How Children in China Learn The Meanings of Words

ESSAY 2
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Speech Development in Children
Most toddlers upgrade from pre-linguistic babbling to their first true words around 12 months. This stage is known as the linguistic language development stage. Unlike babbling, where sounds are not manipulated into proper words, at this stage, the child can utter sounds and manipulate them into making a true word with indexical meaning. At this stage, the child also engages in symbolic communication, in which they associate words with a group of objects, actions, or characteristics. They may begin to communicate their feelings or desires through gestures, body language, facial expressions, or vocal moans rather than using words. This stage is also marked by arbitrary language, in which children will judge words that have no relation to their nature based on randomness and not for a particular reason. Arbitrary may also be seen in the kid's communication skills at this stage, where children tend to connect and associate things that look alike or make the same sound.
Toddlers enter the lexical stage between the ages of 18 and 24 months. At this point, the toddlers begin to accumulate many lexicons. A lexicon is a list of words that the toddler has internalized mentally. At this stage, children can understand the meaning of the lexicons. Children's lexicon comprises simple words that are mostly universal and comprise simple terms such as the names of food, family members, toys, or clothing.
Due to the children's download lexicon, language explosion occurs at 18 months. At this age, the child may experience over-extension or under-extension errors. Over-extension occurs when a child substitutes more specific words for a word with a specific meaning or when the child recognizes objects with familiar characteristics and generalizes them. A toddler, for example, may refer to every playing toy as...