Prelinguistic Stages
"Child language development is commonly divided into prelinguistic behavior, vocalizations prior to the first true words, and linguistic development, which starts with the appearance of the first words." (Bauman-Waengler 2020)
Reflexive Crying & Vegetative Sounds
Age: 0-2 months
Characterized by automatic vocalizations:
cries
coughs
grunts
feeding-related noises
Cooing & Laughter
Age: 1-4 months
Characterized by:
cooing sounds
occasional consonantal elements during comfortable states
decrease in crying and vegetative sounds
begin to show sustained laughter around 16 weeks
Vocal Play
Age: 3-8 months
Characterized by:
longer sequences of sounds
varied loudness and pitch
more complexity in vowel variations
Basic Canonical Babbling
Age: 5-10 months
Characterized by:
reduplicated babbling with repetitive consonant-vowel combinations
non-reduplicated or variegated babbling that features variations in both consonants and vowels
smooth transitions between sounds.
Advanced Forms
Age: 9-18 months
Characterized by:
production of jargon (babbled utterances that mimic the structure of sentences through intonation and rhythm)
first meaningful words
more complex syllable structures like CCV and CCVC.
(Bauman-Wangler 2020)