Breaking News English

Baby talk is a world language

Baby Talk - Level 0

Mothers across the world speak to babies in the same way. Researchers said "motherese" is a world language. The cute noises and coochy-coos mothers say are very complex. Motherese helps babies learn language. Baby talk is more important than we thought. A researcher said baby talk is not embarrassing.

The researchers recorded 24 different mothers speaking 10 languages. The mothers played with and read to their babies. Their babies were between seven months and one year. The mothers' voices changed in the same way, in any language. The study said fathers probably also speak to their babies in a similar way.

SPEED READING

Speed 1    |     Speed 2    |     Speed 3

MORE

11 online activities    |    8-page printable   (PDF)

Baby Talk - Level 1

A study said mothers across the world speak to babies in the same way. Researchers from Princeton University said "motherese" is a world language. The cute noises and coochy-coos mothers say to babies are very complex. They are a special form of communication. Motherese helps babies develop their language. A researcher said baby talk is more important than we thought. She said: "It is not something to be embarrassed about at all."

The researchers recorded 24 different mothers. They spoke 10 different languages. Their babies were between seven months and one year. The researchers said they recorded mothers playing with and reading to their babies, just like they do at home. Mothers change the quality of their voices when they speak to their babies, in any language. The study didn't look at fathers' talk, but fathers probably speak to their babies in a similar way across the world.

SPEED READING

Speed 1    |     Speed 2    |     Speed 3

MORE

11 online activities    |    8-page printable   (PDF)

Baby Talk - Level 2

Slowest

A study said mothers across the world speak to their babies in the same way. Researchers from the Baby Lab at Princeton University said "motherese" is a universal language. It is not just cute noises and coochy-coos. The words and sounds mothers say to babies are quite complex. They are a special form of communication. Mothers use them in the same way across the world. They help the language development in babies. Dr Elise Piazza, co-author of the research, said baby talk is more important than we thought. She said: "It is not something to be embarrassed about at all."

The researchers recorded 24 different mothers talking to babies aged between seven months and one year. The mothers spoke 10 different languages, including English, Mandarin and Russian. Dr Piazza said: "We basically brought mothers into the lab and had them play with and read to their own babies, just like they would at home." She said mothers changed the quality of their voices when speaking to babies, in any language. The study didn't look at fathers' talk, but Piazza said that it is likely fathers would also speak to their babies in a similar way across the world.

SPEED READING

Speed 1    |     Speed 2    |     Speed 3

MORE

11 online activities    |    8-page printable   (PDF)

Baby Talk - Level 3

A new study has found that mothers all over the world speak to their babies in the same way. The research is from the Baby Lab at Princeton University in the USA. The researchers who did the study said "motherese" is a universal language. They said baby talk is not just lots of cute noises and coochy-coos. The words and sounds that mothers say to their babies are quite complex. They form a special form of communication that mothers use in the same way across the world. These sounds are very important in helping the language development in infants. Dr Elise Piazza, co-author of the research, said baby talk is a lot more important than we thought. She said: "It is not something to be embarrassed about at all."

The researchers recorded 24 different mothers talking to their babies. The babies were aged between seven months and one year. The mothers spoke to their children in 10 different native languages, including English, Spanish, Mandarin, Russian and Hebrew. Dr Piazza said: "We basically brought mothers into the lab and had them play with and read to their own babies, just like they would at home." She added: "We found that mothers [change the] basic quality of their voices when speaking to infants, and they do so in a [very similar] way across many diverse languages." The study didn't look at fathers' talk, but Piazza said that it is likely fathers would also speak in a similar way across the world.

SPEED READING

Speed 1    |     Speed 2    |     Speed 3

MORE

25 online activities    |    26-page printable    |    2-page mini-lesson