Babies May Pick Up Language Cues In Womb

[Kyles Mom]

Babies May Pick Up Language Cues In Womb

by Nell Greenfieldboyce



The distinctive sounds of a newborn's first cries may be influenced by the mother tongue of its parents.

A new study of over a thousand recorded cries from 30 French newborns and 30 German newborns found differences in the cries' melody patterns. French cries tended to have a rising melody, while the German cries tended to have a falling melody.

The finding suggests that newborns just a few days old may already be trying to imitate the prevailing intonation patterns of the language they heard while still in the womb.

"I think French and German are quite different with respect to their intonation patterns," says Kathleen Wermke of the Center for Prespeech Development and Developmental Disorders at the University of Wurzburg in Germany. She says that in French, intonation is characterized by a pitch rise at the end of words or phrases, while the German language has a falling pattern.

Those differences are mirrored in the differences seen in newborns' cries, according to a report in the journal Current Biology.

Imitation May Enhance Bonding

Of course, both groups of infants were capable of producing different types of cries, says Wermke.

But in general, she says, "the dramatic finding was that the French prefer to produce those having their pitch maximum at the end, while the Germans did not."

Newborns are likely highly motivated to imitate their mothers in order to enhance bonding, she and her colleagues argue.

"If we would have compared German and English newborns, we probably would have found not such a strong difference," says Wermke, because their intonation patterns are more similar to each other.

A Surprising Amount Of Vocal Control

Previous studies have already shown that newborns appear to show a preference for melodies that they heard prenatally. And Toben Mintz, associate professor of psychology and linguistics at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, says scientists already knew that newborns can distinguish different languages, probably based on rhythmic patterns.

"But what is really novel about this study is showing that they can actually produce these patterns in their cries," Mintz says. "Crying is not linguistic, yet they seem to be echoing the acoustic patterns that they've heard either in utero or every early on, very early exposure, right after birth."

He says it's surprising that such young infants have this degree of vocal control. "That is quite astonishing that they can do this so early on, and it suggests some sort of innate mechanisms that form this link," he says.

Even though most new parents concentrate on trying to stop a baby's crying, Wermke says, the take-home message for her is that people should also listen more carefully and truly appreciate the complexity of a baby's first sounds.

"I think we should be more aware that crying is a language itself," she says, "and the baby is really trying to communicate with us by its first sounds already."

[momtoo]

"I think we should be more aware that crying is a language itself," she says, "and the baby is really trying to communicate with us by its first sounds already."

I agree with what she said in the above sentence - babies have different kinds of cry depending on what he/she needs - whether he/she is hungry, bored, overstimulated, wet, need a hug, etc. - we just need to learn to distinguish.

[LDSMom]

I loved learning about the Dunstan Baby Language program - It helped me so much!  http://www.dunstanbaby.com/

"From the age of five, Priscilla demonstrated an unusual connection with sound. Already an exceptional violinist, she could hear a piece by Mozart once, then play it back in its entirety. Her father, Director of the Educational Testing Centre at the University of New South Wales, found that his young daughter had an eidetic memory – a photographic memory for sound.

During her teenage years Priscilla toured throughout Europe and Australia as an accomplished concert violinist. Priscilla then spent more than 10 years exploring the world of opera, where her talent as a mezzo-soprano deepened her understanding of sound produced by the body.

It was years later, when Priscilla gave birth to her son Tomas, the true significance of her gift emerged. Her instincts as a mother and her connection to sound led her to believe that a baby’s cries had to be something more than just random sounds. Noting combinations of sounds in a journal, Priscilla explored various settling techniques and observed Tom’s reactions. Eventually she was able to recognize patterns, and identify how specific cries had a distinct need attached to them.

After her own experience with Tom, her theory was tested with over a thousand babies of 30+ nationalities. 9 years of observation and intervention research then led to 3 independent international studies, confirming the existence of a universal baby language - the Dunstan Baby Language.

The Dunstan System has already impacted parent’s lives around the world. Now, we hope you will enjoy discovering your baby’s world of sound for yourself"

[momtoo]

It was years later, when Priscilla gave birth to her son Tomas, the true significance of her gift emerged. Her instincts as a mother and her connection to sound led her to believe that a baby’s cries had to be something more than just random sounds. Noting combinations of sounds in a journal, Priscilla explored various settling techniques and observed Tom’s reactions. Eventually she was able to recognize patterns, and identify how specific cries had a distinct need attached to them.

After her own experience with Tom, her theory was tested with over a thousand babies of 30+ nationalities. 9 years of observation and intervention research then led to 3 independent international studies, confirming the existence of a universal baby language - the Dunstan Baby Language.

I wonder if the patterns she observed are similar to the patterns that Tracy Hogg (Baby whisperer) shares in her book: http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Baby-Whisperer-Connect-Communicate/dp/0345440900. Has anybody watched both videos (Dunstan and Baby whisperer)?

[LDSMom]

I'm not sure about the baby whisperer, I've never read her book, but the Dunstan Language helped me tremendously. I originally saw it aired on Oprah and was fascinated. This was before I had my first kid. I started noticing the distinct sounds babies were making around me, I could tell when they were crying for hunger "neh" or needed a burp "eh". Infact, my sister (who wouldn't listen to me about the baby language) had a fussy little baby, and one day I was babysitting him and I noticed that he was doing the "eh" cry a lot! so i just kept burping him and sure enough he just had bubbles in him. The different sounds babies make can sound so similar but if you know what to listen to, you can really pick it out.  My baby was a very well behaved little guy, but one day he was crying and fussing and doing the sound for discomfort "heh" I changed him, put lotion on, gave him a massage, tired warming him up and cooling him down, looked him up and down to see if he had a scratch or tag that was bothering him, then I noticed a piece of my hair had gotten wrapped really tight around his little toe. It took me a bit to get it off, and once I did he immediately calmed down and went back to being his normal self again. Had I not known about the "heh" discomfort sound, I would have tried feeding him, burping him, putting him down for a nap, etc. Instead I was able to narrow down the reasons for his cry and we were able to get on our merry way. 

[laughingwater]

That is a fascinating article.  I had never heard that babies cries differed based on their mother's language. Thanks for sharing it.

I did read and implement Tracy Hogg's approach in the Baby Wisperer. She also advocates carefully listening to your babies sounds and identifying the differences.  But I have not seen the video of the different cries.  If anyone has the Dunstan Language DVD I would love to borrow it and hear the different cries distinguished.

[nhockaday]

Speaking of crying, have you guys heard of the new iphone cry translator app? http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/iphone-app-translates-babys-crying/story?id=9014485

I tell you, some people will do anything to make a buck.

[Kyles Mom]

As for the main topic, those who watched the My Brillaint Brain: born genius video can see this is absolultely possible for the baby to acquire it in womb, i mean music is more complicated than language but they are able to do so...

[mum23]

Hi

Can anyone share with how can where can i get the " let baby learn during prenancy gadgets?" 

I have been searching for the gadgets where prenant mum can communicate with their unborn baby and hear their heart beat.

[momtoo]

hi mum23,

this forum topic might help you: http://forum.brillkids.com/prenatal-education/anybody-expecting-using-babyplus/msg101/#msg101

here is the website: http://www.babyplus.com/

here is price comparisons: http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&q=babyplus&price1=100.00&price2=200.00&lnk=prsugg

as to hearing the heartbeat (product description also says you can record your heartbeat), here is the link:
http://www.google.com/products?q=baby+heartbeat+monitor&hl=en&aq=3&oq=baby+h
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/237707/bebesounds_prenatal_heart_listener.html?cat=52

[mum23]

Hi Mumtoo

You have been a great help.

Thanks for the info and link suggested.

Cheers
Mum23

[laughingwater]

When I was pregnant I had a monitor that I could listen to my babies heart beat - but I could never distibguish between it and the sounds of my stomach. I just found that frustrating.  It also had a microphone that I could put on my belly and play music or my husband or I could talk to the baby. Unfortunately I gave it away - I would have liked to play music for my next one now.  I wonder if an unborn baby can hear music around me, or just if I put the microphone up to my tummy.  I play alot of music for my 13 month old - maybe my unborn baby can benefit from that?  I have heard that the sound volume inside the womb is equivalent to standing next to a vacuum cleaner in operation - which is pretty loud. I'm not sure that I would be able to hear music over the noise of a vacuum cleaner.

[mum23]

Hi Laughingwriter

When i was pregnant with my daughter, Kathleen 6 years ago, i listen to a lot of wordshiping songs. 

And the result was, whenever she cries, the songs just work wonders to calm her down.  And now that she is 5, though she does not know the lyrics, but as long as i played the music, she would be able to catch up on the rythme.......

So, answering to your question, since you play a lot of music with ur kid now, the one in the womb will definitely benefit from it.

[Kyles Mom]

I was reading from the Quran, memorising a chapter fromit when I was pregnant with Kyle and the result was he calm down with the recitation of it too!
And I have seen this work with newborns too, when I sing a fav song of mine when a cousin was born he got attached and whenever hes crying the minute I start singing it he calms down!!!

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