Long before they speak their first word, around one year of age, babies learn their native language. You can see how carefully they listen and respond to speech, especially exaggerated intonations and singing songs, which have been shown to help with language acquisition. It’s likely that melodies also play a special role: varied songs like “Bi-ba-Butzemann” are even linked to a broader vocabulary in the second year of life, as a study published in October showed.
“Look” at the brain
The fact that a lot happens in the development of language in the first months of life can be seen through behavior and proven through experiments. This is why we know that babies understand individual words as early as four to six months of age. For several years now, it has been possible to examine more or less directly what happens in the brain during language acquisition and what neural processes are behind it: with the help of brain wave analysis (EEG). A study of this type recently showed that even newborns can distinguish their mother tongue from other languages, which means that the learning process begins even before birth.
Researchers led by Usha Goswami of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom also used brain wave measurements in their study, which has just been published in the journal Nature Communications. They wanted to determine when babies can recognize phonetic features. Sounds are considered the smallest elements of language. Your knowledge is necessary to be able to form meaningful words and sentences.
Rhythm instead of sounds
The team measured the brain waves of the same 50 babies aged four, seven and 11 months while children’s songs were played on videos. These recordings were compared with measurements taken on adults who also listened to these songs. The pattern of activity shows how babies and adults perceive what they hear. The comparison showed that the first phonetic features of language are not mapped in the brain until seven months of age, although babies already understand simple words at this point. Even after that – at eleven months of age – progress in this aspect is quite slow. Many children are already saying individual words at this point.
Center for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge Baby with pacifier and EEG cap
The study authors conclude that learning specific sounds and their characteristics is not as crucial to language acquisition as one might assume. Presumably, other acoustic signals help with learning, for example the rhythm of speech, as it arises from the change in intonation or the rise and fall of the voice – these variations can already be heard by fetuses in the womb.
Goswami and his team are currently investigating this aspect of language learning as part of a large project, the “BabyRhythm Project”, in order to discover, among other things, what could be behind some language development disorders. They have already discovered that babies process rhythmic aspects of language as early as two months of age. According to a study published in August, how well they can do this is linked to their future language skills.
Structure for the language
“We believe that the rhythm of speech is the glue that supports the development of a well-functioning language system,” explains the neuroscientist in a press release. Rhythm is like a structure into which babies incorporate phonetic information. For example, they learn the typical pattern of English words like “mommy” or “daddy,” with emphasis on the first syllable. These patterns can be used to determine when a word begins and when it ends.
Anything that reinforces these rhythms, e.g. B. songs or rhymes are therefore useful for babies. According to the researcher, parents should talk to their babies as much as possible and sing children’s songs to them. Since every language in the world has a certain rhythm, this happens automatically for most people: “We are programmed to emphasize this as soon as we talk to babies.”