Adults transform our speech when we talk to a baby. We change the tone, the way of syllable, our gestures ... From the outside it may seem like a ridiculous way of speaking, but we have already seen that babies like us to talk to them like that, apart from helping to develop language.
Various studies have found common patterns in different languages, that is, there are identical characteristics between different languages when it comes to addressing babies. We summarize these common points:
- The children's language of adults has the highest tone of voice, sometimes it reaches the highest octave. It seems that this tone helps us get your attention. There are theories that indicate that the reason is that the voice of the mother, of the woman, is usually more acute and is what instinctively attracts the baby.
- Simple and short sentences are often used in children's language that are often repeated several times. By repeating the words we help the baby understand them and the repetition of simple sentences may help them with grammar.
- Children's language includes elongated and well-formed vowels and consonants. Unlike what we do when talking normally with adults, when we talk to babies we tend to pronounce words accurately: pulling the vowel sounds and clearly articulating consonants. Hearing the exaggerated and well-marked sounds of children's language is likely to make it easier for the child to learn the sounds of their own language.
- The language for babies contains many and varied onomatopoeia and shortened words or with repeated syllables, very attractive for the little ones and that they try to imitate, thus helping them also to the linguistic acquisition.
So we don't have to feel strange or ridiculous when we talk to the baby in this way. Already our remote ancestors did it, and it is still being done today in different cultures, even some species of animals approach this way of communicating with the little ones (the monkeys): it is how we best capture their attention and the way they will best learn to talk.
