What is the term for when a baby imitates words or sounds it has heard?

The correct term for when a baby imitates words or sounds it has heard is echolalia. This phenomenon typically occurs during early language development when infants begin to mimic the speech patterns and sounds they encounter in their environment. Echolalia can manifest as immediate imitation, where a child repeats a word or phrase right after hearing it, or as delayed echolalia, where the child repeats words or phrases after some time has passed.

Echolalia serves an important function in language acquisition, allowing babies to practice their vocalizations and learn the rhythms and intonations of speech. It indicates that the child is engaging with language and actively participating in the learning process, even if they may not yet fully understand the meanings of the words they are repeating.

Other related developmental stages such as babbling refer to the production of consonant-vowel combinations that are not yet recognizable as actual words. Imitation refers more broadly to the action of copying behaviors without specifically focusing on verbal sounds, while repetition suggests simply echoing what has been said without the context of the developmental stage or the learning process tied to language acquisition. Thus, echolalia is the most precise term for this specific behavior in language development.