Fathers Cut Out Baby Talk; This Helps Infants Deal With Unfamiliar Speech

by Julia Samuel on May 21, 2015 at 3:04 PM

A new research suggests that by avoiding baby talk, men may set a bridge for language attainment for their children.

When mothers talk to their kids by switching between high and low pitches, they tend to attract kids more than usual and that is why such kind of baby talk is known as "motherese."

Speech and Language in a Hearing Impaired Child

Language acquisition occurs mostly by hearing and listening. But when there is a problem in the auditory pathway, deliberate measures are needed for the process that otherwise occurs so naturally.

In the era of shifting parental roles and increased paternal involvement, Washington State University researchers have investigated whether fathers modify their speech in the same way as mothers do when talking to their babies.

Acoustical Society of America's study shows that the mothers used a higher pitch and varied their pitch more when interacting with their child than with adults, while fathers did not show the same pattern, but instead talked to their children using intonation patterns more like when they talked to other adults.

Language Areas in The Brain

The mechanism of how human brain processes the language to express and comprehend the verbal, written, gestures and symbols is still a mystery.

Researcher Mark VanDam said that this isn't a bad thing at all, it's not a failing of the fathers, and he thinks, that maybe, fathers are doing things that are conducive to their children's learning, but in a different sort of way.

He added that fathers by speaking to their children more like adults might act as a link to the outside world by helping them to deal with unfamiliar speech.

Furthermore, the fathers' less frequent use of classic babytalk doesn't mean that they aren't modifying their speech in other ways by using different vocabulary, changing the volume or duration of their speech. VanDam believes the age and sex of the child might also influence the father's interactions.

Source: Medindia

Motherese

Motherese, a special speech and language pattern adopted by people when talking to infants and small children, helps the child in language acquisition. Other terms used are child-directed speech, parentese and caregiver speech.

<< People Who Think Alike Tend To Mimic Each Other’s Speech Pat...

High Blood Pressure Most Common Risk Factor for Heart Diseas... >>

Stuttering

Stuttering, stammering or disfluency is a speech disorder that can hamper communication and affect a person's quality of life. Its impact can be treated effectively by stuttering therapy.