Language learning begins with listening. Individual children vary greatly in the amount of listening they do before they start speaking, and late starters are often long listeners. Most children will"obey" spoken instructions some time before they can speak, though the word "obey" is hardly accurate as a description of the eager and delighted cooperation usually shown by the child. Before they can speak, many children will also ask questions by gestures and by making questioning noises.
Any attempt to trace the development from the noises babies make to their first spoken words lead to considerable difficulties. It is agreed that they enjoy making noises, and that during the first few months one or two noises sort themselves out as particularly indicative (标示的) of delight, distress, sociability, and so on. But since these cannot be said to show the baby’s intention to communicate, they can hardly be regarded as early forms of language. It
A. is one that should be completely ignored because children’s use of words is often meaningless
B. is one that can never be properly understood because the meaning of words changes with age
C. is important because words have different meanings for different people
D. is not especially important because the change takes place gradually
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