Language Development
From “Kazenoko Letter” No.431 - December 2013
| Historically, the reason why humanity was able to build various cultures
is said to be due to the acquisition of language.by humans. Humans can
understand society and various life events conceptually through language. In this way, language has formed a base for the development of human intellect and helped to build human culture, and not just been a tool for communication. However, acquisition of this important language doesn't come as easily as we think. The foundation of language is the initial infant cry. It is said that a child who cries a lot will acquire language faster. Conversely, there are children who don’t cry much. When older than a year, a child starts babbling, “Ah-“ or “Uh-“, and some children start to say single words, “Obu” or “Mamma” when they are one and a half. They start to use various onomatopoeia such as “Boo Boo” or “Kan Kan”. It depends on the child, but some 2-year-old children speak a lot as their vocabulary increases. These children start to say two-word sentences such as “Ocha choudai.” (Give me some tea.), then explanatory sentences, so it becomes easier to understand their intentions. However, there are a good number of children who don’t follow that development pattern. We often receive a consultation request from guardians who feel anxious that their child has a problem, because they haven’t started to use clear expressions, even nearing the age of 2. It’s said speech comes after a child can listen and deepen their understanding of words. If a child understands the words they hear and grasp the situation well but doesn’t speak, there is no need to worry. The development of intellect that allows them to understand what they hear is there, so it will definitely lead to speech. In this manner, development of speech is strongly related to development of intellect. It’s just that such development is influenced a great deal by the environment a child lives in, so there is a big risk of language delays if their guardian lets them play alone or watch TV all the time. |
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