Close Topic Options

Baby Talk

Baby talk in any language: Shifting the timbre of our voices. When talking with their young infants, parents instinctively use 'baby talk,' a unique form of speech including exaggerated pitch contours and short, repetitive phrases. Now, researchers have found another unique feature of the way mothers talk to their babies: they shift the timbre of their voice in a rather specific way. The findings hold true regardless of a mother's native language. Source 3i.

Talk Baby

When we have an emotional interest in the target of our words, we change the timbre/tone of our voices. This applies to babies, pets, lovers, friends, strangers & enemies and is a normal, instinctual response to different social and environmental conditions. This is not a news flash, since this effect has been documented and studied as far back as the 1800s. Also, the same pattern of tonal change towards children is seen in fathers voices, as well. It is not seen in all mothers, depending on the circumstances of the relationship with the baby. Mothers who -for whatever reason- do not care for the baby do not exhibit the same tonal changes when communicating with their offspring. Search : "Emotional Relationships between Mothers* and Infants: Knowns, Unknowns, and Unknown Unknowns" for examples of such changes.