What Are the Key Characteristics of Toddler Language?

Leaps and Bounds

• The names of familiar people (mom, dad and siblings), along with her prized possessions (a doll or building blocks) and body parts (fingers and nose) are among the first words your toddler may utter. Your little wordsmith in training will move up from impressive two- to three-word sentences like "me want crackers" or "eat cake" to remarkable four- to six-word sentences such as "I want my teddy bear" or "I can't like my blankets gone" by the end his second year, explains Healthy Children, a website published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Lightning Speed

• You might feel as though you can't get a word in edgewise -- perhaps a slight exaggeration -- as your toddler says new words at an amazing rate. Between 12 and 15 months, a toddler learns a new word roughly every other day, according to PBS Parents. Don't be surprised if your toddler gets one or two words a day under his belt during a language burst that typically occurs sometime between 16 and 23 months. As a general rule, the typical 12-month-old speaks about three words and that number jumps to 14 at 15 months. An 18-month-old chatterbox may say nearly 70 words while by her second birthday she may say 200 words. By 30 months, most toddlers have a 570-word vocabulary. A 3-year-old usually knows about 1,000 words.

Pronunciation And Grammar

• Only you may be able to understand what your toddler is saying in the early stages of speaking when his pronunciation skills are rough. He might swap harder sounds -- c, k, g, f, s, -- that require more complex movements within the mouth for easier sounds -- h, p, m, n, w, t, d and b -- which call for only minimal movement of the lips and tongue, explains Mary Mossman, a speech language pathologist. For instance, your toddler may say ̶0;tat̶1; for cat, ̶0;doe̶1; for go, ̶0;dump" for jump or ̶0;two̶1; for shoe. Pronunciation skills improve significantly during the third year, although certain words may continue to be sticklers for some toddlers. By your child's second birthday, he's probably got the hang of making complete, grammatically correct sentences such as "Daddy is home from work now" instead of "Daddy home."

Comprehension

• The number of words a toddler is able to comprehend is roughly comparable to the number of words she can say. The typical 1-year-old understands 50 words while a 30-month-old recognizes up to 900 words. A 2- to 3-year-old can follow simple commands like "put your truck in the toy box" or "pick up the magazine and bring it to me. A 2-year-old also has the cognitive wherewithal to follow the storyline in age-appropriate books and remember parts of the story.