(life) how early does language start?

[karenstanleyma-3]

I thought of the discussion on this list about young children exposed to multiple languages when I listened to a National Public Radio (US) clip that shows there is some evidence that babies' cries tend to mimic the common stress and intonation patterns in the language they hear while in the womb.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120131516

brief excerpt:
---
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.
---

Karen

[Margaret Orleans-2]

--- On Sat, 11/7/09, karenstanleyma <karen.stanley@...> wrote:


> I listened to a National Public Radio (US) clip that shows
> there is some evidence that babies' cries tend to mimic the
> common stress and intonation patterns in the language they
> hear while in the womb.

Interesting. This throws some light on a child-rearing experience I had in China.  Friends told us that diapers are unnecessary because babies make certain cries that tell their parents when they are ready to urinate or defecate, but our adopted daughter was probably using Chinese intonation patterns she had acquired _in utero_ and that's why we didn't recognize them.

Another interesting article--actually a multi-part interview--about children's brains and learning:

<http://bigthink.com/bigthinkeditor/the-remarkable-intelligence-of-infants>

--Peg

Karen:
> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120131516
>

[Terence Egan]

That's true (babies and diapers) for some Chinese Margaret. Others don't seem to have heard about it (the diversity of China again).

My wife had our daughter toilet-trained by the time she was 5 weeks old. She'd make her faces and then we'd sit her on the potty. All very tidy. The only time we used diapers was when we were making a long trip outside. Even then, that only continued for about 3 months.

I could count the number of soiling experiences we had on one hand and a couple of those were mistakes (LPG) and near misses.

Terence Egan


--- Margaret Orleans wrote:
Friends told us that diapers are unnecessary because babies make certain cries that tell their parents when they are ready to urinate or defecate, but our adopted daughter was probably using Chinese intonation patterns she had acquired _in utero_ and that's why we didn't recognize them.