 Prelinguistic Stage

This stage starts from birth and lasts until around 6 months of age. In this

stage is simply called “cooing” and “babbling”. Infants may start produce

some nonlinguistic sounds. First is vowel syllables like "aah," then

gradually introduce consonants, producing syllables like "ba-ba." By 6

months: they are able to distinguish all the vowels and most of the

consonants of the world's languages. In the Prelinguistic Stage, these

syllables often do not yet have specific linguistic meanings, but they are

important sound practice for babies and lay the foundation for subsequent

language development. The production of these sounds also helps babies

develop oral muscles in preparation for later speech production.

 One-Word or Holophrastic Stage

Typically occurs from 9 to 18 months. Babies begin to use single words

to express needs and wishes. Single form can function as a phrase, a

concept, or a sentence. Single forms are used for naming familiar people,

objects in the child's environment (e.g. Mama, doggy), indicating certain

actions and demands (e.g. More! Up!) or conveying emotion ( No!).

 Two-Word Stage

Begin around 18 to 24 months. Children combine two words to express

simple ideas. These two words are no function words. Two-word

sentences can express different semantic relationships and functions. For

example, Daddy shoes can mean the following semantics:

 Telegraphic Stage

This stage begins around 2-3 years of age and continues through early

childhood.

 Fine-Tuning Stage

Children begin to further develop their grammatical knowledge during

the fine-tuning stage. They learn more complex grammar rules, including

verb tenses, mood, conditionals, etc. They are able to construct more

complex sentences and use grammar more accurately.

During the fine-tuning stage, children's vocabulary gradually expands.

They begin to learn more vocabulary, including professional terms,

synonyms and antonyms. This allows them to express their thoughts and

feelings more accurately.

Children work hard to improve their speech and pronunciation during the

fine-tuning stage. They become more fluent and try to imitate adult

pronunciation more accurately.