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There is great variability in the
language skills of Toddler Twos. Some use few words and some talk
volubly most of the time. Speech is erupting rapidly at this stage. The
average two-year-old North American toddler has about three hundred
words in his vocabulary, although not all are of practical use.
Toddler Two Language Acquisition
Some provide interesting sounds; others
are actively used in forming two- and three-word sentences. Words that
name things, persons, and actions are dominant; adverbs, adjectives,
and prepositions appear less important. In the unique telegraphic-type
speech of the two-year-old, "flowery" words are nonessential. Pronouns
such as mine, me, you, and I are being used more often, probably
because the child's sense of self is maturing. However, this age group
prefers using personal names; for example, "John slides down" rather
than "I slide down" or "You slide down."
During this period of active speech, words become imprinted on the
brain because they are practiced and elaborated upon. A Toddler-Two
will play with the potentials of salient parts; for instance, "slide
down" will become "Mary slide down." It becomes a sing-song chant and
poetry long before it becomes a grammatically correct sentence.
Pronouns and transitive verbs are added and, before you know it, the
child will articulate a grammatically correct five-word sentence: "I
saw John slide down."
Toddler Two Language Development
There is an overwhelming parade of verbs
with reversible subjects and objects, past and present tenses, plurals,
prepositions, etc., that a child must master to satisfy adult standards
of English. Given a year of free play with words and words spoken to
him by his siblings and adults, most children will master all of the
complexities of their native tongue. Some children master two languages
at the same time if parents follow the rules rigidly, that is, one
speaks English all the time while another member of the household
(Grandpa or a caregiver) communicates in the foreign language all the
time.
The two-year-old has been practicing making sounds and vocalizing for
many months. Early on he babbled, squealed, and shouted unintelligible
sounds for his own satisfaction without any communication purpose. Just
as he enjoyed exercising his powers of bodily movement, so he gained
pleasure in using his vocal cords for the rhythmic patterns he could
make them produce.
The Toddler-Two derives great satisfaction from combining his expanding
motoric and vocal skills. He accompanies each action with appropriate
telegraphic language: "Shut door." "Sit down." Riding his kiddy car, he
chants a rhythmic "la-la-la." On a swing he sings, "Me go up, me go
down."
Rhythmic language is not limited to physical activity; it can arise out
of experimentation with a word the child likes: "Pokey-pokey-poke."
Sometimes the vocalizations take the form of alliteration: "Susie's
galoshes make splishes and sploshes" or poetry: "Remember the gold
fish? Has no hands, has no feet, goes round and round."
Toddler Two Language Skills
Linguists tell us that no one has to
teach a child to talk; that this comes naturally. There is a "sudden
bursting forth of language” after a long period when learning and
practice must have been internal. It seems that the child learned to
talk overnight. Some children over a period echo almost every phrase
they hear.
A few question words occur in the early vocabulary of Toddler-Twos. The
commonest ones are "what," "where," and "why." One word that arrives
late in the vocabulary of Toddler Twos is the word "Yes," perhaps
because it is difficult to pronounce at this age. Some children use the
negative "No" for a short period to express the affirmative. Adults
need to look behind the spoken word of little children to find what
meaning has been obscured by the inadequacy of language.
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