Babies begin learning language in the womb

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Science Daily reports findings from a new study which suggest that infants begin picking up elements of what will be their first language in the womb, long before their first babble or coo, and are able to memorize sounds from the external world by the last trimester of pregnancy, with a particular sensitivity to melody contour in both music and language. Newborns prefer their mother's voice over other voices and perceive the emotional content of messages conveyed via intonation contours in maternal speech (a.k.a. 'motherese'). 'The dramatic finding of this study is that not only are human neonates capable of producing different cry melodies, but they prefer to produce those melody patterns that are typical for the ambient language they have heard during their fetal life, within the last trimester of gestation,' said Kathleen Wermke of the University of Würzburg in Germany. Wermke's team recorded and analyzed the cries of 60 healthy newborns, 30 born into French-speaking families and 30 born into German-speaking families, when they were three to five days old. The recordings of 2,500 cries as mothers changed babies' diapers, readied babies for feeding or otherwise interacted with the youngsters show an extremely early impact of native language, with analysis revealing clear differences in the shape of the newborns' cry melodies, based on their mother tongue.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091105092607.htm

More info of impact of native language: http://usnews.com/science/articles/2009/11/05/newborn-babies-may-cry-in-their-mo...
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Tyrannous
  • added November 07, 2009

13 comments // Babies begin learning language in the womb

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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toRIkRa1fYU&feature=r...

    We watched something in our philosophy class regarding the fact that your genetics is determined - to a certain degree - by what your parents and grandparents do, so this isn't that exciting (to me, anyways).

    For example, you may have two different mental disorders - both from the exact same section of the 15th chromosone or whatever - depending on whether the genetic fault is in the mom or the dad.

    Here's a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toRIkRa1fYU&feature=related

    It's called "The Ghost in your Genes"

    CalPal
    1 comment on this
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    I wonder what Chomsky has to say about this?

    thecoyote23
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    http://current.com/items/91360614_planned-parenthood...
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    Current Developing Story: http://current.com/items/91360614_planned-parenthood-leader-resigns-after-watchi...

    HowdyDo
  •  

    I think humans are very audial creatures . Consider the complexity of our music . I totally recognized my sons' voice when he was born , I could have picked him out of any number of babies . That alone was how I knew him , as I could not see him right away . This might help explain why .

    artemis6
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    So don't cuss or say profanity when your pregnant :P

    But seriously I always believed that listening to good music and eating/doing healthy things was always beneficial during pregnancy for the child in the long run, but never did I think about the language. Maybe taking up language courses during pregnancy would be a great idea.

    FishaHouse777
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    This is not news. I don't know why this matters. Its just a wad of flesh until it takes its first breath......Or even after, I believe what Obama believes......

    LiberalismLacksLogic
    2 comments on this
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    I'm not sure this is a topic most of the folks on current want to see. It doesn't go well with the views of the left. It might make people think about stuff...

    2helenahandbasket
    1 comment on this
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    I believed that babies learn languages when they are inside their mother's womb...for example is a girl named Joan Afable...she was only seven months old when she first talk to me fluently in Tagalog... when she is only four moths old, she already understand everything that i said...

    I am still thinking how she talk fluent Tagalog if she is only seven month old? She ask me while i am holding her on how to walk...silly? no...just the fact that some babies learn too fast...

    JaneBond007
  •  

    Of course they do !

    artemis6

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