New research has shown that babies certainly do favor baby talk and are paying more attention to what's described as its exaggerated, sing-song tones.
While previous studies have found that monolingual babies opt for baby talk, this new study presents that it is also the same case for babies with exposure to two languages.
A Mail Online report said that this is something many parents are doing without thinking. Although parents use baby talk with their child, they may unintentionally be helping them to learn.
Not only it helps to speak baby talk to involve infants and help them learn, but parents can also use baby talk in two languages without causing confusion to their offspring, the study published in Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science reveals (A multi-lab study of bilingual infants: Exploring the preference for infant-directed speech).
While some parents are apprehensive that teaching their babies using two languages could mean the latter will not learn to speak on time, the new research shows bilingual babies are developmentally 'on course.'
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Learning Two Languages
According to Megha Sundara at University of California, Los Angeles, the study author, they discovered that development of both learning and attention is similar among infants, whether they are learning a single or two languages.
Certainly too, the study author added, learning a language in advance helps one learn it better and thus, "bilingualism is a win-win." Baby talk is using proper words, although spoken in a drawn-out and exaggerated singsong tone.
It is applied across most cultures and languages, although English is found to have one of the most exaggerated forms, the research team explain.
Sundara elaborates that baby talk has a slower speech rate across all languages, with more adjustable pitch, and it is more animated and happy. It differs mainly in the manner it is being exaggerated, the study author added.
This research took place at 17 laboratories on four continents, in the United States, Europe, Singapore and Canada. Study investigators observed more than 330 bilingual babies and over 380 monolingual babies, ranging in age from six to nine months, and 12 to 15 months.
UCLA's laboratory was the only lab to provide data on bilingual babies who grew up hearing two languages, specifically English and Spanish.
Bilingual Babies' Exposure to English Language
Sundara, together with UCLA Spanish and Portuguese assistant professor Victoria Mateu, observed babies aged 12 to 15 months. Each of the babies would sit on the lap of their respective parents while recordings of an English-speaking mother, through the use of their infant-directed speech or adult-directed speech, played from speakers positioned on the left or right side.
Computer tracking gauged the duration each baby was looking in the direction of each sound, taken as a sign of their interest. Mateu said, the longer the babies looked, the stronger their preference.
The study authors discovered that babies were inclined to pay more attention to infant-directed speech's exaggerated sounds.
Additionally, the more bilingual babies had exposure to English at home, the stronger their preference for infant-directed speech than to the adult-directed one.
This not just indicates that bilingual babies are acquainted with one of their two languages. But that, they talk in that language is more interesting to them compared to the normal talk.
Nevertheless, researchers also discovered that even babies not exposed to English language preferred the English baby talk to the adult talk, explained Mateu.
A related story is shown on Positive Parenting Newsfeed's YouTube video below:
Check out more news and information on Bilingual in Science Times.
