Play pen monologues: the interplay of words and babbles in the first words period

Abstract

ABSTRACTA case study is presented of the babbling monologues produced by a Dutch child in the six weeks following acquisition of the first word. The relationship between word and babbling development is investigated. There appears to be a continuous interplay between both aspects of speech development: new words may influence the character and the course of babbling, whereas babbling in turn may give rise to phonological preferences for selecting other new words. It is concluded that the analysis of concurrent babbling may provide clues for explaining the highly variable phenomena of early word production.