Your sister and brother-in-law have a newborn baby and they are wondering when she will begin talking. They hope that it will occur soon, so they have begun saying mama and dada to their daughter

Question

What can you tell them about the course of language development during the first year of life?
What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A good answer will be similar to the following:
Your sister and brother-in-law will have a few months to wait until their daughter is talking because most babies say their first words around their first birthdays. Even though it will be months before their daughter says her first words she will begin to make language-like sounds within the next few months. Around 2 or 3 months, babies start producing vowel-like sounds that are called cooing. Around 5 or 6 months of age, babies start combining vowels with consonants to produce babbling. Early babbling consists of single syllables but later babbling consists of combinations of syllables. Around 7 months of age, intonation (rising and falling pitch) is added to babbling. This intonation will mimic the intonation found in the language that the child hears. Around the first birthday, advanced babbling will become early words.