From their first days of life, the cry of newborns already contains the mark of the language their parents speak, according to a new study from the University of Würzburg in Germany published in the journalCurrent Biology. According to Kathleen Wermke, responsible for the work, “the key finding of this study is that theneonateshumans are not onlycapable of producing different crying melodiesrather, they prefer to produce those melody patterns that are typical of the language of the environment that they have heard during their fetal life, especially during the last trimester of pregnancy. “
To reach this conclusion, the researchers recorded and analyzed the cries of 60 healthy newborns, 30 born in French-speaking families and 30 in German-speaking families, when they were between 3 and 5 days old. The analysis revealedclear differences in the melodies of the cry of newborns according to the mother tongue. In particular, French newborns tend to cry with an ascending melodic profile whereas Germans seem to prefer a descending one in their crying. These patterns are consistent with the characteristic differences between the two languages, Wermke notes.
“That hemelodic profilebeing the only aspect of mothers’ language that newborns can imitate would explain why it occurs at such a young age, “the researchers conclude.
How many languages are spoken in the world?
Being bilingual delays Alzheimer’s
The benefits of being bilingual are appreciated from the age of two
