Language Development in Human Being
Language development in human being is a process which starts early in his life.The acoustic means that man has developed to express and convey feelings and thoughts is called language. As far as power of speech is concerned, it is innate in man, but he learns the language which is used around him. By language development he knows specific types of sound, use those sounds and express and convey his thoughts. Language is the basis of man’s development. Whatever mankind has developed so far is due to the development in language. Educational process proceeds by language, we cannot provide education in the absence of language.
Sequence of language learning
There is a sequence of language learning : hearing, speaking, reading and writing. As a child grows in age, his physical and mental development takes place and his linguistic development too takes place. From birth to six months, a child makes only a few sounds, such as crying, laughing and some meaningless instinctive sounds.
Stages of language learning
A child cries when he comes out of the womb. At about 8 months, his vocal cords get the ability to speak. At 12 months, he imitates his elders and starts to utter some incomplete words like ma, pa etc. In the second year, he starts to speak words pertaining to close relatives and objects, such as mummy, papa, milk, bread, banana etc. His vocabulary expands as he grows in age. By 2 two-word sentences. In the third year, he learns about 350 words which are used in his environment, and he starts to speak 3-words and 4-words sentences.
By the time he has completed three years, he starts to lean the naming words in the environment and he also learns some pronouns and verbs. By the age of 4 years, he objects, animals, bird, colors etc., and thus learn another 600 words. Also, he starts to speak 4-words, 5-words and 6-words sentences, and can reproduce short senses become so strong that he can be taught reading-writing together. By the time he has completed the age of 6 years, he can start to read and write one- and two- word sentences. However, all this depends on the education of the child. At present, children start to go to nursery schools at the age of 2 and a half year to 3 years, and they cultivate the ability to do this at the age of 4 years itself.
At this stage, a child comes out of the family and enters school. As a result, his circle expands. He talks to others, interact with teachers and gain language abilities in the class. As a result, his vocabulary expands rapidly between 6 and 9 years of age, and by the time he is 12, he might have learnt about 5, 000 words. With this, he starts to hear and speak 5-words, 6-words or more words sentences, and his oral language develops rapidly. He expresses his views and understand the views expressed by others.
At this stage, a child undergoes rapid development in reading and writing skills. A 6-7 year old child can read and understand 4- and 5-words sentences, and his writing style starts to develop. An 8- and 9- year old child expresses the things he has read of heard, and can describe objects and incidents, and can write the things which he has heard or read; only he needs some guidance.
During adolescence, between 12 and 18 years of age, vocabulary of a child expands rapidly. At this age, he starts to distinguish between words and can distinguish synonyms and their meanings. At this stage, his oral and written expressions become clearer. Of course, the extent of this development depends on his environment and education. Some children can start to write short stories and some rhymes too. The extent of opportunities that an individual gets in the application of language, results in higher or lower language development. However, there is no upper limit to linguistic development.