Language Development In Initial Education
The development of language occurs at a rapid pace, between two and three years. Children begin by forming sentences with two words, coming to change to more complex sentences, adding several grammatical inflections. A variety of meanings is transmitted, even by means of the simplest phrase. From the first sentences, the child's language is creative, which includes forms and combinations that the child has not heard, but which follow apparent rules.
Studies of the meaning of words suggest that many of them are learned only when the child already understands their underlying concept. The first categories that the child has of words tend to be more superamplified than subamplified.
Some theorists argue that children have innate coercion in the learning of words, as the principle of contrast.
Theories of language development by simple imitation or reinforcement are not adequate to explain the phenomenon. More complex environmental theories that emphasize the role of environmental richness or maternal language are more useful, but still not enough.
The theories of innate factors that preach the existence of operative principles from birth, or "rules by which they are heard", are more persuasive, although they omit the role of the child as an analyst and synthesizer of linguistic information.
Language development follows at varying speeds, in different children, with the fastest development associated with linguistically richer environments.
The delay in the development of the language can imply problems in the fast mapping (incorporation of new words to the vocabulary) and, if not treated, it can have serious cognitive, social and emotional consequences.
Conversations with adults, using vocabulary and relatively challenging subjects, are important in preparing children for literacy, as in imaginative play.