Cracking the Language Code: Processing Strategies in First Language Acquisition

Abstract

By the end of their first year, children are on the threshold of being able to extract and internally represent meaningful chunks of language (Fernald, 1991), i.e. to crack the language code. During the first year they have been discovering which sounds and sound contrasts are important in the ambient language, and are becoming familiar with the dominant stress and melodic patterns of utterances; information that will be used to target speech chunks to extract. They have also been developing articulation and memory skills that will enable them to make passable attempts at repeating (imitating) words they hear. Articulatory skills are further refined by these attempts to imitate salient chunks of the ambient language.