- Researchers found a pattern of sounds which replaced grammatical words in many children’s utterances
- This finding could lead to earlier identification of children who will have speech problems
By EMMA INNES PUBLISHED: 17:13 GMT, 18 June 2013
Toddlers start using ‘little words’ which form the skeletons of sentences far sooner than previously thought, researchers believe. A child language development lecturer at Newcastle University found that two and three-year-olds start using grammar much earlier than expected.
Dr Cristina Dye studied fifty French speaking children between 23 and 37-months-old, capturing tens of thousands of their utterances. She found that they were using what she dubbed ‘little words’, such as a, an, can, is, and an. Dr Dye and her team found a clear, yet previously undetected, pattern of sounds which consistently replaced grammatical words in many of the children’s utterances. She said: ‘Many of the toddlers we studied made a small sound, a soft breath, or a pause, at exactly the place that a grammatical word would normally be uttered. ‘The fact that this sound was always produced in the correct place in the sentence leads us to believe that young children are knowledgeable of grammatical words. ‘They are far more sophisticated in their grammatical competence than we ever understood. ‘Despite the fact the toddlers we studied were acquiring French, our findings are expected to extend to other languages. ‘I believe we should give toddlers more credit – they’re much more amazing than we realised.’
For decades, the prevailing view among developmental specialists has been that children’s early word combinations are devoid of grammar. It was believed that children then undergo a transformation where, due to an unknown mechanism, they start to develop grammar in their speech. Dr Dye’s results have challenged this belief. She said: ‘The research sheds light on a really important part of a child’s development. Language is one of the things that makes us human, and understanding how we acquire it shows just how amazing children are. ‘There are also implications for understanding language delay in children. ‘When children don’t learn to speak normally it can lead to serious issues later in life. For example, those who have it are more likely to suffer from mental illness or be unemployed later in life.
‘If we can understand what is “normal” as early as possible then we can intervene sooner to help those children.’
