Analysis of “baby talk” and its implications for language teaching and learning

Abstract

“Baby talk" is an integral part of a child’s language acquisition process. From what appears to be a child's empty babbling, the acquisition process takes the child through other overt stages of pronunciation of syllables, morphemes, words, phrases and sentences all of which are relevant to language pedagogy. With the child totally immersed in a rich literacy environment, coupled with reinforcement by parents and relations, the capabilities exhibited at each learning stage are strengthened to prepare the child for further language learning. This paper is an attempt to explore the richness of the stages of the child's language acquisition stages with a view to linking it up with language learning thereby equipping the child for readiness in the different language skills. The study aligns the natural acquisition processes of the child with existing learning theories and suggests the whole language approach for home and classroom applications.