Talk on babies and language set March 11

Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Education

2:31 p.m., March 8, 2005--Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Education, will discuss speech development in babies at 4 p.m., Friday, March 11, in 117 Gore Hall.

In her talk, “How Do Babies Learn to Talk,” Golinkoff will discuss the differences between humans and animals and research findings that humans are born prepared to learn language. The event is free and open to the public.

“Whether babies live in tents, teepees or high-rises, by the end of the second year of life, most are speaking in short sentences, able to communicate their wishes and needs and even to make jokes,” Golinkoff said.

“Yet babies can't tie their shoes, behave appropriately at formal restaurants or be left unattended for more than very short times. Given how incompetent babies are in many other domains, it is startling that they are able to learn language in all of its complexity better than adults exposed to a second language,” she said.

Golinkoff, who has authored many scholarly books and articles and coauthored How Babies Talk with Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, will invite listeners to learn about the innovative methods that are designed to uncover what infants know about language before they speak. She also will share the highlights of early language development from an infant's first detection of speech sounds to a toddler's mastery of complex grammar.

Article by Martin Mbugua
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson

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