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Child Development: Your Guide to the First Five Years part 9 - Language

How language begins with sounds, which acquire meaning through the accompaniment of actions in an exchange between infants and adults, is a journey described by Maria Robinson.

The previous article in this series considered the power of non-verbal communication. But spoken language is the gateway through which we enter a different world of knowledge and understanding.

It is through our words that we express our thoughts, feelings, hopes and ideas and learn about the thoughts, feelings and hopes of others - not only by what we actually say to one another, but through poetry, prose and song. Without words we would have no stories, no means of passing on our cultures and religions. We would have no books to tell us facts or to invite us into worlds of fantasy and imagination.

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