Toddler with his own language

[Qbit]

I'm certain I've heard of this before but I guess I'm just curious how common it is...

We had some friends over last weekend for a BBQ. One of the families that joined us was our old neighbours who we haven't seen in about 6 months. Their DS will be 3 at the end of the Summer. I know he can speak english just fine but I heard very little english come out of him while he was at our house that afternoon/evening. He was talking a lot, but it was all gibberish. So, like I said, I'm just kinda wondering how common this is. Did/does your child have his/her own language?

[Dmpmercury]

It is common in younger toddlers to speak in gibberish but not an almost 3 year old. I see my kids do a little of it in pretend play but they don't do it all the time.

[Qbit]

Originally Posted by Dmpmercury It is common in younger toddlers to speak in gibberish but not an almost 3 year old. I see my kids do a little of it in pretend play but they don't do it all the time.

He wasn't talking to the adults much. When he was speaking gibberish it was almost all while he was playing. But like I said, he does speak english perfectly well.

[mcpforever]

My 4yo DD speaks "Gloria-ese." She has this Chinese sounding way of speaking that she has done since she was 15ish months old. She doesn't use it when she's actually wanting to say something to anyone, but mostly she uses it when she just wants to verbalize but has nothing really to say. Most of the time the inflections sound like she is making an authoritative statement about something or giving instructions. I think the motions feel good in her mouth and she likes to hear the sounds. She's done it less and less as she has gotten older. Oh, and she sings it, too.

She knows it doesn't "mean" anything and doesn't expect anyone to understand it.

[chello]

DD will be 4 in July and a third to half of what she says is gibberish. She speaks in complete sentences, and I think she just fills in the words she doesn't know with random sounds. Like mcpforever said, she wants to talk but has nothing to say. Anytime she wants you to understand her, she speaks perfectly clearly. but when she's just playing or goofing around, there's a good bit of nonsense in there.

[USMCgirl_05]

My DS was like that, but in the past few months he's been substituting most of the gibberish for English words He's been "talking" since he was a really small baby, I think as long as this boy DOES know how to speak in English it's probably fine!

[KaleidoscopeEyes]

My 16 month old speaks gibberish but my 3 year olds always spoke english just fine

[MW69842]

My daughter will be 4 in July. She started talking when she was very young. Clear as day, full sentences, before 1. But she also spoke a lot of gibberish, still does. She just does it when she doesn't want to talk to anyone, but wants to hear her own voice.

She can also speak a significant amount of spanish, thanks to bilingual leapfrog reader book thingies and Dora/Diego.

My daughter is *never* quiet. Drives me bonkers sometimes.

[Qbit]

Cool. All quite interesting. I'd love to hear all your LOs chattering away in their own language. I bet they all sound very different and of course, very cute