Cooing and babbling is no radio gaga

Panting for a tumbler of iced orange juice my jellied legs somehow made it to a chair that was neither baking in the sun nor emitting somebody else's body heat. In the sizzling haze of last Saturday morning, my brain could barely register the babble in and out of the café. And I certainly did not have baby talk on my mind until the conversation at the next table between two young mothers with a baby and two toddlers in tow hooked my ears.

As the toddlers happily dug into their ice-cream, one of the mothers whipped up a story that had the little ones wide-eyed with expectation and had them put in more than a word or two. I made no pretence into not listening in and having broken the ice with a giggle that matched their own I found myself joining in. The story over, we chatted for a while. It was wonderful to listen to how articulate both the two-and-a-half and three-year-old were.

Meanwhile, the eight-month-old baby was gurgling away and clapping with her feet. I noted there wasn't the shadow of a dummy in sight. I barely needed a confirmation that these kids' mums spend a lot of time playing and talking to their children, though they did so with a sparkling smile.

You could argue that some parents are more gifted, more patient than others and more young at heart. But parents don't have to be a natural with children to devote time to them. What they need to be is responsible to stimulate their children's inborn hot wiring to a world of play and get them talking fluently.

As babies, we are innately predisposed to acquire language and capable of perceiving, comprehending and articulating speech. This is the kernel of the Nativist Theory of language acquisition spearheaded over 40 years ago. Within a few years however, the totally opposite Behaviourist Theory insisted upon the importance of what the child is exposed to over our natural language instinct. Today, linguists overcome the limitations of these polarised views by combining their valid points into a cognitive approach so that nature works with, rather than competes with nurture.

Put forward by the Stanford University Phonology Project in 1971, the Cognitive Approach stresses the ingenuity and creativity of children's strategies in acquiring language as a result of both their natural abilities and environmental influences. Therefore, children learn to say what, how and when they say what they say, more so if they are encouraged to do so.

So while linguists dissect and analyse how babies and young children learn to recognise sounds/sound patterns, to pronounce them, to learn the meaning of words and say them clearly, to form correct sentences and create dialogue, little ones (who do not suffer from any speech impairment) learn the ammo of talk in a phenomenally simultaneous and holistic way.

Babies begin to acquire language long before they utter their first word. The variation in the rising and falling patterns of their cries tells us when they are hungry, in pain or simply want a cuddle... and that's before they are a month old! By their second month, babies develop more vocalisations particularly cooing of back vowel sounds. Babbling increases as weeks go by because babies enjoy hearing the sounds they make and they also respond to eye contact, pitch and gestures when we talk to them. Toddlers are also very clever in inventing their own words, which are very meaningful for them though they may sound nonsense to us.

Indeed a lot of learning and perception precedes actual speech. Usually a child begins to talk as soon as he/she begins to walk. That's close to the first birthday, although a good many babies say the much awaited first word before or after. What is truly fascinating is how babies and toddlers grapple with the processes of perception, understanding and communicating. What goads them on is imitating what they hear plus an amazing cleverness in making life easy for themselves when they face difficulties. For instance, notice how little children avoid saying consonants they cannot as yet pronounce either by omitting them, or going for an easier alternative.

While they will readily learn the words of what is most familiar to them, children will only learn certain vocabulary once they have learnt the concept behind them. Meaning they have to understand the notion of space so as to learn words like 'above' and 'below'. And although little children express the gist in their first sentences, what they say shows an awareness of their mother tongue's sentence structure as well as a meaningful and appropriate context. Significantly, learning more complex sentences, negative statements and questions highly depends on parents' input.

This brings me back to the fundamental importance of spending time talking to our children. The crucial role of holding babies in our arms, looking into their eyes and talking to them forge an emotional bond between parent and child that goes beyond boosting personality and academic achievement in later life. It is no exaggeration to say that unimpaired children who have problems being articulate in their early years are on the road to reading problems, challenging behaviour and delinquency. If you think I'm being melodramatic, take a look at the truckloads of research that have long proved the link between these problems and delayed language development.

Lack of fluency is rising across the social strata since modern lifestyles are axing talking time to children in ways we don't always think of as sad or bad. So if the rarity of eating together and the constant distraction of TV are easily recognisable as culprits, you wouldn't immediately say so of disposable nappies, portable beakers and Velcro fastening on shoes and clothes.

As wonderfully practical and timesaving as these are, they have reduced interaction between parents and children. Even worse is the back-facing buggy which undoes all contact. I wonder whether adults who wear iPods as they push remember the presence of their little ones. As grown-ups most of us forget the skills of play, and being constantly pressed for time doesn't help our recall. Moreover, our ingrained code-switching is the sour cherry on a stale cake.

But if you as a parent want to help your little ones feel good about themselves, get talking and listening to them. Giving them time and attention beats any snazzy gift hollow.