Different Aspects of Babbling - Case Study Example

Introduction Babbling is one of the most loving activities performed by infants. Parents love the babbling sounds so much that they talk to infants in babbling like sounds. People think that the sounds in babbling are meaningless and are just a part of infant’s play. However, the fact is that infants use babbling as a stepping stone towards learning language and becoming social. An in depth study of different aspects of babbling like rhythm, sounds, intonations and syllables reveal that babbling is not just a mouth play but a part of language acquisition skill. Definition Babble is chaotic speech-like sound made of syllables and word-like sounds produced by infants (Oller 2000). The sounds produced during babbling indicate that the infant is trying to communicate his emerging thought pattern and is trying to talk like adults (Oller 2000). Even though words and sentences are not part of infant babble, the sounds in babbling indicate that the infants are making effort to achieve the “level of human understanding that only language seems to provide” (Oller 2000). It has been found that the world over, the first word that children usually learn are the names of their father and mother (O’Grady 2005). Infants use the sound ‘mama’ and ‘papa’ to refer to their mother and father respectively (O’Grady 2005). Also, as words like ‘mama’, ‘dada’ and ‘papa’ are easy to pronounce, they are used by infants to indicate that they want something to be done (O’Grady 2005). For example, the infants use the sound ‘mama’ when they want to be picked, when they are hungry or when they are not feeling comfortable (O’Grady 2005). Infants use different sounds in babbling to convey different messages to their parents. The emotional bond between the parents and their infants is so strong that the parents intuitively understand the messages hidden in different sounds in babbling. They help their children to assign meaning to different noises by using these sounds themselves while talking to their children (O’Grady 2005). For example, children are taught that ‘mama’ means mother and ‘papa’ means father (O’Grady 2005). After some time, infants learn to use babbling correctly by using different sounds to mean different things (O’Grady 2005). In this way, babbling is the ‘language’ through which infants communicate with their parents. A child starts producing the cooing noises and speech-like sounds at the age of two to three months (O’Grady 2005). By the age of about 6 months, the speech-like sounds are fully developed (O’Grady 2005). The infant learns to assign different meanings to different sounds (O’Grady 2005). By this time, he starts using these sounds as a language. Babbling is accompanied with facial expressions, hand movements and leg movements. It is not an isolated gesture of body. The Biological Aspect of Babbling Human beings can produce speech and sound with the help of their vocal apparatus. The speech organs like tongue, larynx, throat and vocal tract play an important role in production of sound and speech (Guasti 2004). Adults can produce impeccable speech and sound as their speech organs are in a fully developed form. However, a study by Lierben, Crelin and Klatt (1972) has found that the newborn baby’s speech organs are not completely developed (Guasti 2004). The new born babies have “higher larynx, smaller throat, shorter vocal tract and different tongue shape” compared to the adults (Guasti 2004). The underdeveloped condition of the speech organs does not allow the infants to produce speech and sounds like adults. The shape of the vocal tract in an infant is different from an adult and this difference results in difference of resonance cavity of infants and adults (Guasti 2004). Around the age of 4 months, the larynx in infant starts to descent and come lower as that in adults (Guasti 2004). It is around this time that the infants start to produce speech like sounds (Guasti 2004). The descent of the larynx is completed by 3 years and it is at this age that children are able to talk clearly like adults (Guasti 2004). This shows that infants are able to produce the first form of speech-like sounds only when the configuration of oral cavity is complete (Guasti 2004). According to Studert-Kennedy (1991), the development of the vocal apparatus is one of the pre-requisites for production of speech in infants (Guasti 2004). When the vocal apparatus get developed completely, the infants begin to use sounds (babble) to express themselves. The interesting thing is that the speech-like sounds contain the sounds found in natural language spoken by their parents. This shows that babbling in infants is not just a mouth play but has some relation with the language acquisition skill. Initial Stage of Babbling Locke (1983) has found that babbling is a form of linguistic production in which the infants use the sets of “possible sounds found in natural languages” (Guasti 2004). Locke’s finding shows that the sounds used in babbling by infants are not random but are related to the language in which their parents talk to them. Hence, the sounds are not just mouth play but are part of the language. However, studies have found that infants do not produce language specific sounds in initial stage of babbling but after getting enough exposure to native language (Guasti 2004). This fact strengthens the point that babbling is one of the techniques used by infants to learn to speak language. Language has an effect on children right from the birth. Even though the effect of language on babbling is not visible initially, the constant exposure to language spoken by their parents makes the infants to pick up the vowels and consonants specific to that language. Different studies have revealed that by the time the infants reach the age of 8-10 months, their babbling is modulated by the language they hear from their parents and caretakers (Guasti 2004). The behaviorists explain the babbling with the theory of reward and punishment. According to Winitz (1969), the vocalizations used by mother while feeding her child is associated with the primary drive of hunger by infant (Ingram 2003). Infant begins to associate vocalization with food and whenever he feels hungry, he uses the similar sounds to convey the message of hunger (Ingram 2003). The infant’s sounds are reinforced by the response he gets from his mother (Ingram 2003). Later on, the infant is also rewarded by patting, cuddling or feeding from his mother (or father) when he produces similar sounds (Ingram 2003). In this way, babbling is reinforced by reward from parents. Hence, infants learn to produce different babbling sounds to get different ‘rewards’ from parents. The infant’s efforts to produce sounds like adults show that he is trying to learn the language that the adults are speaking. In this way, babbling becomes a practice to acquire the native language. Also, infants try to imitate different aspect of the target language. One of the important aspects of babbling is the modulation. It was found that the modulation of infant babbling shows specifications of the language the infants are exposed to. A study by Boysson-Bardies et al (1989) shows that the quality of vowels produced by infants varies according to the linguistic communities they are reared in (Guasti 2004). Infants reared in different linguistic communities like French, British, Cantonese, Arabic and Swedish produce different babbling sounds (Guasti 2004). Also, study by Boysson-Bardies and Vihman (1991) revealed that the surrounding environment influences the consonant sounds produced by infants of 10 months (Guasti 2004). Infants from different language communities are found using different parts of the mouth while babbling as a result of language influence. For example, infant French learners use labials in babbling more than infant American English learners as labials are more frequent in French (Guasti 2004). Similarly, infant Japanese learners produce more dentals than infant French learners as dentals are more frequently used in Japanese (Guasti 2004). The same study also revealed that the labials and the consonants produced by infants are mirror of the vowels and consonants used in the target languages (Guasti 2004). Even the disyllables produced by infants also had the influence of target language (Guasti 2004). By the age of 10-12 months, the influence of native language is clearly seen on the set of consonants used during babbling (Guasti 2004). It is around the same time that the infants start producing their first words (Guasti 2004). Hence, the influence of the environment on the sounds of babbling produced by infant shows that babbling is the beginning of the language learning process. Examples of Babbling There are many examples of babbling where the observer realizes that even though the sounds are meaningless, the infants are trying to say something with those sounds. 1. I was traveling in a bus. A father was sitting with 6-7 month old infant on the seat next to me. The infant was biting his fingers and palms and was babbling the sound ‘uumama’ ‘umamamam’. The father was telling the infant “yes, your mama is coming.” The father was able to understand that the babbling sound ‘ummamama’ by infant is meant for his mother. The father knew that the sound was associated with mother. 2. The most common babbling sound produced by infants is the sound ‘mama’. Infants are taught that the sound ‘mama’ means mother. Hence, infants are found to use word ‘mama’ when they are hungry or need to be picked as they know that it is their mother who feeds them and not their father (O’Grady 2005). Hence, infants use the sound ‘mama’ whenever they need the presence of their mother. 3. Papa is the sound associated with father. Infants are found using the sound ‘papa’ when referring to father. Once, at the cash counter in a mall, I saw a mother carrying her 10-11 month old baby. The baby was irritated and was trying to leave mother’s grip. At the same time, the baby was babbling the sound ‘papapa’. After some time, a man came to the counter. The baby showed great excitement at his sight and jumped in his arms. The man was his father. The infant stopped producing the sound ‘papa’ and started babbling in different sound. This shows that the sound ‘papa’ was used to refer to father. The infant wanted to be with his father. With the combination of the sound ‘papapa’ and sad facial expressions, the infant was showing distress due to his father’s absence. This experience shows that babbling sounds by infants are made to express something, even though the sounds do not carry any meaning in itself. These examples show that babbling sounds not only have hidden meanings but they also show a sign of language acquisition skill. Steping Stone to Language The initial phase of infant babbling starts with a single syllable sound like ‘mammama’, ‘bababababa’ or ‘gagagaga’ (Clark 2003). The single syllable sound produced in earliest babbling consists of a single consonant sound (g, b,m, p) followed by a vowel like sound which usually is similar to ‘a’ (Clark 2003). As the infant hears the language spoken around him, his babbling sound begins to become longer and its frequency also increases (Clark 2003). After this phase, the infant starts using one consonant-type sound more frequently than others showing the comfort with that sound (Clark 2003). After learning to use the sounds similar to the native language, the infants also learn to use the intonation of the native language in their babbling (Clark 2003). Infants mirror even the combination of syllables from the language that is spoken by people in the surrounding. A study by Boysson-Bardies (1993) revealed that the form of disyllabic sequences is CVCV (C=consonant, V=Vowel) in French, English and Swedish language pattern and VCV in Yaruba language pattern (Guasti 2004). Infants reared in French, English and Swedish language communities are found mirroring the CVCV disyllabic sequence in babbling and infants being reared in Yaruba language community are found mirroring VCV disyllabic sequence while babbling (Guasti 2004). Vihman (1996) found that by the age of 10-12 months, the infants mirror sounds, intonation, rhythm and syllable patterns in babbling from their surrounding language (Clark 2003). The mind of the infant tries to give practice to his tongue, cheek and jaws to get used to the target language by using the sounds heard in the surrounding. In this way, infants use babbling as a stepping stone towards learning the target language. However, studies have also shown that babbling is not just a language acquisition skill but is also a mode of expression. Emotional Expressions It has been observed that babbling in infants is always accompanied by different facial expression and body language. This shows that infants are “innately programmed to babble” (Ingram 2003). According to Stern, the ‘impulses’ and the ‘inner energies’ of infants drive them to babble (Ingram 2003). Stern believes that the two major drives that lead to babbling are the drive to express oneself and the drive to socialize with others (Ingram 2003). The practice of language sounds help the infants to express themselves and later, in learning to pronounce the words (Ingram 2003). Also, infants form an association “between certain states of feeling and the sound-forms belonging to them” (Ingram 2003). In doing so, the infants are able to ‘tell’ their caretakers what they want. The innate impulse makes the infants to imitate the sounds and aspects of language spoken around them (Ingram 2003). Hence, both the inner impulses and the need to socialize make children to babble. Hence, it can be said that babbling is an evolutionary process through which infants are programmed to communicate. Moreover, through babbling, the infants start associating different activities with different sounds. The sound association with different physical movements helps them to learn the language in later stages. For example, nodding the head is associated with sound ‘ya, waving is associated with the sound ‘bye-bye’, clapping is associated with appreciation, etc (Ingram 2003). In this way, the sounds produced in babbling form a foundation for learning the target language. Conclusion The studies of infant babbling show that infants mirror not only the sounds but also the intonation, rhythm and syllable pattern of the native language. The similarity found between babbling and the language that is spoken around the infant shows that babbling is not just a mouth play but is an essential aspect of language acquisition skill. References Clark, E.V., 2003. First Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. Guasti, M.T., 2004. Language acquisition: the growth of grammar. Cambridge: MIT Press. Ingram, D., 1989. First language acquisition: method, description, and explanation. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. O’Grady, W., 2005. How children learn language. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. Oller, D.K., 2000. The emergence of the speech capacity. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Read More