By the end of infancy, children are beginning to attempt words. They add to these first efforts slowly for a while, but then during their second year (usually between 18 and 24 months) they enter a period that some developmental psycholinguists call the naming explosion (Barrett, 1995). [naming explosion a period, usually in the second half of the second year after birth, when children’s early vocabulary development accelerates rapidly] During this time, vocabulary increases rapidly, with children adding between eight and forty new words to their productive lexicon each month (Goldfield & Reznick, 1990). To put this in perspective, imagine you were to take a class in Gujarati or Russian, and your instructor expected to hear you using around 40 new words each month over the next year. Then remember that the infant does not have your advantage of already knowing at least one language, and of being able to use explicit tools (dictionaries, pronunciation guides, tape recordings). You would be surprised to see an 18-month-old sitting beside you in the language laboratory. Yet she is already performing much more impressive feats at home.
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