-
opment will have to include what babies know, not
just what they say.
Whether a person is French or American, lives in
a castle or a tent, and is deaf or hearing, the course
of language development appears to be the roughly
the same. To be sure, there is some individual varia-
tion. For example, some children use mostly object
names (e.g., ‘‘book,’’ ‘‘dog’’), while others collect and
use more social language, such as ‘‘please’’ and
‘‘thank you.’’ The overwhelming impression gained
from the study of language, however, is that despite
the minor variations, children assemble their lan-
guage orchestra in roughly the same way. This is even
true for children who are lucky enough to grow up in
a family in which more than one language is spoken.
These children will learn both languages with ease.
Young children are incredibly skilled at learning mul-
tiple languages at the same time.
Language Development When Things Go
Awry: Everyday Problems
Though problems in language acquisition are rel-
atively rare, there are a number of circumstances that
can contribute to atypical patterns of development in
which language might develop more slowly than is
typical. Perhaps the biggest challenge is knowing
when the problems are real enough to merit expert
attention. The problems that have garnered the most
attention are ear infections, speech/articulation prob-
lems, language delay, and stuttering.Ear Infections
The most common cause for language problems
are ear infections, more specifically, ‘‘otitis media.’’
Otitis media involves an accrual of fluid in the ear that
results in temporary hearing loss. As one might ex-
pect, the condition has more severe consequences if
it occurs in both ears than if it occurs in just one ear.
About one-third of children suffer from extensive
bouts of otitis media (greater than three bouts in the
first year), and children who are in alternate care en-
vironments or who are around other children are re-
ported to have higher incidents of the condition. On
average, two-year-olds will have had six infections,
each of which will have lasted for an average of four
weeks.
Given the frequency of ear infections, it is no won-
der that researchers have asked whether otitis media
causes short-term or lasting effects on language de-
velopment. The results of their studies, however, are
mixed. Children with greater than three bouts of oti-
tis media in the first year do tend to talk later than
their peers. By the age of four years, however, these
children have caught up in most areas. The research
is somewhat mixed regarding long-term effects. Re-
cent evidence suggests that there may be mild long-
term effects of otitis media in two areas. First, chil-
dren who have had many ear infections tend to have
poorer attention spans in early elementary school.
Second, they tend to be poorer at storytelling at seven
years of age. While language does not seem to be af-
fected then, there are some signs that children with
early ear infections might have small but more lasting
effects that could infringe on later school abilities.Speech/Articulation Problems
Anecdotally, the cause for most concern comes
from claims of immature or poorly articulated
speech. While parents often worry about the four-
year-old child who uses ‘‘baby talk,’’ saying ‘‘Dat is not
de way dat you sould do dis,’’ most of these errors are
well within the normal range of development. Chil-
dren show remarkably consistent patterns as they at-
tempt to pronounce common adult words. For
example, a child might pronounce the word ‘‘pot’’ as230 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT