Final answer:
Infant language development is best nurtured through a combination of direct verbal interaction and passive exposure to language within the environment. Nonverbal communication, responding to infant sounds, and simply speaking to infants are effective strategies to promote linguistic skills during the critical period of language acquisition.
Step-by-step explanation:
Infant Language Development:
Infant language development is nurtured by adults who communicate nonverbally and engage in verbal interaction with infants. Babies are born with cognitive abilities to recognize their mother's voice and to discriminate between familiar and foreign languages.
From the babbling stage, infants start to experiment with sounds, and while this is not necessarily an attempt to communicate, the exposure to language during this stage is critical.
Therefore, the most effective way to nurture language development in infants is through a mix of direct interactive communication, such as responding to infant sounds, and allowing them to observe and listen to the language being used in everyday life. This process is reflective of a biological predisposition to acquire language, supported by research indicating that there is a critical period for optimized language learning in early childhood.