Language Emergence in Infants

The early stage of child development (0-12 months) was investigated in this study. The kernel of language ability was traced within the frame of the system of psychophysiological development. It was shown that in the process of general development several mechanisms are successively put into operation and function in the different spheres of the infant's psychophysiological activity: body movement, contact with adults (an early form of communication), and vocalization (which is regarded as the pre-verbal form of the future language). On these grounds, and based on the existence of a special mechanism of inborn vocal activity normally presented by the moment of child birth, a framework of communicative operations with ambient people has been developed. The proposed model explains the advantage of using sound communicative forms, namely the infant's first words.