Isn't it strange that as soon as we are in the company of a baby or young child our lexis completely changes? I'm sure we can admit that as stupid as baby talk can sound we all do it, a car becomes a broom broom, a dog becomes a doggy, stomach becomes tummy and a horse becomes a horsey. The thing that I find interesting is why we use baby talk and does it have an effect on the child's development of language.
David Crystal says that most people produce baby talk without any conscious awareness of it, but some people argue that by using baby talk we are providing the child an inaccurate version of 'normal' speech and that it interferes negatively with their development. For example parents who regularly substitute pronouns with nouns, "Mummy wants Sophie to drink her milk,"as a pose to "I want you to drink your milk," may put a temporary damper on the child's development of pronouns. When children make mispronunciations we often giggle and imitate them as they sound cute, but actually between the ages of three and six children are most vulnerable and so in the study by Lotte Henrichs, she explains that speaking academically with your child instead of simplifying your speech patterns actually helps a child do better in school later in life. Therefore we all feel like we have to talk slowly, loudly or with a singing voice to children but this doesn't challenge them to learn new language skills.
However, there is no evidence that baby talk hinders a child's development. Baby talk in a language actually bears a close resemblance to the adult language, from this they can learn the many human sounds that are in their parents language as the distribution of phonemes is so similar. The grammar of baby talk can also be similar to one of an adult for instance the subject of a sentence usually comes before the verb and we often teach children this by saying things such as "Mumma's here" and "Dadda's coming." It also gives the child a repeated chance to hear the nature of particular sounds and syllables like "choo choo," for train which helps develop the child's knowledge of language.
Baby talk is also used by family members to show affection and relationships and in some cases this stays with them past childhood. For example, when learning my name instead of saying "Amy," my little brother would pronounce my name "Mamy," and even now at the age of almost five when he knows how to pronounce my name properly he continues to call me "Mamy," as that's what we have always used, but it is something that only family will understand. As I mentioned before baby talk is mostly high pitched, drawn out, repetitive and sometimes in a sing song. Research by Chicago Tribune actually shows that this is the type of speech that infants in their first year of life not only hear better but is also the language to which they are most responsive to, this is more important than using 'proper' adult grammar.
To conclude this blog we mainly use baby talk without being aware of it and there are interesting arguments as to whether we should use it or not but it is a personal decision that everyone can make for themselves. However the language of baby talk will always fascinate many people along with making them laugh!
References:
(1)http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-04-11/features/0604110245_1_babies-sign-language-dear-abby-infants (2)http://www.davidcrystal.com/?id=2802 (3)http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200305/baby-talk-hinders-learning
(4)http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/child-myths/200909/more-talking-about-baby-talk
(5)http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9215/baby.htm
Amy Cann
David Crystal says that most people produce baby talk without any conscious awareness of it, but some people argue that by using baby talk we are providing the child an inaccurate version of 'normal' speech and that it interferes negatively with their development. For example parents who regularly substitute pronouns with nouns, "Mummy wants Sophie to drink her milk,"as a pose to "I want you to drink your milk," may put a temporary damper on the child's development of pronouns. When children make mispronunciations we often giggle and imitate them as they sound cute, but actually between the ages of three and six children are most vulnerable and so in the study by Lotte Henrichs, she explains that speaking academically with your child instead of simplifying your speech patterns actually helps a child do better in school later in life. Therefore we all feel like we have to talk slowly, loudly or with a singing voice to children but this doesn't challenge them to learn new language skills.
However, there is no evidence that baby talk hinders a child's development. Baby talk in a language actually bears a close resemblance to the adult language, from this they can learn the many human sounds that are in their parents language as the distribution of phonemes is so similar. The grammar of baby talk can also be similar to one of an adult for instance the subject of a sentence usually comes before the verb and we often teach children this by saying things such as "Mumma's here" and "Dadda's coming." It also gives the child a repeated chance to hear the nature of particular sounds and syllables like "choo choo," for train which helps develop the child's knowledge of language.
Baby talk is also used by family members to show affection and relationships and in some cases this stays with them past childhood. For example, when learning my name instead of saying "Amy," my little brother would pronounce my name "Mamy," and even now at the age of almost five when he knows how to pronounce my name properly he continues to call me "Mamy," as that's what we have always used, but it is something that only family will understand. As I mentioned before baby talk is mostly high pitched, drawn out, repetitive and sometimes in a sing song. Research by Chicago Tribune actually shows that this is the type of speech that infants in their first year of life not only hear better but is also the language to which they are most responsive to, this is more important than using 'proper' adult grammar.
To conclude this blog we mainly use baby talk without being aware of it and there are interesting arguments as to whether we should use it or not but it is a personal decision that everyone can make for themselves. However the language of baby talk will always fascinate many people along with making them laugh!
References:
(1)http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-04-11/features/0604110245_1_babies-sign-language-dear-abby-infants (2)http://www.davidcrystal.com/?id=2802 (3)http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200305/baby-talk-hinders-learning
(4)http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/child-myths/200909/more-talking-about-baby-talk
(5)http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9215/baby.htm
Amy Cann
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