Parentese: how to speak to babies

Moms and dads need to switch from baby talk to parentese if they want their tot to learn language faster

CAN you smile for mommy? Yes, you c-a-a-a-n. Yes, you c-a-a-a-n. What a clever girl you are! Such a clever girl! Who’s a clever girl? You are! Yes, you are!” If that’s the way you speak to your baby, consider yourself fluent in parentese and give yourself a resounding pat on the back. Parentese is the language of speaking to babies – a method of using exaggeration, repetition and high-pitched delivery to communicate with your little ones. It involves using real words instead of the coochie-coo, goo-goo-ga-ga version of infant-speak – and according to a new scientific study, it’s the best thing you can do to aid the development of your baby’s vocabulary.

The study, conducted by the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-Labs) at the University of Washington in the USA, examined how coaching parents in the value of parentese has a profound effect on children’s development.

The researchers involved 71 families, 48 of which were taught how to speak parentese to their children. By the age of 18 months, the babies who’d listened to parentese had a 100-word vocabulary. In comparison the babies who didn’t hear parentese had an arsenal of 60 words.

“We now think parentese works because it’s a social hook for the baby brain – its high pitch and slower tempo are socially engaging and invite the baby to respond,” says Patricia Kuhl, I-Labs’ codirector and professor of speech and hearing sciences.

Coaching parents gave them a measurement tool, “almost like a Fitbit for parentese”, says Naja Ferjan Ramirez, an assistant professor of linguistics at Washington university.

SO WHAT EXACTLY IS PARENTESE?

It’s “a near-universal speaking style distinguished by higher pitch, slower tempo and exaggerated intonation”, according to the study.

Professor Sarah Skeen, a speech and

language therapist and associate professor in the department of global health at Stellenbosch University, offers an example of parentese: “Hello- o- o, cutie TomTom. Are you a cutie ba-aaby, TomTom? Are you wearing a hat today, cutie baby? Is that a nice hat you have, TomTom? What a ni-i-ice hat you have, Baby Tom.”

Linguists have observed that this speaking style is common in varying culture and language groups.

There’s nothing wrong with baby talk – the goo-goo-ga-ga variety – but research has shown that parentese helps babies to learn language in the long run, Skeen adds, and also how to take turns in conversation.

Cape Town speech therapist Orla Johnson says while both baby talk and parentese are spoken in high-pitched and sing-song voices, parentese tends to be slower and more repetitive.

“The main difference is baby talk often includes a lot of silly noises, made-up words, and words that are deliberately pronounced incorrectly.

“For parentese, real language – words and sentences – are used. Sentences tend to be shorter and many of them are phrased as questions,” Johnson says.

WHEN SHOULD YOU START SPEAKING TO YOUR BABY?

Johnson says babies can benefit from hearing words when they’re still in the womb.

A fetus starts to hear from the second trimester and become familiar with noises that make it through to the womb, such as their mother’s voice and heartbeat.

“Babies are born able to recognise the voice of their mother,” she says.

“Parents should continue to talk to their baby from the day they’re born, while holding them in the early weeks, and then more time face-to-face as their baby becomes more alert.”

While speaking to babies stimulates their brain and helps them to develop their language skills, hearing their mother’s voice also helps them feel calm, Skeen says.

HOW EXACTLY DO YOU SPEAK PARENTESE?

Parentese often happens automatically when adults speak to babies and although it would sound a little nuts spoken in any other context its pitch and tempo catch the attention of the baby.

“The higher pitch is more likely to get and keep a baby’s attention than deeper voices and lower-pitched sounds,” she Skeen says.

“Babies also tune in to the rhythm of the speech, and over time this helps them to learn where each word starts and ends, as well as the intonational patterns of the language they’re hearing.”

Skeen says it’s also important that you speak to your baby in a warm and gentle way. “You should look at your baby and smile at them often, especially when they’re trying to communicate with you using eye contact, gurgling, babbling, or making other little sounds,” she advises.

LONG-TERM BENEFITS

Early language skills are important because they provide building blocks for babies’ later ability to read, write and develop friendships and relationships with others, Skeen says.

“This isn’t only during childhood but also throughout their lives. So, while it may seem as if you’re just speaking with your baby in a funny baby voice, you’re actually helping them to lay a foundation for success in school and later life.”

Johnson says infants learn a lot about language before they even say their first word.

In their all-important first year, babies learn to identify facial expressions by making eye contact, and by six months most of them start recognising another person’s emotions from their tone of their voice.

“Babies start to recognise and try to say the consonant and vowel sounds used in the language they hear. They start to understand turn-taking in conversations, and recognise different voices,” Johnson says.

“Older babies start to understand simple commands, such as ‘no’. All of these are the foundation skills of language.”