Language is a communicative system of words and symbols specific to humans. The origins of language remain a mystery because fossil remains cannot speak. However, the rudiments of language can be inferred from the study of the linguistic development of children and the cognitive and communicative abilities of primates, as explained by Bridgeman (2003). This essay illustrates the skills that infants possess that will eventually help them acquire language. The themes covered are, on the one hand, the biological aspects, the contribution of the human brain to the development of language? Second, key theories of language development will be examined. Is development innate? Is there a critical period? Third, what should we learn? What are the basics that infants must master? Finally, how important are the social aspects of language acquisition? Who else is involved in infant language development? Examination of empirical evidence and academic views of experts in the field of psychology will be presented. The vocal tract crucial to language acquisition could not have developed unless the human brain had evolved with it, says Bridgman (2003). Vocal production writes Carlon (2010) must have brain functionality to support and is a lateralized function. However, overall, 90% of language production is left to the hemisphere. Thus mechanical abilities are located in the occipital, temporal and parietal lobes. Broca's area allows the production of speech and Wernicke's area represents the production of meaningful words. Aphasia in Broca's area is indicative of slow and labored dialogue production while Wernicke's area allows for fluency and vocalizations without work, but lacks grammatical meaning. Through the development of language and m...... middle of paper ......, Messer, D., Moore. S. and Sterling, C. (2009). Cognitive psychology. In G Davey (Eds), Complete Psychology (2nd ed.). (pp. 234-301). Oxford: Hodder Education. Ault. RL (1997). Cognitive development of children. New York: Oxford University PressBjorkland, D.F. (2005). Children's thinking, cognitive development, and individual differences (4th ed.). United States: Thomson Wadsworth. Bridgeman, B. (2003). Psychology & evolution, the origins of the mind. California: Sage publications inc. Carlson, N.R. (2010). Behavioral Psychology (10th ed.). Boston: Pearson International Publishing. Deloache, J., Eisenberg, J., Siegler, R. (2003). How Children Develop (1st ed.). New York: Worth PublishersGleitman, H., Fridlund, AJ, Reisberg, D., (2004). Psychology (6th ed.). New York: WWNorton and Company Kuhl, P. (2010). Brain mechanisms in early language acquisition: Neuron, 67, 713- 728.