Mental Development in the Infant

Mental Development in the Infant
By D. Elkind
Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall

The infant's ability to produce sounds is in part anatomical. Initially, the infant's larynx (voice box) is positioned high in his throat, which permits him to breath and ingest milk from a nipple at the same time. Yet this high placement of the larynx also makes it impossible for the infant to articulate the range of sounds found in human languages. (The high placement of the larynx is characteristic of the higher apes and explains why researchers have been able to teach these animals to sign but not to vocalize.) During the first year, the larynx descends into the throat, and the infant is able to progressively articulate more sounds.

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