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Stages of language development

Edexcel IAL Psychology · WPS03 Applications of Psychology

Children across the world pass through similar stages on the way to adult speech (spec 5.1.3). Knowing them helps you judge theories of language acquisition in the next lesson.

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The stages

Stage	Approximate age	What it sounds like
Cooing	From about 6 weeks	Vowel-like sounds such as 'ooo'
Babbling	About 6 to 9 months	True syllables, often repeated: 'ba ba', 'wa wa'
One-word (holophrase)	About 10 to 11 months onwards	Single words that can stand for a whole idea: 'juice' meaning 'I want juice'
Two-word	About 18 months	Two-word combinations ('more milk') and a rapid growth in vocabulary
Telegraphic speech	Second year	Short utterances missing grammatical words: 'daddy go car'
Multiword, grammatical speech	About 2.5 years onwards	Longer sentences with grammar

Ages from the Psychology of Language open textbook; ages vary between children

What the stages show

The order is very similar across languages, which some take as evidence of an innate programme (Chomsky).
Children make overgeneralisation errors such as 'gived' or 'mouses': they apply a rule they have worked out, rather than copying adults, who do not say these words.
Speed varies with experience: children who hear more speech directed at them tend to build vocabulary faster, which points to nurture.

Research methods: language development is studied with longitudinal recordings of the same children, cross-sectional comparisons of different ages, and observation, often producing qualitative data (the actual words) as well as counts.

Evaluating stage descriptions

Ages are averages; individual variation is wide, so stages are a guide rather than rules.
Most stage data come from children learning English and other Western languages, raising cultural generalisability questions.
Observational records of everyday speech have high ecological validity but are time-consuming and open to observer subjectivity when coding what a child 'meant'.

Worked example

A child says 'Doggy run' and 'Mummy shoe'. Which stage is this, and why?

Two words are combined with grammatical words (the, is) left out.
That is two-word or telegraphic speech, typical from about 18 months into the second year.

Answer: Two-word or telegraphic speech.

Key idea: Cooing (about 6 weeks), babbling (6 to 9 months), one-word or holophrase (about 10 to 11 months), two-word (about 18 months), telegraphic (second year), grammatical multiword speech (about 2.5 years). Overgeneralisations like 'gived' suggest rule learning.

Check yourself

'Ba ba ba' at 7 months is an example of
- cooing
- telegraphic speech
- a holophrase
- babbling
Show answer
babbling. Repeated syllables at 6 to 9 months.
A one-word utterance that stands for a whole sentence is called
- telegraphic speech
- a holophrase
- an overgeneralisation
- babbling
Show answer
a holophrase. Holo means whole.
'Daddy go car' is an example of
- cooing
- babbling
- a holophrase
- telegraphic speech
Show answer
telegraphic speech. Content words without grammatical words.
A child says 'I runned'. This overgeneralisation suggests
- the child is applying a grammatical rule rather than copying adults
- the child has heard adults say 'runned'
- the child is in the babbling stage
- the child is copying another child exactly
Show answer
the child is applying a grammatical rule rather than copying adults. Adults do not say 'runned', so it is a self-generated rule.
Which is the correct order?
- Babbling, cooing, two-word, one-word
- One-word, cooing, babbling, two-word
- Cooing, babbling, one-word, two-word
- Cooing, two-word, babbling, one-word
Show answer
Cooing, babbling, one-word, two-word. Sounds, syllables, words, combinations.
Using the ages in this lesson, about how many months pass between the start of babbling (6 months) and two-word speech (18 months)?
Show answer
12 months. 18 - 6 = 12 months.
Explain why qualitative data might be more useful than quantitative data when studying children's language.
Show answer
Qualitative data record the actual words and sentences children use, giving rich detail about their grammar and meaning, whereas counts only show how many words they said.. Richness versus numbers.

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Last updated 8 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.