At 7 to 8 months, infants can vocalize some consonants and experiment with what?

At 7 to 8 months, infants are typically in a stage of vocal development where they begin to experiment with different combinations of sounds. During this period, they may produce a range of cooing and babbling sounds that include consonants, and they often play with the rhythmic and melodic aspects of speech. This exploration is crucial for their language development, as it lays the groundwork for more complex speech patterns and eventual word formation.

The ability to combine sounds is a natural progression in their communication skills and reflects their growing understanding of phonetics and vocal control. This experimentation helps infants begin to engage with the sounds they hear in their environment, which is essential for language acquisition. By engaging in this practice, they develop the necessary skills for producing more complex vocalizations as they grow older.