Babies Learn Language Best Through Sing-Song Speech

New research suggests that parents should use sing-song speech, such as nursery rhymes, with their babies, as it aids language development.

According to a study by the University of Cambridge, it reveals that rhythmic speech plays a crucial role in language acquisition during a child’s first months. Phonetic information, longed believed to be the foundation of language, is not reliably processed until around seven months of age, whereas rhythmic information helps babies recognize word boundaries beginning at 2 months.

Key Facts:

  1. Babies learn language more effectively through rhythmic speech, emphasizing word boundaries.
  2. Phonetic information is not fully processed until around seven months of age.
  3. Rhythmic information is a universal aspect of all languages and aids language development.

The researchers stated that parents should speak to their babies using sing-song speech, like nursery rhymes, as soon as possible. That’s because babies learn languages from rhythmic information, not phonetic information, in their first months.

“Rhythmic speech helps babies learn language by emphasizing the boundaries of individual words and is effective even in the first months of life.”

Cambridge neuroscientist, Professor Usha Goswami, explained that rhythm is a universal aspect of every language all over the world. Credit: Neuroscience News

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and Trinity College Dublin investigated babies’ ability to process phonetic information during their first year.

Goswami believes that it is rhythmic information – the stress or emphasis on different syllables of words and the rise and fall of tone – that is the key to language learning.

“We believe that speech rhythm information is the hidden glue underpinning the development of a well-functioning language system,” said Goswami.

“Infants can use rhythmic information like a scaffold or skeleton to add phonetic information on to. For example, they might learn that the rhythm pattern of English words is typically strong-weak, as in ‘daddy’ or ‘mummy’, with the stress on the first syllable. They can use this rhythm pattern to guess where one word ends and another begins when listening to natural speech.”

“Parents should talk and sing to their babies as much as possible or use infant directed speech like nursery rhymes because it will make a difference to language outcome,” she added.

About this neuroscience and language learning research news Author: Charis Goodyear Source: University of Cambridge December 1, 2023

Babies Learn Language Best Through Sing-Song Speech