Child Language Development Stages

What ages is the Babbling Stage?

0-1 year

What is the Babbling Stage?

A stage where infants produce repetitive speech sounds like "bababa" with no real words, showing early phonological development

What ages is the Holophrastic Stage?

1-2 years

What is the Holophrastic Stage?

A stage where one word expresses a full meaning (e.g. "milk" meaning "I want milk"), showing early semantic understanding

What ages is the Telegraphic Stage?

2-3 years

What is the Telegraphic Stage?

A stage where children use short sentences with mainly content words (e.g. "mummy go work"), showing developing grammar but missing function words

What ages is the Post-Telegraphic Stage?

3-5 years

What is the Post-Telegraphic Stage?

A stage where children use longer, more complex sentences with errors like overgeneralisation (e.g. "goed"), showing rule formation

Instrumental Function

Using language to express needs (Halliday)

Heuristic Function

Using language to ask questions and learn

Interactional Function

Using language for social interaction