Language Acquisition and Thought: Development, Theories and Factors

Introduction

In an appointment, Miguel Pérez, professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela, stated: "The amazing ability of babies and humans to acquire language astonished us, and we consider it a magic process." Language is the first complex human oral language, with two functions that ensure basic communication and representation.

Language serves various communication and representation purposes: artistic, audiovisual and bodily language. Oral language serves to interact with the outside world and, to a lesser extent, the inner world, making possible the representation and expression of thoughts, feelings and experiences, and interactions with others.

The primary objective of language is to communicate. As established in Decree 1630/2006, of 29 December, which sets the minimum teaching requirements for the second cycle of early childhood education, language contributes to the physical, emotional, social and intellectual development of children. Language will occupy a primary and essential role in the integral development of the child, as it is closely related to thought, understanding of the evolution of expression and non-verbal expression.

Language Development

Educationally, working on communication involves enhancing skills related to reception and message production, and interpretation of messages, aimed at emitting them or contributing to a better understanding of the expressive world and the imaginative and creative world. The development of language is a consequence of the coordination and synchronization of behaviors and their use, thus leading to stable routines and communication practices, which play a key role.

Factors Influencing Language Development

Three factors intervene in the development of language, favoring or hindering its emergence and development:

• Environmental: including stimulation, imitation and interactions with adults and peers.
• Physical: neurological maturation, practice and the proper functioning of external or sensory organs.
• Psychological: including maturation and intentionality.

Functions of Language

Language has three functions:

• Foster: communication and correct expression habits.
• Prevent: detect and even anticipate problems through activities that serve as oral-motor training.
• Compensate: when problems appear, intervene.

Stages of Language Development

To analyze the development of language, we base ourselves on the proposal of Ignacio Vila:

• Prelinguistic stage: From birth, the child responds to stimuli in the environment (voice) and emits specific behaviors, such as sustaining gaze, moving arms, etc. Babies emit sounds of the vowel type, and these exercises use different muscles that make up the oral-motor apparatus. Adults respond to babies' behaviors and interpret them as communicative. This type of exchange is called protoconversation: a stimulus-response exchange between adult and baby, a dyadic interaction. Stable and routine adult-child interactions are established, and objects are included in communication. Babies also begin to share attention with adults.
• Linguistic capacity: From 0 to 2 years, the infant begins with crying, then protoimperative and protodeclarative communication, and later produces "babbling" sounds (non-specific sounds). The consonant-vowel combinations (p, m, t) are called olofrases, and the first words appear around the first year. Around 18 months, they produce combinations of 2 or 3 words, and irregular forms and personal pronouns (I, you) appear.

Language Development by Age

• Referential extralinguistic: water, bread.
• Egocentric language: give, bring.
• Qualifiers: silly, good, bad.
• Vocabulary: what, how.
• From 2 to 4 years: new interlocutors and new contexts appear (incorporation to school), with language enrichment very marked. There is remarkable progress in the lexicon and in the acquisition of consonants. The pronoun for the third person appears, and simple constructions are produced.
• Up to 6 years: new vocabulary is acquired and considerably increases. Verb tenses (except conditional and subjunctive) are mastered, syntax becomes complex, and complete sentences are formed. Around this age, the child has about 4,500 words in their vocabulary.

Characteristics of Children's Language

• Immature articulation, developing their own syntax (e.g., "I pony").
• Rapid conceptual map elaboration: children learn new word meanings quickly, sometimes after 1 or 2 hearings during conversation.
• Pragmatic: in social terms, they develop language to become competent communicators.
• Private language: consisting of speaking aloud to oneself, without the intention of communicating with others.

Language and Thought

There are different theories on the emergence of language:

Chomsky believed that language is a "mental organ" and its appearance reflects the maturation of innate specifications that are the essence of the human species. Chomsky proposes that a Language Acquisition Device (LAD), an innate program in the brains of children, allows them to analyze the language they hear and derive grammatical rules from it.

For Piaget, language is the expression of thought; he gives primacy to the cognitive over language and communication. In his view, language develops individually and then socially. According to Piaget, "any act of intelligent motor behavior has been prepared before," based on the assumption that thought is rooted in action.