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Infants understand language via rhythm and tone rather than individual sounds

theguardian.com

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Re: Infants understand language via rhythm and tone rather than individual sounds

#81

Post by GenerocUsername »

EGreg wrote: post #76
gnicholas wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh sure, but they're presumably not using sing-song baby language, or perhaps singing songs all that much.

Who says that sing-songy language is necessary? Kids actually crave being taken seriously like adults and teachers who do that are often well liked! My actual question is … how to develop good humor and playfulness in kids? Some people grow up with somewhat stunted senses of humor it seems. Is there something one can do? Research?

Difference between toddlers and kids.

Re: Infants understand language via rhythm and tone rather than individual sounds

#82

Post by OfSanguineFire »

theNJR wrote: post #70
gnicholas wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh sure, but they're presumably not using sing-song baby language, or perhaps singing songs all that much.

Im in the midst of reading Pinkers the Language Instinct and the basic thesis is that language is innate. Preventing language would be like preventing eating. The sing-song thing is cultural but powerful. It’s hard (for me) to not default to it with my one year old. Edit: LOL I clearly commented before reading the article.

We know of cases where, due to living early years in isolation, a human being was prevented from learning full-fledged language, e.g. Genie.[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child)

Re: Infants understand language via rhythm and tone rather than individual sounds

#83

Post by 2Gkashmiri »

EGreg wrote: post #80
2Gkashmiri wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a family with a lot of kids. Their neighbour was living with his small family somewhere else for a year where their kids had the sibling and grandparents to talk to. The younger of two had speech problems. Then they returned home and the neighbour kids made both of them to talk in a matter of weeks and months.

So is this confirming my point? Sorry, I am a bit confused who made who talk etc.

My relatives who had the bunch of kids and their neighbour who had two kids who wouldnt talk.

Re: Infants understand language via rhythm and tone rather than individual sounds

#84

Post by [deleted] »

jstarfish wrote: post #21
corethree wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe more complex songs and songs with big words can make the baby more articulate. Maybe rap will have other effects. I wonder what's the effect of playing baby songs and exposing the baby to dumbed down versions of everything.

Haven't there been a bunch of studies about this sort of thing? Lyrics aren't relevant to someone who doesn't understand language. Voice is just another instrument. Syllables are just notes. Classical music is frequently cited as beneficial to learning and it has no lyrics. Nobody has ever suggested rap music is intellectually stimulating in any context, and they use a lot of words. Even on rats in mazes, blasting th…

[deleted]

Re: Infants understand language via rhythm and tone rather than individual sounds

#85

Post by CSMastermind »

harry_ord wrote: post #75
CSMastermind wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Might as well be raising a dog and a dolphin. That made me chuckle. But it's possible for siblings not to share any genetic material right? A brother and a sister would obviously get different genes from their father and presumably there would be a 50/50 chance of them getting different genes from their mother. There's four unique prototypes of children any two people can produce together.

> But it's possible for siblings not to share any genetic material right? Kinda but the mother always provides the mitochondria.

I think that's an area of open research: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1810946115

But yes, that's a good distinction I should have made!

Re: Infants understand language via rhythm and tone rather than individual sounds

#87

Post by [deleted] »

bloopernova wrote: post #47
jstarfish wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haven't there been a bunch of studies about this sort of thing? Lyrics aren't relevant to someone who doesn't understand language. Voice is just another instrument. Syllables are just notes. Classical music is frequently cited as beneficial to learning and it has no lyrics. Nobody has ever suggested rap music is intellectually stimulating in any context, and they use a lot of words. Even on rats in mazes, blasting th…

I am deeply offended on behalf of Aesop Rock right now. When braggadocio to go from mostly jokey to gross Corrode a homie 'til his probity is notably ghost

[deleted]

Re: Infants understand language via rhythm and tone rather than individual sounds

#88

Post by gardenhedge »

jacobolus wrote: post #73
gardenhedge wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone talks to their babies a lot. What does "it's boring at our house" mean?

> Everyone talks to their babies a lot Most people talk to their babies at least sometimes, but observing families there are huge differences between how much people talk to their babies, how they talk to them, what subjects they talk about, how many different languages they use, etc.

Is this your observations or a study?

Re: Infants understand language via rhythm and tone rather than individual sounds

#89

Post by harry_ord »

CSMastermind wrote: post #85
harry_ord wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But it's possible for siblings not to share any genetic material right? Kinda but the mother always provides the mitochondria.

I think that's an area of open research: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1810946115 But yes, that's a good distinction I should have made!

Oh that's cool. Now I have something new to read thanks.

Re: Infants understand language via rhythm and tone rather than individual sounds

#90

Post by starcraft2wol »

dzolob wrote: post #13

I just sang, sang, sang anything that came to my mind. About mountains, clouds, courage, poo… It was just love pouring out of my heart, and I don’t know if it had something to do with it, but my kid started talking very early on and very well. The best thing is was that I got to know him very soon, while my peers and their daughters/sons still were kind of communicating.

Being better than your peers always brings a warm feeling.
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