When do children start to talk? If you ask a group of parents when this happened, most will say "around twelve months of age".
We can never predict what a first word is going to be. Often it's the name for "mummy "or" daddy", but it could just as easily be the word for an animal or a favorite toy. But one thing is certain: after the first word, others come quickly.
Early words are actually one-word sentences. In English, daddy with a high rising tone (声调)means "is that daddy?" Daddy with a high falling tone means "There's daddy". Of course, only very basic meanings can be communicated using tones alone.
In English, grammar means learning to put words in different orders. Children have to see that mummy push is different from push mummy. By two, they have learned the basic patterns of word order, and we hear them saying such things as man kich ball and where daddy go.
They're acting as teachers and they always have an active role to play in their children's language learning.
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A. What are the parents doing during the period? B. So it soon becomes necessary to learn some grammar. C. They start practicing such changes at around 18 months. D. Many children can communicate with their parents freely. E. Many of them even keep a diary of their children's "first words"". F. Everything depends on what has most caught the child's attention. |
