Noam Chomsky proposed that human beings were biologically prepared to learn language. His evidence included a number of observations of how language is typically acquired. B. F. Skinner felt that language was learned through operant conditioning. If a sound were to be followed by something reinforcing to the baby, the baby would be more likely to repeat that sound again. Shaping would lead from approximations of the correct sound to speech that fits the speech patterns of the parents or others in the child's environment.
Babies make sound from the time that they are born.
Although they do not use the same type of language as an adult, they seem to be able to communicate that they need something or that they are content. From a very early period in development, babies pay attention to language . They turn their heads toward sounds. They prefer language to other sounds. They particularly like the sound of their mother's voice and will learn a behavior that will keep her voice talking to them.