Children’s Early Words

Vivian Cook  Words site

The timeline shows the point at which 50% of children say a particular word.

Mo.s   Words

12        daddy, mommy

13        bye

14        dog, hi

15        baby, ball, no,

16        banana, eye, nose,
            bottle, juice, bird, duck,
            cookie, woof, moo, ouch,
            baabaaa, night night, book,
            balloon, boat

17        cracker, apple, cheese,
      ear, keys, bath,
      peekaboo, vroom, up,
       down

18        grandma, grandpa,
       sock, hat, truck, boat,
       thank you, cat

These words fall into a few categories such as :
-          people: daddy
-          animals: cat
-          toys: ball

The timeline makes it very clear that most children’s vocabulary starts exploding around the age of 16 months (1 year 4 months) at the point when they say about 50 words, though the reasons for this are still unclear.

Source Clark, 2003

How do children learn words?   Children's early word combinationsBabyTalk words
Words in the UK National Curriculum

Formerly at homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c, which is defunct