Development of Language

Language is an item of human culture which is an inseparable part of human life. Man's association with language starts even before birth and permeates into every field of human activity. The total development of a human being is so closely linked with language that most of us overlook the importance or, in other words, take it for granted.

The first fact we have to take into reckoning is that Nature provides an innate and inner potentiality to acquire a language. It does not specify which language is to be learnt. The potentiality is not directed to any particular language, not even the mother tongue.

Nature provides a high degree of sensitivity towards language from birth. This sensitivity drives the child towards the language that is spoken in the child's environment. Thus the child absorbs the language that is spoken in the environment totally - with the syntax, the usages, tonal quality, the emphases etc. It has been observed how children can learn languages which neither parent speaks. It is just because the children live in a place where a different language is spoken. The child absorbs the language that is alive in the environment he lives. This is a notable, noticeable phenomenon in human life. Yet it is done in a very short time. This uncanny capacity is attributed to the special sensititvity of the child to human sounds but not other sounds. This sensitivity is provided by Nature from even before birth. This urge is mysterious. Without this the child may not learn even his mother tongue.

Like Dr. Montessori experimental psychologists also opine that during the first two and a half years the children have an extraordinary capacity to learn languages with grammatical expression. The achievement is not mechanical The linguistic conquests are complete by the time the child is four and a half years of age.

The process of absorption of languages is hardly recognized by the adults. The presumptuous attitude of the adults that the child needs to be taught a language especially during the period of 0--3 years places many hurdles and impediments in the path of total development of the child.

The central nervous system can be named as the lifeline of every human activity. But language is an acquisition which indicates more than the presence of these material factors. We can identify two areas in the conquest of speech. One of hearing (receptive) and another of production of speech sounds (productive). Experiments have shown that these two centres in the brain are different and function variedly.

The receptive centre (sensorial and intellectual) seems to start functioning earlier - before birth. We may relate this to the general development and the state of the human being at birth. Though equipped with most of the physical capacities the human being is yet to complete his psychical part of development. That is why Dr. Montessori calls it the psychoembryonic period. The spiritual embryo has to develop into a person and personality identifiable as a member of the human family, member of a group or a cultural community and as an individual. Language being the most essential basis of human culture, the human being seems to be getting ready for it by absorbing/receiving the sounds of the human speech and developing the mechanism to make a language.

The motor centre which relates to the production of spoken language seems to start a little later. Dr. Montessori compares it to the shopkeeper who needs to purchase and accumulate things before he can handle and sell them. Nature seems to wait until the motor control and coordination develop before sounds of the spoken language are consciously and deliberately made.

Both the centres have their psychical and psychological sides to their development.

As these two centres have functions which are different and start working during different stages of development there is a disproportion in the child's vocabulary concerned with these two centres. The child may understand many more words than he can speak.

The capacity to utter the sounds in the words alone will not constitute the development of language. The development of language takes various steps. The acquisition is not gradual but in spurts like in any other human conquest.

Birth

1) The development of the human ear. The 'harp' of the ear has 64 strings arranged in gradation. Noise hits them and the strings vibrate. This is already in the prenatal stage. But its development is slowest, say the psychologists. But Dr. Montessori says that the organ is not insensitive but has a 'concentration on the sensitiveness to spoken language'. It seems like the infant is deaf to sounds. But the observation is that the child responds to human speech.

6 months

2) The child utters syllables, which indicates the coordination of Auditive, Visual and Motor factors. Repetition of these syllables.

10 months

3) The child realises that speech has meaning.

12 months

4) The first intentional word is spoken. Tremendous work is being done in between.

18 months

5) Nouns have a fascination for the child. The child realises that everything has a name. The child is capable of using substantives. Explosion into words.

21 months

6) Phrases not merely nouns but adjectives, adverbs etc. Explosion into phrases.

24 months

7) Explosion into speech - coordination of both centres of language. Completion of laying the foundation for language. A surprising rapidity is observed in this development.

While Nature seems to have made all preparation for the acquisition of a spoken language for the human being there seems to be a unnatural view taken by the adult humanity. Dr. Montessori laments. Education is equated to 'literacy' which again is like the valuable goods taken to various places by literacy as if by the railways.

History reveals how human beings had fought for the right for communication and expression which need the knowledge of scripts. Dr. Montessori recollects the French revolution and the modernisation of the Chinese script at this juncture. She also mentions about how this development has given rise to compulsory primary education which has imposed reading and writing on very young children. This change in the human race has resulted in the children 'carrying the burden of progress'.

Further reading: For more information on the Montessori Method visit www.indianmontessoricentre.org/tsep.0942/method/content.php