Baby Talk

The world of language is so fascinating and complex. It is hard to believe that a baby or small child acquires language naturally. In class, I learned that babies are born knowing all phonological sounds. And as they grow older, they forget the ones they don’t use in their native language.

Tasha, one of my classmates, also presented on a doctor’s research of newborn baby cries as a means of communication. With everything I have learned about language so far, I can totally believe this is true. I believe that humans naturally want to communicate. So it makes sense to me that a baby would want to communicate the best way it knew how - through crying. And therefore, each cry would have a different sound as to communicate different things.

Another thing I thought about while reading this chapter is how parents always seem to think that the main way a child learns how to speak correctly is through imitation. But sometimes, no matter how many times a parent repeats themselves, the child will still not fully understand what they are saying. People really underestimate how children think. We consider them to be not as smart as us, but really they have complex thoughts and ideas just like we do. As they learn a language, they will be able to pick up on the rules and mechanisms but will apply them in a different way. To me, the way children talk sometimes is like how cavemen are portrayed to have talked in prehistoric times. There is a structure to how children speak, it is just not deemed as “correct” by adults and the “rules” of grammar.

This chapter reminds me of an episode from The Office when Kevin is talking about speaking with his mechanic and says, “Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick?” I feel like children naturally try to simplify language and say sentences in the way that is easiest for them. Then, we the adults come in with all of these “rules” and try to change the natural flow of their speaking. I feel as if there are too many “rules” sometimes, but I guess it is necessary to set a standard. I just think the “rules” hinder people from expressing themselves and can make people feel less intelligent because they are told they are speaking incorrectly.