Babies cry in their mother tongue

clipped from www.timesonline.co.uk Study shows unborn babies cry in their mother tongue Now research carried out in Germany suggests that babies develop a capacity for language much earlier than was previously thought. “Our study shows the importance of crying for seeding language development,” said Professor Kathleen Wermke, who led the research at the University of Würzburg. clipped from www.livescience.com Prenatal exposure Prenatal exposure to language was known to influence newborns. For instance, past research showed they preferred their mother's voice over those of others. Imitating Mom The way babies imitate melody patterns relies just on a command over their voiceboxes they had before birth, instead of the more advanced control of their vocal tracts they need for vowel sounds. As such, they can begin mimicking their mothers "at that early age," said researcher Kathleen Wermke, a medical anthropologist at the University of Würzburg in Germany. clipped from scienceblogs.com clipped from www.cell.com Newborns' Cry Melody Is Shaped by Their Native Language