How
do humans learn language?
- When do we start learning language?
- What are some features of child language?
Different ways that children
learn language
-mainly hearing
impaired children or children with speaking difficulties.
Humans
start to learn language the second they are born, from their first cry, to
their first smile all the way to their first words and beyond.
Humans
learn language by observing others and seeing what they do, some things are
instinctual such as crying or smiling. The other day I was told by my nieces midwife
that when a child smiles for the first few time at 3-4 weeks old they don’t realise
what they have done, it is an odd feeling like, “oh, that was weird, what was
that?”, sort of thing, until they later realise that it is what happens when
they are happy or find something funny.
When
they are first born, babies only real way to communicate is through crying,
which is instinctual. Whether they are hungry, tired, want to be held or need a
nappy change, this is the only way a baby can get his or her message across. As
they get older they will develop other ways to communicate, such as hand
gestures and writing.
Although
it sometimes doesn’t get noticed, children use hand gestures to communicate as
soon as they identify their hands and learn how to control them. They may be
pointing at something or putting their hand up to their mouth as if they are
drinking out of a cup, meaning they are thirsty. Children may use this before
they are able to speak or even after. It can be developed by watching people
perform the same actions such as pointing something out to somebody else or
watching somebody perform the actual action, such as having a drink.
Children
that are hearing impaired or have speaking difficulties may use hand gestures as
a first language. Two examples of this are my nephew, Elijah and my niece, Jordan.
When Elijah was two years old he didn’t use much language, he would say Mum, Dad,
Nan and Pop but not much else. My sister and her husband took him to see a
speech therapist and were told to start signing to him. Elijah made little
signals that would tell us what he needed, when he needed it, which helped us
to understand his needs better.
When
my niece, Jordan was just three weeks old my sister and her husband along with
the rest of the family were shocked to find out that Jordan was partially deaf.
After the initial shock we all realised that it doesn’t matter what happens,
Jordan just may have a different way of communicating to us, and it doesn’t make
her different it is just another way to get a message across to another person.
Even if she was completely deaf, it wouldn’t make a difference she would still
be able to communicate, she would just get her message across differently. It is
just like somebody that speaks English communicating with somebody that speaks
Chinese, it is a language that only some learn and understand. Jordan is just
five weeks old now but when she is old enough to learn she will learn exactly
the same as anybody else will, she will be able to talk, walk, go to school,
make friends and follow all her dreams in life. It doesn’t make her weird or
different it just makes her special.
When
children begin to speak they will commonly repeat words that are easy to say,
copying the people around them. As their speaking continues to develop they
will start to experiment with words and make different sounds with words. They
will later start to learn words at a rapid rate and it will become impossible
to keep up with.
No
matter what situation a person is put into we all learn language. Starting at
birth, from our first cry to the day we die people are always learning new ways
to communicate and interact with others.
Sources-
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