Anchor Words for Babies

In Ellen Galinsky's book, Mind in the Making:  The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs (available from Exchange), Roberta Golinkoff talks about babies' "anchor" words, their first words that "allow babies to recognize new words that come after them." 

In fact, Golinkoff's research shows that "... even as early as six months of age, babies can recognize a new word that comes after their own name, but not when it comes after someone else's name.  It's not that they know the meaning of the word, but familiar, frequently heard words like their own name and 'Mommy' serve as a wedge or anchor into their speech stream.  This happens perhaps earlier than one might think."  Kathy Hirsch-Pasek says:

"'We have learned that babies pay attention to their own names by four and a half months of age.  Babies know 'Mommy' and 'Daddy' by six months.'"

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