Q&A: Dynamic side of language development in toddlers

Overhearable speech (speech that may occur when caregivers are talking to each other in a child's presence) constitutes more than half of children's language exposure, but its role in language development remains underexplored. Researchers from the University of Chicago, The New School for Social Research and Princeton University examined when and how English-learning children growing up in the United States understand words they overheard from their parents' conversations at home.