Before they can say any words, babies communicate by making…
Before they can say any words, babies communicate by making a variety of sounds. They start by crying. Then they progress to cooing when they are happy, squealing, gurgling, and making long oohs and aahs. At about six months they babble, repeating syllables such as “buh” and “muh.” Next, they start to imitate sounds they hear, even though they don’t seem to understand these sounds. At the next stage, they string such sounds together in a way that is almost speech-like. At about age 1, they say their first meaningful word—usually “mama” or “dada.” Soon they use many words, and at about eighteen months they begin to make combinations of words, forming simple sentences.