As children acquire language, they progress through four different stages. We'll be looking at the second stage of child language acquisition called the 'one-word stage'.
One-word stage definition
The one-word stage, also known as the holophrastic stage, is the second major phase in the child's language acquisition process. It comes after the babbling stage and is characterised by the use of single words.
At this point, infants have learned a handful of convenient words to get attention, call for something, or simply interact with those around them. They will often utter a word while also using particular body language and tone of voice to express their needs. An example would be when a child says 'food' while pointing to what they want to eat. Here, the parent can deduce that the child is hungry and wants food based on word and gesture.
One-word stage age
The one-word stage typically occurs at the age of 12 to 18 months.
One word stage of language development
Upon entering the holophrastic stage, infants will have a few essential words in their vocabulary that are learned from the language around them. They continue to develop their ability to pronounce more individual sound segments which allow them to produce new words.
Development of sounds spoken.
Let's look at the process by which children develop the ability to make sounds.
1. Pronunciation of vowels.
Infants will tend to acquire the ability to pronounce the full range of vowels in their language first. The pronunciation of vowels happens with an open configuration (the tongue isn't involved in limiting or stopping the breath) of the vocal tract, which makes the pronunciation simpler than consonants.
Infants gain the ability to pronounce the full range of consonants in their language after vowels. The pronunciation of consonants happens when the vocal tract is either partly or fully obstructed, making them technically more difficult to pronounce than vowels.
Consonants tend to be acquired in the following order:
- Nasals (n, m).
- Glides (w, j).
- Stops (p, b, t, d, k, g).
- Liquids (l, r).
- Fricatives (f, v, s, z).
- Affricates (ch, j).
- Labials (made with the lips).
- Velars (made at the soft palate, behind the teeth).
- Alveolars (made at the alveolar ridge, further behind the teeth).
- Velars (made at the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth).
- Palatals (made against the hard palate, the middle part of the roof of the mouth).
3. Pronunciation of new letters first.
The new consonants that infants learn will often be used in the first letter of a word.
If an infant learns the constant 'd', the first word they use will be a simple vowel-consonant combination, like 'da'.
Once the infant has become familiar with the consonant and feels more confident, they may utter a new word with the constant letter in the middle or end of the word.
With the letter 'd', an infant at this stage may say the word 'red'.
Examples of the one-word stage
Examples of children's speech during the one-word stage include:
'Milk' (meaning 'I want milk', 'it is milk', etc.)
'Daddy' (meaning 'I want daddy', 'it is daddy', 'daddy is gone', etc.)
'No' (meaning 'I don't want it', 'don't do that', etc.)
Common mistakes in the one-word stage
Infants compensate for the inability to produce certain sounds by making small adjustments to communicate a word they cannot properly enunciate.
Substitution of sounds
Infants can perceive more sound contrasts than they can verbally utter during the one-word stage. Their speech won't reveal their full understanding of phonology, but it can be observed when they substitute an easier sound for one they cannot produce yet.
The substitutions that they make are rule-governed: they always use the same sound as a substitute for a sound they can't produce. ¹
The following table shows some common examples:
| Word intended | Word produced | Letter substitution |
| Like | Wike | W for L |
| Leg | Path | W for L |
| Car | Gar | G for C |
| Can | Gan | G for C |
| Tea | Dee | D for T |
| Ten | The | D for T |
Infants will eventually correct this mistake once they gain better control of their vocal tract and articulate more sounds.
Overextension and Underextension.
Infants often overextend the meaning of a word. This occurs when they give a word a broader meaning than its intended meaning.
If a child refers to any small animal it sees as a 'rat', even if it's a squirrel, dog, or cat. The infant has extended the meaning of the word 'rat' because of the child's limited vocabulary.
Overextensions are based on shape, size and texture, but never colour.
The opposite of overextending is called underextending. This is when an infant gives a word a narrower meaning than its intended meaning.
A child might ask for 'juice' anytime it wants its sippy cup.
Interpretation during the one-word stage
The challenge during the one-word stage comes in the interpretation of the child's holophrases. The issue is that the infant's intention may not be interpreted correctly by the adult, and finding evidence for what the infant wants to say isn't easy. ²
When trying to understand the meaning of a word, an adult must interpret the infant's body language and consider the context. Infants use hand gestures and display facial expressions which can often add helpful information to solve what the child wants to communicate in conjunction with the single word uttered.³
One-Word Stage - Key takeaways
- The one-word stage is the second stage of language development.
- Infants attempt to express complex ideas in a single word.
- Infants begin by using easy speech sounds, such as vowels, followed by consonants.
- Infants perceive more sound contrasts than they can utter.
- Infants make mistakes since they aren't able to enunciate all the sounds they can perceive.
- Oller. D., et al., Infant babbling and speech, Journal of Child Language, 1976
- JG de Villiers, PA de Villiers, Language Acquisition, Vol. 16, No. 1, 1980.
- Lightfoot et al., The Development of Children, 2008.
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