The tendency of a young child to mimic another's words as though they were their own is known as what?

The correct term for the tendency of a young child to mimic another person's words as though they were their own is known as "echoing." This process is common in early language development, where children repeat words or phrases they hear from adults or peers, often without fully understanding their meaning. Echoing serves multiple purposes in a child's linguistic growth; it helps reinforce vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and develop conversational skills.

While "repetition" may seem like a plausible choice since it involves saying back what has been heard, it does not specifically capture the distinctive behavior associated with mimicking speech in the context of language acquisition. "Imitation" implies a broader range of mimicking behaviors, which includes actions and sounds but is less focused than "echoing" when it comes to verbal communication. "Reflection" typically relates to a higher-order cognitive process and does not accurately describe the simple act of repeating spoken words in the same way as echoing does.