The Musical Stages of Speech: A Developmental Model of Pre-Verbal Sound Making

Abstract

The development of language has classically been understood within a cognitive context. Yet the musical elements of speech represent perhaps the most personal part of human expression. Expressive sounds impact the content of spoken words and characterize distinct feelings. This article presents a rationale for the musical development of speech and a means of understanding the level of vocal activity that occurs in a pre-verbal context. The Model identifies three Musical Stages of Speech: Stage I, Crying/Comfort Sounds; Stage II, Babbling, Lalling, and Inflected Vocal Play; Stage III, Single- and Double-Word Utterances. At each stage of language acquisition, specific techniques that enhance vocalizing are offered in order to sequentially build upon each developmental level. The Musical Stages of Speech integrate the cognitive, physical, and emotional components of development through the identification of musical elements that stratify levels of pre-verbal speech.

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