What is prelingually?

Prelingually refers to a period of development before the acquisition of language, typically before the age of two. This is the time when an infant is learning to make sense of the sounds, sights, and sensations around them and developing fundamental cognitive skills, such as perception, attention, and memory. Prelingually, infants are instinctively trying to decipher and comprehend the world around them, which will later help lay the foundation for language acquisition. During this early developmental stage, a child's exposure to language and social cues from caregivers, such as eye contact, gestures, and vocalizations, plays a significant role in their language development.