Nappy talk
Babbling away to babies using ‘infant-directed speech’ can be an important aid to their social and language development, finds Lisa Salmon
SOME of us haven’t seen young relatives for months. Grandparents or siblings might not have even met or hugged a new addition to the family.
As restrictions lift and we are able to see our friends and family again, it’s important for all ages to interact.
And that includes babies as well.
A psychologist has insisted that baby-talk is good for tiny ones as it helps their social and language development.
So it’s time to put on that sing-song baby voice and get chatting.
Dr Nayeli GonzalezGomez, a senior lecturer in psychology at Oxford Brookes University, has just been involved in an international study into babies’ responses to baby-talk, compared to adult talk.
This sing-song baby voice is what researchers call “infant-directed speech” – or baby-talk.
This is a special way parents and other adults use to speak to babies. Baby-talk is something that comes naturally to parents and caregivers, and people find themselves using it without really thinking about it.
Dr GonzalezGomez said: “Is babytalk really useful for babies, or would it be better to speak to them using normal tones? “Researchers have asked this question for a long time, and they’ve found that babytalk does have a role in infants’ language and social development. “The evidence suggests baby-talk increases infants’ attention to speakers, due to its highly salient acoustic qualities. “Researchers have also consistently found that baby-talk plays an important role in early language development.
Babies are better at discriminating speech sounds when they are produced in a baby-talk tone compared to an adult-talk tone.
“Finding where one word starts and ends, as well as learning new words, is also facilitated by baby-talk.
“Babies really love baby talk, and it makes their language and social development easier for them. So the best way to talk to your baby is to do what comes naturally to you – use baby-talk.”
Researchers have studied baby-talk for many years and have found its main characteristics; infant-directed speech sounds a little musical and exaggerated, uses a smaller range of vocabulary, the tone of voice tends to be higher and softer, and the pronunciation of vowel sounds is stretched out.
Dr Gonzalez-Gomez said: “Baby-speech tends to be slower and more repetitive than normal adult language and contains a lot of questions. Although there are a few differences across languages, some sort of babytalk has been found across many different communities and cultures.”
Finding where one word starts and ends is facilitated by baby-talk