Babies cry with an accent says new study

November 5, 2009 by Baby Chums  
Filed under: News

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The cries of newborn babies already mimic the regional accent their mothers speak, according to a new study.

The study suggests that newborns prefer their mother’s voice over other voices and that babies are eavesdropping on conversations while still in the womb, primarily picking up mom’s accent.

Other studies have proven that babies can recognise tunes and voices they hear in the womb. This study however is the first to suggest that they are copying speech patterns.

Babies can distinguish between languages with different rhythms and pitch changes. Researchers found that French newborns tend to cry with rising melody patterns, slowly increase in pitch from the beginning to the end. German newborns prefer falling melodies.

Dr Kathleen Wermke of the University of Wurzburg in Germany with colleagues studied the first five days of life focusing on the babies cries.

“We think that language development starts with crying,” she said.

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