Any parent or grandparent will know what I’m talking about
when I say it is downright unbelievably remarkable to talk to a young child who
has launched herself on the trajectory of “learning to talk.”
I’m not talking about “first words,” although they are a
once-in-a-lifetime treat.
I’m talking about, say, 3 ½ to 4 years old, when the
chatterbox gene kicks in, when the kid is talking a blue streak and making sense,
omigosh, that’s the time to admit that life is good, it’s time to share the
mind of the child, it’s time to realize that she understands everything you
say, even if she can’t say everything that’s on her mind, it’s time to be
filled with joy as you have a real conversation with that young human being, as you
realize that there is delight and reward in listening to what she has to say,
in understanding a little bit of her world….
The details of learning to talk are startling. I rely on Dr.
Robin Dunbar’s Grooming, Gossip, and the
Evolution of Language for these milestone numbers:
“A human baby produces its first real words at about
eighteen months of age. By the age of two, it has become quite vocal and has a
vocabulary of some fifty words. Over the next year it learns new words daily,
and by the age of three it can use about 1000 words…Its command of grammar is
already nearly as competent as an adult’s…By the age of six, the average child
has learned to use and understand around 13,000 words; by eighteen, it will
have a working vocabulary of about 60,000 words…This is an extraordinary
achievement.”(1)
Indeed, it’s a remarkable story.
Next chance you get, make your day: ask your 4-year-old to
tell you a story.
(1) Robin Dunbar, Grooming,
Gossip, and the Evolution of Language (London: Faber and Faber Limited,
1997), 3.
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2015
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