The authors examined the developmental relations between language acquisition and emergence of reading prior to formal literacy instruction. Sixty-one Finnish-speaking children were followed up once a year from infancy to school start (1 year 0 months-7 years 3 months). Before entering first grade, 43% of the children were classified as emergent readers and 30% as precocious readers. The readers had displayed more rapid vocabulary, inflectional, and metaphonological development than their agemates. Increased awareness of sound patterns emerged well before word reading. However, the striking growth spurt in phonemic awareness can be regarded more as a consequence of than a precursor to reading. The findings suggest that early mastery of words and word inflections increases the likelihood of becoming aware of sound patterns in words.