|| CLA: STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT ||

The way in which children acquire language can be divided into stages, starting with the Pre-Verbal stage, and c

1. The Pre-Verbal stage.
   
   • Vegatative - Sounds of discomfort, or reflexive actions. (0-4 Months)
   • Cooing - Comfort sounds and vocal play using open-mouthed vowel sounds (4-7 Months)
   • Babbling - Repeating patterns of consonant and vowel sounds (6-12 Months)
   • Proto-Words - Word like vocalisation, not matching actual words but used consistently for the same meaning, and is sometimes known as "Scribble Talk". (9-12 Months)
     E.g, using "mmm" to mean "give me that" with accompanying gestures, such as pointing, supporting verbal messages, see here for a video example.
     
     
2.  Lexical & Grammatical stages of development.
   
   • Holophrastic/One-Word - One word utterances. (12-18 Months)
   • Two Words - Two word combinations (18-24 Months)
   • Telegraphic* - Three and more words combined, most of which are incomplete (24-36 Months)
   • Post-Telegraphic - More gramatically complex combinations (36+ Months)
   
   * CHILDREN WILL HAVE PROBLEMS WITH:
   
   • Consonant Clusters
   • Negatives - In context.
     
   However, they will learn Pragmatics and Flouting Maxims very quickly.