Short phrases, lengthening of syllables, melodious and sharp tones, repetition of words, exaggerated gestures, babbles ... everything we do when we approach a baby and that, indeed, they seem to love, is like more They like to talk to them.
Except for important disorders, babies are born with the linguistic ability to listen and learn a language (or several), and we know that their brain structure is more prepared to recognize certain patterns, such as the repetition of syllables.
Well, your brain is also prepared to receive that way of speaking preferentially, that is, these stimuli reach the baby better than if we spoke normally to an adult.
In fact, have you not noticed the children around you? His reaction is totally different, if we talk to an adult as normal, he looks at us with a strange face and almost as if he doesn't hear us. On the other hand, if we make all those linguistic and gestural pranks to address them as a baby, their response is immediate, with laughter, babble, movements ... It is because they like it.
But this personal observation is supported by numerous studies, such as that conducted by Thiessen, a leading researcher of children's speech and its acquisition mechanisms. Different studies conclude that among babies who have heard conversations with a normal tone and conversations with the typical tone, they recognized before the words mentioned with that characteristic childish language.
That is talk to them like babies enhances their language learning. Therefore, they were prepared for different conversations (adult type and baby type) showed a clear preference for the specific speech addressed to children. How wise nature is! Can you imagine our remote ancestors "talking" to their babies like this? It would not be surprising, even the monkeys do it ...
