Child Language Development - basics

Language acquisition is the process by which children go from being unable to speak a language to being fluent and also learn to write.

Nativism - Children have an instinctive biological nature to learn language.
Behaviourism - Children pick up language from what they hear around them.

Language Development Stages

(Pre-verbal)      Vegetative - Reflex crying noises - 0 to 4 months
                         Cooing - Open-mouthed vowel sounds - 3 to 6 months
                         Babbling - Repeated consonant sounds - 6 to 12 months
                         Proto-word - Babbling sounds that match actual word sounds - 9 to 12 months

(Grammatical) One-word/holophrastic - Single recognisable words - 9 to 18 months
                         Two-word - Two word combinations - 18 to 24 months
                         Telegraphic - 3 to 6 word combinations - 24 to 40 months
                         Post-telegraphic - Grammatically complete constructions - 36 months onwards

(This can be remembered with Very Cool Baby People Often Talk To Pigs)