Semantic Development

Semantic Development and Communication Stages

Predicts school readiness and literacy.
Late talkers are defined as children who miss vocabulary milestones.
Vocabulary development is crucial for school readiness (Scheffner Hammer et al., 2017) and literacy (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008).

Perlocutionary Stage (Age <8 months)
- Characterized by unintentional communication.
- Behaviors include:
  - Eye contact
  - Turn taking
  - Joint attention
Illocutionary Stage (Age: 8-10 months)
- Intent to communicate develops.
- Key aspects include:
  - Gestures
  - Jargon
  - Protowords
Locutionary Stage (Age 12+ months)
- First true word is produced.
- Milestones:
  - 12 months = A first true word.
  - 15 months = 10-word lexicon.
  - 12-18 months = Slow word accrual.

Perlocutionary Stage:
- Babies exhibit vegetative sounds, vocal play, and early prelinguistic skills (e.g., eye gaze).
Illocutionary Stage:
- Significant development of intentional communication through gestures and nonlinguistic vocalizations.
- By 10 months, infants understand at least 50 words; begin using protowords (e.g., child-specific vocalizations).
Locutionary Stage:
- Begins around 12 months when infants produce their first word.
- Valid words require:
  - Semantic context
  - Phonetic consistency
  - Pragmatic intent
  - Overlap with adult word form
  - Replication over time and contexts.
- By 15 months (range 13-19 months), children typically have 10 words in their expressive lexicon, increasing to 50 words by 19-20 months.

Semantics and communication stages are foundational to early childhood development, impacting later literacy and academic readiness.