Young Children Language Development

Here are some recent research pieces concerning language development in very young children:

Research by conducted at the University of British Columbia and Ottawa reported in the Society for Research in Child Development (cited the Science Daily Digest) reveals that infants raised in bilingual homes learn similar sounding words at a later time than infants in monolingual homes.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070928092050.htm

The Science Daily Digest also cites a related research article from the University of Pennsylvania that indicates that a child’s first year is significant from the standpoint of acquiring language. The research also indicated that toddlers are learning language skills sooner than projected to the point that by 18 months toddlers understand enough of the words of their own language to identify how speakers use sounds to convey meaning. Researchers discovered that toddlers also ignore sound that don’t occupy an important place in their native language.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071001172817.htm