Discovery: Newborn Cry in their Mother Tongue
Newborn Babies May Cry in their Mother Tongues
Only days after birth, babies have a bawl with language. Newborn babies cry in melodic patterns that they have heard in adults’ conversations—even while in the womb, say medical anthropologist Kathleen Wermke of the University of Würzburg in Germany, and her colleagues. By 2 to 5 days of age, infants’ cries bear the tuneful signature of their parents’ native tongue, a sign that language learning has already commenced, the researchers report in a paper published online November 5 in Current Biology.
Fluent speakers use melodic patterns and pitch shifts to imbue words and phrases with emotional meaning. Changes in pitch and rhythm, for example, can indicate anger. During the last few months of fetal life, babies can hear what their mothers or other nearby adults are saying, providing exposure to melodies peculiar to a specific language, Wermke says. Newborns then re-create those familiar patterns in at least some of their cries, she proposes.
“Our data support the idea that human infants’ crying is important for seeding language development,” Wermke says. “Melody lies at the roots of both the development of spoken language and music.” Newborns’ facility for imitating the underlying makeup of adult speech gets incorporated into babbling later in infancy, Wermke proposes. Earlier research has shown that, from age 3 months on, infants can reproduce vowel sounds demonstrated by adults.
Scientists already knew that, in the final months of gestation, babies can hear people talking, especially their mothers. Newborns prefer the sound of their mothers’ voices to the voices of other people, for example. In the days after birth, babies show signs of discriminating the sound of their native language from others and of recognizing when voice-like tones change in pitch.
link:
http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2009/11/05/newborn-babies-may-cry...
***now I am keen to observe the melodies of few babies from different races***
Yeap..do it... nothing to loose... and much to win...
Your son/daughter will appreciate it... someone told me even though they can not have clear listening cuz they are in a liquid environment.. they catch up music vibrations...as well as your voice vibrations and tone...and that is what stimulates their brain....
May you have a blessed pregnancy period !!!
thank you for your post, you encouraged me.
by putting classic musci, you stimulate his intelligence
and by telling him you love him, you grow his emotional intelligence...
I think I might do that while sitting in the office, lol, hiding the walkman under the table.. lol
But...when we were expecting my first son, i used to do somethings like:
- Put some classic music on a walkman direct to her tummy..
- Talk for hours to the stomach, from just telling him we love you, and ths and that, even some mathematics principles...
Issue is that he has been outstanding in everything he has done, when was 6 in first grade had an accident which required him to keep his right hand wrapped for more than six months...he turned left handed, now he is lefty but still can write with both hands..
We did the same with the other two pregnancys, and my kids have been really good, my daughter learned the deft signals language in a very short time...and the four of them learned english in just three months...when came to Doha just knew the basic what we learn in school at spanish spoken countries...
SO in summary... yes i know my topic may be has nothing to do with the post..so im sorry..but is good to share with future parents...
blessings
i believe now all QL mums will start observing their baby's cry. :D
~noms~
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"Before God we are all equally wise ' and equally foolish" - Albert Einstein
your most welcome Lady with Charm :)
~noms~
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"Before God we are all equally wise ' and equally foolish" - Albert Einstein
y not create an Orchestra?! ;)
~noms~
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"Before God we are all equally wise ' and equally foolish" - Albert Einstein
No saggi, Newborns smile in their mother tongue too :)
---If you can't CONVINCE 'em, CONFUSE 'em!!!
I'd better watch what I am saying! lol
I still can get away with blogging (unless they discover that newborn can actually detect the typing patterns of their mothers...)
i thought new-borns all spoke the same language,ooaaah.... :-o
Going to church no more makes you a Christian than standing in a garage makes you a car. ~ Garrison Keillor
Interesting...
~noms~
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"Before God we are all equally wise ' and equally foolish" - Albert Einstein