Newborn Babies Cry in Native Tongue

[Ping898]

I just thought this was really kewl...obviously it was just a small study and needs lost of future work to verify and expound upon....but still neat...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience...ljbGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNuZXdib3JuYmFiaWU-

Newborn Babies Cry in Native Tongue

From their very first days, the cries of newborns already bear the mark of the language their parents speak, scientists now find.

French newborns tend to cry with rising melody patterns, slowly increasing in pitch from the beginning to the end, whereas German newborns seem to prefer falling melody patterns, findings that are both consistent with differences between the languages.

This suggests infants begin picking up elements of language in the womb, long before their first babble or coo

.....

However, when scientists recorded and analyzed the cries of 60 healthy newborns when they were three to five days old - 30 born into French-speaking families, 30 into German-speaking ones - their analysis revealed clear differences in the melodies of their cries based on their native tongue.


The way babies imitate melody patterns relies just on a command over their voiceboxes they had before birth, instead of the more advanced control of their vocal tracts they need for vowel sounds. As such, they can begin mimicking their mothers "at that early age," said researcher Kathleen Wermke, a medical anthropologist at the University of Würzburg in Germany.

 

[Stac3y]

Wow. Really cool. Thanks for posting.

 

[zDom]

I would speculate it's because they hear those voice patterns in the womb.

They should continue the study by seeing what happens if, for example, a French pregnant woman was exclusively around German people and only spoke German.

I predict the newborn's cries under these circumstances would end up having the German falling melody patterns.

 

[MA-Caver]

As a tour guide I meet babies on my tours a lot... many whose parents are from all corners of the globe and every country. ... I can attest to the fact that one baby's cry is the same as another boy/girl, black/white/indian/asian/where-ever ... especially down in that cave or on the elevator that takes up down/up.

Still it wouldn't be surprising that tonal inflections are unique to a baby and their parent's point of origin... an interesting study to be sure... significant? :idunno: How would it help? Understanding cultural diversity? Language?

Interesting.

 

[granfire]

As a tour guide I meet babies on my tours a lot... many whose parents are from all corners of the globe and every country. ... I can attest to the fact that one baby's cry is the same as another boy/girl, black/white/indian/asian/where-ever ... especially down in that cave or on the elevator that takes up down/up.

Still it wouldn't be surprising that tonal inflections are unique to a baby and their parent's point of origin... an interesting study to be sure... significant? :idunno: How would it help? Understanding cultural diversity? Language?

Interesting.

You suggest to continue the study, let's say, on an international flight?

 

[Ping898]

Still it wouldn't be surprising that tonal inflections are unique to a baby and their parent's point of origin... an interesting study to be sure... significant? :idunno: How would it help? Understanding cultural diversity? Language?

Interesting.

Helps from the point of view of learning how and when babies start to learn....hence the machines that let you play Mozart to the tyke while he's still in the womb. Also has to do with bonding:

"Newborns are probably highly motivated to imitate their mother's behavior in order to attract her and hence to foster bonding," Wermke said.