YOUR CHILD'S FIRST STEPS

BY GEOFFREY COWLEY
ARRY IS A PIXIE-FACED 3-YEAR-OLD WHO CAN'T
yet draw a circle or stack his blocks in a simple
pattern. There is little chance he will ever live
independently. He may never learn to tie his
own shoes. Yet Barry is as chatty and engaging a
person as you could ever hope to meet. He
knows his preschool classmates - and their par-
ents - by name. When he wakes his mom in the morning, he
strokes her cheek and tells her how beautiful she is. Then he
asks her how she slept. Barry has Williams syndrome, a rare
congenital disorder caused by abnormalities on chromo-
some 7. Children with the condition share an array of dis-
tinctive traits, including weak hearts, elfin faces and ex-
tremely low IQs. But they're unusually sociable, and often
display an extraordinary feeling for language. Ask a
Williams child to name an animal, says Dr. Ursula Bellugi of
the Salk Institute's Laboratory for Cognitive Neuro-
science, and you may get a fanciful discourse on yaks,
koalas or unicorns.
If we learned language in the same way that we
learn to add, subtract or play cards, children like
Barry would not get much beyond hello and good-
bye. Nor, for that matter, would normal toddlers.

Whether they emerge speaking

English, Spanish, Czech or
Hindi, children all travel the
same road as they learn to
speak and understand words

As anyone who has struggled through college French can attest, pick-
ing up a new language as an adult is as simple as picking up a truck. Yet
virtually every kid in the world succeeds at it - and without conscious
effort. Children attach meanings to sounds long before they shed their
diapers. They launch into grammatical analysis before they can tie
their shoes. And by the age of 3, most produce sentences as readily as
laughter or tears.
Scholars have bickered for centuries over how kids accomplish this feat, but
most now agree that their brains are wired for the task. Like finches or spar-
rows, which learn to sing as hatchlings or not at all, we're designed to acquire
certain kinds of knowledge at particular stages of development. Children sur-
rounded by words almost always become fluent by 3, whatever their general
intelligence. And people deprived of language as children rarely master it as
adults, no matter how smart they are or how intensively they're trained. As
MIT linguist Steven Pinker observes in his acclaimed 1994 book "The Lan-
PHOTOS BY NICK CARDILLICCHIO
 •
OSIOil
guage Instinct," "Language is not a cultural artifact that we learn the way we
learn to tell time or how the federal government works. It is a distinct
piece of [our] biological makeup." Whether they emerge speaking
Spanish, Czech or Hindi, kids all acquire language on the same gen-
eral schedule. And as a growing body of research makes clear, they .
all travel the same remarkable path.

Sound
THE JOURNEY TOWARD LANGUAGE STARTS NOT IN THE
nursery but in the womb, where the fetus is continually bathed
in the sounds of its mother's voice. Babies just 4 days old can
distinguish one language from another. French newborns
suck more vigorously when they hear French spoken than
when they hear Russian -and Russian babies show the oppo-
site preference. At first, they notice only general rhythms and
melodies. But newborns are also sensitive to speech sounds,
and they home in quickly on the ones that matter.
Each of the world's approximately 6,000 languages uses
a different assortment of phonemes, or distinctive

Kids attach meanings to sounds

before they shed their diapers
and analyze grammar by age 3

sounds, to build words. As adults, we have a hard time even hear-

ing phonemes from foreign languages. The French don't notice any
real difference between the th sounds in thick and then-and to most
English speakers, the vowel in the French word tu (ee through rounded lips) is
just another oo. Researchers have found that month-old infants register both of
those distinctions and countless others from the world's languages. But at 6
and 10 months, they start to narrow their range. They grow oblivious to for-
eign phonemes while staying attuned to whatever sounds the speakers
around them are using.
Acquiring a set of phonemes is a first step toward language, but
just a baby step. To start decoding speech, you have to recognize
words. And as anyone listening to a foreign conversation quickly dis-
covers, people don't talk one ... word ... at ... a ... time. Real-life lan-
guage - even the melodious "parentese" that parents use with in-
fants-consists mainly ofnonstopstreamsofsound. So how do babies
suss out the boundaries? Long before they recognize words, says
Peter Jusczyk, a cognitive scientist at Johns Hopkins University,
they get a feel for how their language uses phonemes to launch
syllables. By the time they're 7 months old, American babies
are well accustomed to hearing tjoined with r (as in tram)
and c with l (as in clam), but they've been spared com-
binations like db, gd, kt, ts and ng, all of which oc-
 YOUR CHILD'S FIRST STEPS

cur in other languages. And once they have clear bias for words with first-syllable ac- by, and someone shouts, "Gavagai!" What
an ear for syllables, word boundaries be- cents. They suck more vigorously when they does the word mean? "Rabbit" may seem the
come less mysterious. Ten I groaning I hear such words, regardless of whether obvious inference, but it's just one of count-
deadbeats I are I cleaning I a I train on I they're read from lists or tucked into less logical alternatives. Gavagai could refer
blacktop makes acoustic sense in English, streams of normal speech. The implication to that particular creature, or it could have a
even if you don't lmow the words. Te I is that children less than a year old hear range of broader meanings, from "four-
ngroanin I gdea I dbea I tsare I cleani I nga/ speech not as a blur of sound but as a series legged plant eater" to "furry thing in motion."
traino I nbla / cktop isn't an option. of distinct but meaningless words. How do kids get to the right level of general-
As children start to recognize and play ization? Why don't they spend their lives
with syllables, they also pick up on the met- trying to figure out what words like "rab-
rical patterns among them. French words
tend to end with a stressed syllable. The ma- Meaning bit" mean?
Because, says Stanford psychologist
jority of English words - and virtually all of BY T HEIR FIRST BIRTHDAY, MOST KIDS Ellen Markman, they come to the game
the mommy-daddy-baby-doggie diminutives start linking words to meanings. Amid their with innate mental biases. Markman has
that parents heap on children - have the ac- streams of sweet, melodic gibberish, they shown that instead of testing endless hy-
cented syllable up front. Until they're 6 start to name things-ball, cup, bottle, dog- potheses about each word's meaning, kids
months old, American babies are no more gie. And even those who don't speak for a start from three basic assumptions. First,
responsive to words like bigger than they while often gesture to show off their mastery they figure that labels refer to whole ob-
are to words like guitar. But Jusczyk has of the nose, eyes, ears and toes. These may jects, not parts or qualities. Second, they
found that 6- to 10-month-olds develop a seem small steps; after all, most 1-year-olds expect labels to denote classes of things
are surrounded by people who insist on (cups, balls, rabbits) rather than individual
pointing and naming every ob- items. Third, they assume that anything
ject in sight. But as Pinker with a name can have only one. These as-
observes, making the sumptions don't always lead directly to the
right connections is a right inference ('Tm not a noying," Dennis
complicated busi- the Menace once told Mr. Wilson, 'Tm a
ness. How complicat- cowboy''). But they vastly simplify word
ed? Imagine yourself learning. In keeping with the "whole ob-
surrounded by people ject" assumption, a child won't consider a
speaking a strange lan- label for "handle" until she has one for
guage. A rabbit runs "cup." And thanks to the "one label per ob-

Using innate linguistic software,

kids assume that labels refer
to wholes rather than parts,
and to classes (cups, balls),
not individual items

ject" assumption, a child who has mas-

tered the word cup never assumes that
handle is just another way of saying the
same thing. "In that situation," says Mark-
man, "the child accepts the possibility that
the new word applies to some feature of
the object."
Words accrue slowly at first. But around
the age of 18 months, children's abilities
explode. Most start acquiring new words
at the phenomenal rate of one every
two hours -and for the first time, they
start combining them. Children don't all
reach these milestones on exactly the
same schedule; their development rates
can vary by a year or more, and there's no
evidence that late talkers end up less flu-
ent than early talkers. But by their second
birthdays, most kids have socked away
1,000 to 2,000 words and started tossing
around two-word strings such as "no nap,"
"all wet" or "bottle juice."

NICK KELSH. NICK CARDILLICCHIO (OPPOS ITE PAGE)

 reporting who did what to
whom. When a chimp with a

How to Talk signboard signals "Me banana

you banana you," chances are
he wants you to give him one,
'Parentese' to but the utterance could mean
almost anything. Three-year-
olds don't talk that way. The
Your Child reason, most linguists agree,
is that natural selection has
outfitted the human brain
with software for grammati-

P
EOPLE THE WORLD
over alter their way of cal analysis. As MIT linguist
speaking when they ad- Noam Chomsky realized more
dress infants and toddlers. than 30 years ago, the world's
The effects of "parentese" languages all build sentences
(originally called "moth- from noun phrases ("The big
erese") continue to be hotly Enunciate, repeat new words and don't forget your pronouns dog") and verb phrases ("ate
debated, but "a number of my homework"). And tod-
[its] features are likely to fa- what the child says ("Want sounds such asp, b and m. dlers who have never heard
cilitate language learning," cookie?" ''Would you like a • 7-12 months Does not rec- of grammar identify them
says linguist Naomi Baron of cookie?") expands her reper- ognize words for common effortlessly.
The American University. toire. The only aspect of items, turn when you call her To confirm that point, psy-
Among them: parentese that may impede name, imitate speech sounds cholinguists Stephen Crain and
Higher pitch captures a language development: sub- or use sounds other than cry- Mineharu Nakayama once in-
child's attention. Speaking stituting proper nouns for ing to get your attention. vited 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds to
more slowly, and with careful pronouns ("Does Billy want • 1-2 years Cannot point to interview a talking "Star Wars"
enunciation, makes it easier to swing?"). These are tricky pictures in a book that you doll (Jabba the Hutt). With a
for the baby to distinguish in- to master (your "you" is my name or understand sim- child at his side, one researcher
dividual words; emphasizing "I"), and toddlers should be ple questions ("Where is would pull out a picture and
or repeating one word ("Isn't exposed to them. your Teddy?"). suggest asking Jabba about it.
that a huuuuuge huge dog- • 2-3 years Can't understand For example: "Ask Jabba if the
gie?") also helps. Red Flags differences in meaning ("up" boy who is unhappy is watch-
Short utterances help the Even normal children whose vs. "down"), follow two re- ing Mickey Mouse." You can't
child grasp grammar more ears are filled with parentese quests ("please pick up the bot- compose the right sentence-
readily than Faulknerian may refuse to speak. Some tle and give it to me"), string to- "Is the boy who is unhappy
monologues. Don't abandon delays can be harmless, but gether two or three words or watching Mickey Mouse?" -
complex sentences entirely, those after the age of 3 may name common objects. unless you recognize the-boy-
though: toddlers whose par- affect how well a child will • 3-4 years Does not answer who-is-unhappy as a single
ents use many dependent read, write and even think. simple "who," "what" and noun phrase. As Chomsky
clauses ("because ..." and • 0-3 months Does not turn "where" questions. Cannot be would have predicted, the kids
"which ... ") learn to do so earli- when you speak or repeat understood by people outside got it right every time.
er than the children of parents sounds like coos. the family, use four-word sen- If children's minds were
who do not. • 4-6 months Does not re- tences or pronounce most open to all the possible rela-
Repeating a child's utter- spond to "no" or changes in phonemes correctly. If delays tionships among words, they
ances ("That's right! It's a tone of voice, look around for persist until kindergarten, would never get very far. No
birdie") assures her she's sources of sound like a door- most pediatricians recom- one could memorize 140 mil-
been understood. Recasting bell, or babble in speechlike mend speech therapy. lion sentences, but a kid who
masters 25 common recipes
for a noun phrase can produce
either "Do you like milk?" or ''Would you more than that number from scratch. Too
Grammar like some milk?" much mental flexibility would confine
ONCE KIDS CAN PASTE TWO WORDS TO- More fundamentally, they discover that children, Pinker observes; "innate con-
gether, it's not long before they're gen- words can have radically different mean- straints set them free ." Not everyone is
erating sentences. Between 24 and 30 ings depending on how they're strung to- blessed with those constraints. Kids with
months, "no nap" may become "I don't gether. Even before children start combin- a hereditary condition known as Specific
want nap," and "bottle juice" may blossom ing words on their own, most know the Language Impairment, or SLI, never de-
into "I want juice." When kids hit that difference between "Big Bird is tickling velop certain aspects of grammar, despite
stage, their repertoires start expanding Cookie Monster" and "Cookie Monster is their normal IQs. But those are rare ex-
exponentially. Between 30 and 36 months, tickling Big Bird." That awareness marks ceptions. Most kids are so primed for
most acquire rules for expressing tense the zenith of language development. A grammatical rules that they'll invent them
(walk versus walked) and number (house chimp can learn to label things, and a if necessary.
versus houses), often overextending them high-powered computer can process more Consider hearing adults who take up
to produce statements like "I bringed information in a minute than any person American Sign Language so they can share
home three mouses." They also start using could handle in a lifetime. But neither it with their deaf children. They tend to
"function words" - the sames, woulds, a chimp nor a mainframe is any match for fracture phrases and leave verbs unconju-
whos, hows and afters that enable us to ask a runny-nosed 3-year-old when it comes to gated. Yet their kids still become fluent,

NEWSWEEK SP EC I A L ISSUE 21
 YOUR CHILD'S FIRST STEPS

grammatical signers. "Children don't need When language lacks a coherent grammar, with a signboard. She says things like
good teachers to master language," says children create one. "The woman is bus the going" or "I
Elissa Newport, a cognitive scientist at the That's not to say language requires Wanda be drive come." Fortunately,
University of Rochester. "They pick up no nurture. Children raised in complete Chelsea is a rare exception. Given even a
whatever rules they can find, and sharpen silence grow deaf to grammar. "Chel- few words to play with, most kids quickly
and extend them." That, according to Uni- sea," whose correctable hearing problem take flight. "You don't need to have left
versity of Hawaii linguist Derek Bicker- went untreated until she was 31, eventual- the Stone Age," Pinker says. "You don't
ton, is why the crude pidgins that crop up ly learned enough words to hold a job in a need to be middle class." All you need to
in mixed-language communities quickly vet's office. Yet her expressive powers be is young.
evolve into fully grammatical creoles. have never surpassed those of a chimp With DO NNA F O OT E in Los A ngeles

Advise and Consent Penelope

Leach's classic,
Your Baby&
YOUU
BA BY
ｾ
Ｑ ＱＩ ｜ｬ ｴｕ ｬ ｲｦｩ＠
ｔｉＩ Ｎ ｜ｃｩｴ ｩ Ｎ ｴＧｬ｜ Ｚｅ ｟ ｾ＠

Child (Knopf ffi.J)

There are baby books galore. A guide to the best of the lot. $19.95), is by far
the most pleasur-
ers, in favor of two or three able to read.
hours of fresh air each day and Unlike the oth- Kid-centric
prefers pacifiers overthumb- ers, Leach ex-
sucking. Skeptical of profes- plains things from the baby's
sional advice givers, he tells pointofview. Thisleadsherto
new parents, "Don't be over- reject some of the advice in oth-
awed by what the experts say. er books. Take getting the kid
Don't be afraid to trust your to sleep. Spock advises letting
own common sense." Ironical- him cry it out. Leach finds that
ly, though, he is particularly ridiculous. Sending a baby the
good on illnesses and other message that "it's no good cry-
questions where common ing because I'm not going to
sense alone won't cut it. come back no matter how sad
you are," she writes, "can only
Just as good are the "What make him more sure that it is
to Expect" books, by Ar- dangerous to let you go
lene Eisenberg, Heidi E. ｲ ｗｬｾ ﾷｾｉａｔ ｾ ｬｏｾ ｬＡｘｐｩ ｾ Ｇｃ ｉ ｾＮ＠ at all." Leach is particu-
Murkoff and Sandee E. TIIB Fll!SrYEAR larly good on fussy chil-

ｾＺｨ［ Ｍ ｾｲ［ｳＷ｡ ［ｨ｡ｴ＠ ｾ

Ｑ
ｾ＠
dren, and coaxing
hunger-strikers to eat.
to Expect the First Year
and What to Expect the T. Berry Brazelton's
Toddler Years are or- best seller, Touchpoints
Eisenberg aeft) and Murkoff tell parents 'what to expect' ganized chronological- Good Q&A (Addison Wesley.
ly by month- helpful- $14.95), is becoming a
BY WESTON KosovA there by a slightly different ly letting you in on what night-stand staple. Don't turn
way, and none covers every- the devious little tyke has to this "map ofbehavioral and

TI
E SHELVES OF
any homes groan thing. But any of the books in store next. There are ex- emotional development" when
under the weight of below will unravel the mys- cellent sections on topics your kid has the mumps. It isn't
arenting books. tery behind most blooming ranging from breast-feeding a medical guide. But ifyou're
ome are tru- rashes, teething bouts to special-needs children, going nuts because she won't
ly awful- ponderously .\\'}'
and crying jags. and a handy chart detailing stop saying "no" or refuses to
written and clumsily or- common child illnesses (see if speak to anyone but her imagi-
ganized. Others offer dk: In the beginning, yours can get them all!). What nary cat, Brazelton can help.
little more than what ｾｦｧＩＮ ｾ＠ there was Dr. Benjamin makes these books stand out Drawing on his own
most parents would ｓ ｾ ｾ ｾ ｐ｟Ｙ ｦＧｒｅ＠ Spock. Fifty years and are the long question-and-an- pediatric practice and re-
have figured out with- ｾ］ＭｦＺｬＧｩｈ ｾ ｾ ﾷ ｩ＠ five editions later, his swer sections. "My baby sud- search, he elegantly explains
out much effort. But Baby and Child Care denly turned two colors-red- how children learn to interact
the best among them Clear-eyed (Pocket Books. $18) is dish blue on the bottom and with the people
are more than mere still one of the most pale on the top. What's wrong and things ｾ ﾷ＠
owner's manuals. Their au- thorough and clear-eyed ofthe with her?" At one time or an- around them- ｾ ｾ Ｎｐｑ ｾ＠
thors have wisdom and hu- guides. In briskly titled chunks other every parent is con- and how to tell a
........
-
mor about the inner lives of ("Reasons for weaning from vinced his kid is breaking potential prob-
children, and a near-telepath- the bottle at one year," "Joint new ground in weirdness. It's lem from behav-
ic ability to anticipate and and growing pains"), he says reassuring to learn that ior that may seem
clearly answer even the most what he thinks and why, then plenty of others have been odd, but is ac- ］Ｑｩｬｗｊ Ｌ ｾ Ｌ ｜ＱＮｵ Ｎ＠
arcane questions. Each gets moves on. He is against walk- there before. tually normal. A staple

22 N E W S W EEK SP EC I A L ISS UE