In a new study, scientists show that “Baby Language”, which consists of the sounds adults make when communicating with babies, works the same way all over the world.
The study, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, is the most comprehensive study of its kind, analyzing more than 1,600 records from more than 400 people from 21 different societies around the world. The research includes 18 different languages spanning six continents and ultimately reveals that when interacting with babies, people change the way they speak in ways that are almost universal across cultures.
Senior author of the study, Dr. “In all countries, people use a louder voice when speaking to babies than when speaking to adults,” Samuel Mehr said in a statement. “But in some societies the difference in pitch is much greater than in others. Some of the biggest differences are in New Zealand English, while the influences of other languages, such as Hadza in Tanzania, are smaller.”
In addition to using a higher and more variable pitch, people often use a musical voice when talking to babies, sing with a purer tone, and change the tempo of speech. It was found that infant speech differs from adult speech in 11 ways.
In this new study, researchers examined 51,065 people from 187 countries who spoke 199 different languages. They aimed to determine whether the differences between infant speech and adult speech were also clear to the public.
“While there is variability and cultural influence in infant speech, there seems to be some pervasive standard that probably stems from our biology,” Hilton says. And we think it depends on their social context.”
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