Do girls acquire first language before boys?

Fact or fiction?
As we all know, language acquisition is the process by which humans
acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to
produce and use words and sentences to communicate. Language
acquisition is one of the quintessential human traits, because nonhumans do not communicate by using language. Language acquisition
usually refers to first-language acquisition, which studies infants'
acquisition of their native language. There are many well known
characters that have written about this topic, such as Skinner, Chomsky,
Vygotsky and Bruner (among others). However, there arent many
articles or books that explain if it is in fact true that girls acquire first
language before boys.
One milestone expectation that does consistently pan out in future
parents is talking. Many people with small infants in their family have
noticed that girls might have learned how to talk before the boys and
believe that this is a fact. Others might say that it is not true since they
know stories where the total opposite occurs. The fact is that it is a
question that many people ask themselves and little information is given
out.

FACT OR FICTION?
After reading several articles and doing a lot of research over this topic it
is safe to say that it is a fact that girls do acquire first language before
boys. This does not mean that it always happens, but according to
several studies, almost one in six children has problems learning to talk,
with boys facing more difficulties than girls. More than one in five (22 per
cent) of boys experience problems with talking and understanding
speech, compared to around one in seven (13 per cent) girls, according
to a poll of over 1,000 parents of youngsters aged one to seven.
Boys are also twice as likely as girls (5 per cent compared to 2 per cent)
to have significant problems with talking. The poll was published by Jean
Gross, England's first Communications Champion to mark the start of her
new post. The findings show that almost 17 per cent of children face
difficulties with communication. A quarter (23 per cent) do not receive
any help with speech problems, and almost half (46 per cent) did not
receive help from a speech and language therapist. Others received help
from a teacher, health visitor or nursery and playgroup staff.
Ms Gross said: "Our ability to communicate is fundamental and
underpins everything else. Learning to talk is one of the most important
skills a child can master in the 21st century. The proportion of children
who have difficulty learning to talk and understand speech is high,
particularly among boys.
More girls than boys (34 per cent compared to 27 per cent) said their
first word before they were nine months old, while some 4 per cent had

not said their first word by the time they were three years old. Girls were
on average, quicker to put
two words together, with over a fifth (22 per cent) able to do this by the
time they were one, compared to 16 per cent of boys.

This ability to acquire language before boys has to do with a biological

advantage. A gene called FOXP2 is regarded by many scientists as essential for
speech in humans. New research has shown that the building blocks of the gene
are more abundant in young girls than boys. The finding, reported in the Science
Insider, about the variation in the levels of protein in young children, proteins which
provided the basis to the FOXP2 gene may indicated why, in many cases, girls
develop speech sooner that boys.
The research is based on studies conducted in mice, where male and female pups
were examined, and then with the findings later compared with humans.
For the study, four-day-old mice were grouped into male and female pups. The
researchers then studied the two groups for the time that each made a sound, as
well as for the number of sounds and with the variation to the sounds. Rodents
communicated in the form of squeaks (or what are called 'ultrasonic vocalizations').
The findings indicated that whilst the male pups made more sounds, these sounds
were characterized by a significantly lower frequency and amplitude compared with
female pups.

In comparison with results from humans there were differences with mice and
humans, indicating evolutionary differences. With humans, the scientists
discovered that the amount of FOXP2 protein in the left hemisphere cortex of fouryear-old males was significantly lower than in age-matched girls. This was from an
examination of the brain language areas of 4- and 5-year-old children who had
recently died in accidents. The research was led by a team based at the University
of Maryland, School of Medicine in Baltimore.

There has been other research regarding this topic. More recent ones
may have provided the answer and suggests that girls linguistic
adeptness is the result of greater activity in girls of the brain areas used
specifically for language encoding. These are the so called language
areas which are involved in word meanings, the sounds of words, the
spelling of words and their visual identification.
Boys on the other hand showed a lot of brain activity in those areas that
are tied to more visual and auditory functions and are more sensory their brain activity appeared to be confined to the left side of the brain.

This reliance on different brain areas for accurate language performance

suggests that boys and girls are processing language information
differently and the superior language ability of girls lies in the way they
process words.
Girls can process an abstract piece of language more efficiently while
boys need more sensory reinforcement to process the data. For boys,
the most effective way to study language is to learn visually as well as
orally.

To conclude this interesting topic, it is important to say that there are

still different opinions over this and specialists are still working in order
to have a certain answer. According to all the surveys and scientific
research done in the past years, we can say that the majority of girls do
acquire language before boys.
Boys produce their first words and sentences later than girls. However,
these differences are only in terms of a matter of a few months. There is
a normal range within which children acquire certain language
milestones. Girls tend to be on the earlier end, and boys on the later
end, of this age range, according to researchers Seyda zalskan and
Susan Goldin-Meadow (2010). Therefore, boys are not actually delayed
in their language development, just a little behind girls. So if a young
boy is really behind in his speech and language development, dont
assume that its because hes a boy and that its perfectly normal. He

may require some speech and language intervention.

References:
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/45659055_Sex_differences_in_language_f
irst_appear_in_gesture
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080303120346.htm
http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-behavior/2013/02/language-gene-more-activeyoung-girls-boys
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/8/3276.abstract
https://www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/media/9683/nwm_final_jean_gross_two
_years_on_report.pdf
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-women-really-better-with-language/