Although 'baby talk' used by parents with small children may aid in language acquisition, many linguists

believe that this cannot explain how infants and toddlers can learn such a complex system so quickly.

Language acquisition is far easier for a child as an infant and toddler than it is for the same child to learn,
say, French in a college classroom 18 years later. Many linguists now believe that a newborn's brain is
already programmed to learn language, and that when a baby is born, he or she already knows a lot
about language instinctively.

A child learns their first language early in life, and it is likely that they will achieve fluency in this
language first. Although the term "mother tongue" is frequently used, it does not accurately represent
the fluid nature of languages and the ability to learn more than one language at the same time. Speaking
of languages in fixed terms with clear distinctions between them ignores the hybridity and uniqueness
of linguistic influences that a child encounters throughout his or her life.

It is a widely held belief that children learn their mother tongue by imitating their parents, caregivers, or
other people in their environment, and that they then progress through various stages to become fluent
speakers. Children's language acquisition has been considered one of the distinctively defining
characteristics of human behavior. I think that all kids everywhere pick up languages through exposure.
They pick up and mimic the immediate language they hear around them. I believe that just like the
ability to move, grip items, and recognize faces, the ability to acquire a language is profoundly
entrenched in us as a species. Both walking and talking were not something that our parents taught us
to do. Yet, we gained knowledge from them.

The three recent study areas that look at children's language acquisition, understanding, and genesis are
described here. To start, we consider how young children enter the system by locating the words in the
audio stream that are used as inputs in language learning. We then take into account how youngsters
develop the capacity to quickly put language components together to ascertain the links between these
components. Finally, we look at how toddlers impose grammatical structure on the material they
perceive, even going so far as to invent a new language when none exists. These studies shed light on
the processes through which kids extract, modify, and construct the intricate structures found in natural
languages.

Lenneberg(1964) contends that the physical makeup of the brain and other speech-related systems
must clearly show areas of specialisation. In addition, the fact that children from different cultures and
subcultures exhibit many commonalities in their language and speech patterns suggests that, despite
sociocultural differences, children should develop in a predictable and consistent manner. Lenneberg
goes on to say that there should be innate and biological processes at work in the system that enable
language development despite numerous obstacles and impairments.

Therefore, infants must first identify which sound sequences are words before they can start to map
words onto objects in the world. In order to achieve this, newborns must piece together at least some of
the language-specific elements from a largely nonstop stream of sounds in which words are rarely
separated by pauses. Despite the complexity of this challenge, children as young as 7 months old may
correctly segregate words from fluent speech.
How can young children pick up language segments so quickly? Presenting toddlers with small artificial
languages that represent particular facets of natural language structure has shown to be a successful
method for finding an answer to this topic.

Katherine Nelson(1973) classified children’s first 50 words as: Naming things or people: ball, Daddy,
juice, milk. Actions or events: down, more, up. Describing or modifying things: dirty, nice, pretty.
Personal or social words: hi, bye-bye.

Skinner(1957) offered one of the early scientific justifications for language learning. He was a pioneer of
behaviourism and used environmental influences to explain how language develops.

According to Skinner, children learn language by associating words with their meanings in accordance
with the principles of behaviourist reinforcement. When a youngster understands the importance of
words and phrases for communication, proper utterances are positively rewarded.

For instance, if a youngster asks "milk" and the mother responds with a smile and some, the child will
find this pleasurable, which will help with language development (Ambridge & Lieven, 2011). This is
called Language Acquisition Support System.

Then the language acquisition theory was developed by Noam Chomsky to explain this occurrence.
Chomsky asserts that language acquisition is a natural talent. He named it a language acquisition device,
and it is present in all newborns. Theoretically speaking, a language acquisition device is a tool. It is used
as evidence for how quickly youngsters pick up language and comprehend it. This area of the brain is not
physically present like the hypothalamus or the medulla oblongata. The term "language acquisition
device" (LAD) refers to a broad range of intricate mechanisms the brain uses to acquire new languages.
Humans have evolved a complex language with structure and norms in comparison to other species.

While Chomsky has developed a new theory he calls universal grammar, language acquisition theory
continues to have an impact on the study of language. The notion that the LAD exists is the foundation
of universal grammar. It essentially contends that human beings can recognize universal grammar rules
in languages all around the world.

Additionally, Chomsky invented the term "Language Acquisition Device" (LAD) in this context to describe
such innate information or the "little black box" (Patten and Benati: 2010). In order to keep kids on track
and prevent them from becoming confused by all the intricate rules of specific languages, the (LAD)
contains the universal principles of all languages. By comparing their natural understanding of
fundamental grammatical relationships to the structures of the unique language in their surroundings, a
child may determine the structure of the language they are learning when this (LAD) is engaged
(Lightbown and Spada: 1999). However, Chomsky introduced the universal grammar hypothesis (UG) in
the 1960s in place of (LAD).

Distinguishing any child, anywhere in the world, may learn to speak and understand a language just by
interacting with other speakers, says Dan Slobin, a professor emeritus of psychology and linguistics at
the University of California, Berkeley. Hearing the language (or, for deaf children, seeing the language in
the form of hand signals) and engaging with speakers (or signers) are two variables that are crucial.

Slobin claims that interaction is "essential" because a youngster learns the meaning of words by using
them, observing how others react, and attempting to follow directions, make requests, respond to
questions, and more. Users must participate in the discussion. In order to engage the child in
conversation, parents and other caregivers must ask questions, provide explanations, and inspire kids to
ask questions and share their own stories. This is supporting the theory of creating a support system to
the child to learn the language.

But because they are necessary for employing the language's words, each language teaches the kid to
focus on specific parts of experience. Such focus becomes second nature. They continue to blend in. But
they are constantly there. Additionally, they make it challenging to learn a language that uses various
distinctions.