Module 3 Part 5: Language Development

Language is a system of communication that uses symbols, sounds, gestures, or written characters to convey meaning. It allows humans to express thoughts, emotions, ideas, and information.

Syntax refers to the set of rules that govern the structure of sentences in a language, including the order of words and the relationships between them.

Grammar is the overall system of rules that governs the use of language, including syntax (sentence structure), morphology (word formation), and phonology (sound system).

The babbling stage is a period in early language development, usually occurring around 4-6 months of age, where infants produce repetitive consonant-vowel sounds like "ba-ba" or "da-da". This stage is crucial for the development of speech and language skills.

The one-word stage, typically occurring around 12-18 months, is when children begin to use single words to communicate entire ideas or sentences, such as "milk" to mean "I want milk."

The two-word stage, usually around 18-24 months, is when children start to combine two words to form simple sentences, such as "want cookie" or "big truck." This marks the beginning of syntactic development.

Telegraphic speech is a stage in language development where children use short, simple sentences that contain only essential content words, omitting less critical words. For example, "go park" instead of "I want to go to the park."

Broca’s area is a region in the frontal lobe of the brain associated with language production and speech. Damage to this area can result in Broca's aphasia, characterized by slow, halting speech and difficulty in forming complete sentences.

Wernicke’s area is a region in the temporal lobe of the brain involved in language comprehension. Damage to this area can result in Wernicke's aphasia, characterized by fluent but nonsensical speech and difficulty understanding language.