To lisp with children or not? Scientists have put an end to this problem

There is a prevailing opinion in society that lisp affects a child’s speech development and therefore it is necessary to speak extremely clearly and distinctly with children from infancy. Yet few people lisp with their baby! Scientists from the University of Florida decided to look into this question.

Keep messing with the baby

Humans have always changed their voices when communicating with babies. The voice becomes high and expressive, the words are pronounced slowly, with exaggerated emotions and intonations. It turns out this is a good thing.

Scientists from the University of Florida found that babies like this type of language more than usual. Babies learn to talk thanks to a lisp.

When we speak to babies in that odd, slightly squeaky tone, we seem to be mimicking baby talk, the sounds coming from the baby’s vocal tract. In this way we teach the child how to imitate sounds and how to speak. He finds it easier to imitate adults when he hears sounds he could pronounce himself.

The researchers played two types of audio recordings to infants between the ages of six and eight months – a normal adult voice and a mimicry of the children’s vocal tract. The children showed a very strong and consistent preference for the second species.

At the same time, babies aged four to six months preferred neither the first nor the second voice. Scientists suspect that babies at this age are not yet interested in language. And older children are already babbling and learning to control their voices, which is why they are drawn to lisp.

“It seems to stimulate the motor part of language activity, not just language perception. It’s not just goo-goo and ha-ha,” said Matthew Masapollo, one of the study’s authors.

So feel free to keep lisping with the child until everyone is happy with it!

Source: econet.ru

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