Growing Up With Language: How Children Learn to Talk

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Summary: Language acquisition at a glance
Review: Growing Up With Language is Naomi Baron's fifth book about language. Baron writes this book for "parents, medical practitioners, educators and students." Since her graduate work, Baron has tried to reconcile the gap between studying in academia and practice and research with real children. Three questions remained unanswered. The first "How do you teach language?" The third and most difficult , "How do children crack the language code?" Any new parent or parent to be who has read Infants and Mothers by T. Berry Brazelton, will feel comfortable with the format of this book. Brazelton describes the development of three babies that he calls "Quiet," "Active," and "Average." Baron also chooses three styles of language learners that she identifies as, Sara, Ryan, and Alex. Throughout the book Baron includes a myriad of anecdotes to illustrate each language learning milestone for each of her three learners. When reading the book from cover to cover, you will discover that information is often repeated. Some readers will read specific chapters dealing with grammar, or baby talk, and will find the repetition of information helpful. Others will find it redundant. Each chapter concludes with an "Ideas and Alerts" section. These sections and the concluding Notes section are invaluable. Baron also chooses three "normal" children. In Chapter One, Baron introduces her three subjects and gives an outline for the remaining chapters. Baron identifies seven phases of language development and four themes. The first theme involves the "Conversational Imperative." The imperative compels people to talk to babies, pets, and stuffed animals. Theme II is the "Phantom Normal." All parents are yearning to know that their child is "normal." Theme III is "Language Orienteering," this is Baron's term for how children learn language. "Language Saturation," is how language learning is measured. Language is a social activity. Parents and children engage in a "duet" of conversation. Chapter Two illustrates the conversational relationships of the three children and their families. Baron discusses the common features of babytalk and the development of language from birth to the emergence words. Biology impacts language development. Changes take place with the palate, tongue and larynx that allow an infant to first use his mouth for nourishment and later for communication. Short hand allowed secretaries to conserve time and space without losing content. Children create their own spoken shorthand when communicating with others. Young children exploit their expressive vocabulary confident that they have maintained meaning, even when adults need an interpreter. Chapter Three, "Language on a Shoestring," illustrates through a variety of anecdotes how children attempt to communicate using their limited language resources. Adult language and phonology requires young linguists to perform tongue calisthenics. Because of the difficulty of sequencing certain sounds, water becomes "wawa" and Thank you becomes "Tanku." Depending upon the volume of language modeled for children, each child develops a language learning strategy reflecting his language environment. Katherine Nelson named the early word users as "referential." Referential children use recognizable words at 9-10 months. Referential children begin using grammar and creating their own word combinations using analysis of modeled parental language. "Expressive" children will have their first words appear at 12- 14 months. Their language is "echo" the speech of adults, and are less likely to take risks. Baron states that many children fall between these two groups. The two learning styles mirror the parental learning styles. Referential parents ask many questions and talk about objects in the environment. Expressive parents use language related to social activities and conversation. Preschoolers establish a vocabulary, then they must work and mold their grammar. Most adults do not remember their children's colloquialisms, however Chapter Four, gives examples that will be familiar to most parents. Using words analogies children create new words of phrases as needed. Use of analogy caused Alex to respond." I changed up my mind." Alex had heard response, "I made up my mind," numerous times. It seemed a logical response to also "change up" your mind. "Bags on the Banks," is the title of Chapter Five. The subtitle is "Orienteering in Meaning, Sound and Conversation." What are "bags on the banks?" To any preschooler, they the bags that are often put on parking meters, when they are not in use. To a preschooler who does not know the term "parking meter," bags on the banks is a logical way to express meaning. As children become "saturated" with language, they begin to create humor, and see relationships between events. Children begin to have "language awareness," and are able to manipulate the language, sometime creating unexpected humor. Once you understand the concept of a sunset, would a rainset, or snowset seem impossible? Chapter Six, demonstrates a child's ability to manipulate language. Chapter Seven, focuses on emerging literacy. Baron discusses the impact that Sesame Street has had on many modern preschool children. While singing the praises of Sesame Street, she does not consider the television as a substitute for parental communication. Susan Foster-Cohen, author of An Introduction to Child Language Development, suggests that there are two responses to language research. One is that of an observational response and the other a logical response. Cohen considers Baron to be the former and herself the latter. Foster-Cohen suggests that Baron's book is for people" with little or no familiarity with linguistics." Growing up with Language, will give parents and teachers of young children an insight into how they develop language, and offer a variety of suggestions to aid in this process. It would be a useful resource for professionals who are communicating with parents about language development. A reader of Growing Up With Language will understand the meaning of morphology, pitch, intonation, and the importance of glides and liquids. Anecdotes will bring back memories or perhaps provide a few chuckles. The resources and notes listed give ample suggestions for continued study. It is a reader friendly book, that is not intended to offer a course in linguistics.