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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home
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AGoodStory
Joined: 26 Feb 2010
Posts: 738
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 Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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Her explanation of why babies say "da-da" before "ma-ma" seems out of step with current research and thinking. While I have not read extensively in this area, everything I have read suggests that the ease/difficulty of sound production explains that order of first sounds, and that when baby first says "da-da," it is pure vocalization. (Usually highly rewarded vocalization, however!) So I was a bit surprised by her psychosocial explanation.
However, I totally agree with her larger message about parents allowing children time for play rather than pushing them for early achievement. So many parents do not realize that the imaginative play of young children provides the foundation (and the brain development) for learning that will sustain them throughout their lives.
Any chance of a picture of the little one, naturegirl? |
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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home
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| Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 3:44 pm Post subject: |
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| AGoodStory wrote: |
Her explanation of why babies say "da-da" before "ma-ma" seems out of step with current research and thinking. While I have not read extensively in this area, everything I have read suggests that the ease/difficulty of sound production explains that order of first sounds, and that when baby first says "da-da," it is pure vocalization. (Usually highly rewarded vocalization, however!) So I was a bit surprised by her psychosocial explanation.
However, I totally agree with her larger message about parents allowing children time for play rather than pushing them for early achievement. So many parents do not realize that the imaginative play of young children provides the foundation (and the brain development) for learning that will sustain them throughout their lives.
Any chance of a picture of the little one, naturegirl? |
I also heard that da-da was simply easier for their little mouths to say. |
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AGoodStory
Joined: 26 Feb 2010
Posts: 738
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| Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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| I also heard that da-da was simply easier for their little mouths to say. |
I had an aunt who refused to believe this, and took great offense when her son started saying "da-da," instead of "ma-ma." As a stay-at-home mom who had given up a career, she seemed to think that her infant should acknowledge her first, phonetics be damned. She imagined it as a rejection, and I'm not sure that she ever forgave him for it.
She was from the (slightly) wackier, grudge-holding side of the family. But I digress. |
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QWilliam
Joined: 19 Sep 2011
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 3:56 am Post subject: |
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| Interesting, thanks for the link |
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LongShiKong
Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 1082
Location: China
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| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 10:26 am Post subject: |
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Is learning language just mimicking?
Golinkoff: Great question. If it were all mimicking, why would kids say, "I have two feets" or "Allison hates mommy?" Surely, they don't hear us say things like that. And some children never imitate, even when we tell them to. No, it's much more complicated. Children have to hear language to analyze it and figure out the rules that underlie the sentences they hear. Children are very active in their process of learning language and it's far from monkey see, monkey do. |
This is why I think Scholastics is far ahead of their competition by introducing kid lit into their EFL schools--most coursebooks for pre-primary students, even Longman Schools, are sadly lacking in the essential narratives that captivate kids interest and enthusiasm.
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I've read where the origin of 'mama' relates to breastfeeding. In Chinese, a language loaded with onomatopoeia, the word for milk is 'nai' and for cow, it's 'niu' and most animal names are onomatopoeia. Incidentally, mama and baba have been adopted by the Chinese as well as byebye. Is it just coincidence that 'me,' 'mom' and 'milk' start with 'm'?
Having considered how the basic pronunciation patterns in Chinese differ from those of English, I've come to the conclusion that diet has a significant role in language development. There's less jaw movement and more curled tongue movement which equates to the eating of rice or soup.
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Here's something else on babies and language learning:
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Accent on Crying
...French babies cry with rising tones, while the German babies cry with falling tones...because of what the fetus is able to hear in the womb. The German and French language have different tone and melody; this is mimicked by new borns and reflected in their cries. |
Listen to this segment: http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/episode/2009/11/21/countdown-to-copenhagen-a-crocodile-world-accent-on-crying-vampire-spiders-name-your-poison/# |
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santi84
Joined: 14 Mar 2008
Posts: 1317
Location: under da sea
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| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm also a little skeptical when people insist that "dada" is often first because daddy is more fun/excitable - my son said dada too, but here it's "papa". |
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SahanRiddhi
Joined: 18 Sep 2010
Posts: 267
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| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 6:50 pm Post subject: |
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| In most languages, the common terms for mother and father are among the easiest-to-pronounce for babies. Mama, mommy, dada, papa, baba. They were the first syllables coming from the babies' mouths in the caveman era, so boom, they stuck. |
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santi84
Joined: 14 Mar 2008
Posts: 1317
Location: under da sea
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| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 7:08 pm Post subject: |
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My son said dada a lot, but there was no connection to "papa", the man. Funny enough, his first real word(s) finally came out as... "SIMBA"  So much for me and dada. It's our dog's name. And he pointed to the doggie dish, not the dog.
Has anyone seen that Simpsons episode where Homer's brother invents a baby language translator, inspired by baby Maggie?
He tells Maggie, "Thank you for being my inspiration, I will give you anything $ you want".
Maggie says: "Dada baba gaga lalala"
Translation: "I want what the dog's having" (dog eating from it's bowl).
I'm sure that's what most babies probably think, rather than appreciating us parents  |
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