What can these five babies teach us about language development?
This week I’ve been exploring the stages of infant language acquisition.
And today, I’ve done something special: curated a compilation of five videos tracing the progression of infant vocalizations over time.
As you watch, note that each new clip represents a step forward in expressive language (and, obviously, age).
So let’s meet our five babies!
1) Baby Number One, shared to TT by natashatenen, illustrates a concept I first introduced yesterday: Cooing.
Note that her happy vocalizations are mostly extended vowel sounds. One of the first sounds babies make other than crying, cooing typically begins between 6 weeks and 3 months.
2) Now let’s meet Baby Number Two (shared to TT by putdewyy). He’s not far past the cooing stage… lots of vowel sounds are on display here…but he’s starting to make the transition to babbling.
Notice how his vowel sounds are now supplemented by some initial consonants. He adds some “buh” and “bah” sounds. Babbling typically begins with single syllables (often buh, muh, and/or duh) between 4-6 months. It’s a subtle but important step forward.
3) You’ll notice that Baby Number Three’s speech is marked by a real qualitative upgrade in terms of both clarity and content.
This little one, shared to TT by Vanessa.Fiorella, is demonstrating what is known as canonical babbling - which involves the repetition of a single syllable.
While Baby Two managed a “bah” sound, Baby Three is firing them off in rapid succession: “bah-bah-bah-bah.” Canonical babbling often begins around 6-7 months.
4) Baby Number Four takes the complexity up a notch further.
What you see in this video (shared to TT by sofiaandsofie1) is called variegated babbling - which combines multiple different syllable combinations. (“Duh-dah-di-di-di-dah”)
Do you notice how variegated babbling is starting to resemble conventional/adult speech more and more? It’s commonly exhibited around 10-12 moths.
5) And then, just for the fun of it, I’ve included Baby Number 5 - who became a viral sensation last winter for the amazing complexity of his variegated babbling. The video, shared to TT by Xxbur5, shows a little guy with a cold diaper and a linguistic capacity that - only months after first babbling - has progressed exponentially and will soon make way for his first words.
Isn’t it amazing to trace this progression? Grateful to all these creators for capturing videos so we can all learn from them together.
Hope you enjoyed this language development super cut!