“父母語”可以促進嬰兒的語言發(fā)展

“父母語”可以促進嬰兒的語言發(fā)展

True baby talk, which a new study shows can boost infant brain and speech development, is actually proper adult speech, just delivered in a different cadence.

一項新的研究表明，真正的嬰兒語言可以促進嬰兒的大腦和語言發(fā)展，實際上是成年人的正常語言，只是語調(diào)不同。

"It uses real words and correct grammar, but it does use a higher pitch, a slower tempo and an exaggerated intonation," said Naja Ferjan Ramirez, an assistant professor at the department of linguistics at the University of Washington.

華盛頓大學語言學系助理教授娜婭·費揚·拉米雷斯說:“它使用真實的單詞和正確的語法，但確實使用了更高的音調(diào)、更慢的節(jié)奏和夸張的語調(diào)。”

"What people think of as baby talk is a combination of silly sounds and words, sometimes with incorrect grammar," Ferjan Ramirez explained.

費爾揚·拉米雷斯解釋說：“人們認為嬰兒說話是愚蠢的聲音和單詞的組合，有時語法不正確。

'Not just listening but talking'

不只是聽，而是說

A parenting speaking style that is used in nearly every language in the world, true "baby talk" became known as "motherese" and today is called "parentese" -- because, after all, it's not just moms who use it. Many dads, grandparents, older siblings, aunts, uncles and babysitters speak parentese, intuitively aware that it helps the baby tune in socially and respond, even if only through babbling.

這是一種幾乎在世界上每一種語言中都使用的育兒語言，真正的“嬰兒語”后來被稱為“母親語”，今天被稱為“父母語”--因為，畢竟，使用這種語言的不僅僅是母親。許多爸爸、祖父母、哥哥姐姐、阿姨、叔叔和保姆都會說父母的話，他們直覺地意識到這有助于嬰兒融入社交并做出反應(yīng)，即使只是通過咿呀學語。

"Parentese has three characteristics," said Patricia Kuhl, the co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the University of Washington, who has been studying children's early language learning for decades.

華盛頓大學學習與腦科學研究所聯(lián)席主任帕特里夏·庫爾說：“父母語有三個特點。”庫爾幾十年來一直在研究兒童的早期語言學習。

"One of them is that it has a higher overall pitch, about an octave higher," Kuhl said. "Another is that intonation contours are very curvy; the highs are higher, the lows are lower, and it sounds excited and happy.

“其中之一是它的整體音高更高，大約高一個八度，”庫爾說。“另一個是語調(diào)的輪廓非常曲折;高點更高，低點更低，聽起來很興奮和快樂。

"And then it's slower, with pauses between phrases to give the baby time to participate in this social interaction," Kuhl said.

庫爾說:“嬰兒的語速會變慢，因為他們會在幾個詞之間停頓一下，以便有時間參與到社交互動中來。”

As it turns out, encouraging the "social brain" is key to boosting a baby's speech and language development, said Kuhl, an internationally known pioneer in the use of brain imaging.

結(jié)果證明，鼓勵“社交大腦”是促進嬰兒說話和語言發(fā)展的關(guān)鍵，國際知名的腦成像先驅(qū)庫爾說。

And babies instinctively prefer it -- as if they are wired to respond. Maybe they are.

嬰兒本能地喜歡它——就好像他們天生就會做出反應(yīng)。也許他們是。

Kuhl shared a video from an older experiment starring 7-month-old "Paul" to illustrate a baby's preference for parentese.

庫爾分享了一段由7個月大的“保羅”主演的舊實驗視頻，以說明嬰兒對父母語的偏好。

In the black and white video, Paul sits on his mother's lap in an enclosed space. On Paul's left side, out of site behind a wall, a woman speaks eight seconds of parentese. On his right, a woman speaks in a normal adult tone. Paul samples both, then consistently prefers the voice speaking parentese.

在這段黑白視頻中，保羅坐在母親的腿上，身處一個封閉的空間。在保羅的左邊，墻外，一個女人說著八秒鐘的父母語。在他的右邊，一個女人用正常的成人語調(diào)說話。保羅對這兩種語言都進行了測試，然后一直更喜歡說父母話的聲音。

Kuhl's lab has done studies which show when infants listen to speech, "not only does the auditory cortex area in their brain light up, but the motor areas that will eventually speak light up," she said, showing the baby is getting ready to talk back.

庫爾的實驗室已經(jīng)做了一些研究，表明當嬰兒聽講話時，“不僅他們大腦中的聽覺皮層區(qū)域會活躍起來，最終說話的運動區(qū)域也會活躍起來，”她說，這表明嬰兒已經(jīng)準備好回應(yīng)。

"The more parents naturally use parentese in their homes when speaking to their children, the better and faster those language skills develop," Kuhl said. "So, it turns out that parentese is a social catalyst for language. It gets kids not just listening but talking."

庫爾說:“父母在家里對孩子說話時自然地使用父母語越多，他們的語言技能發(fā)展得就越好、越快。”所以，事實證明，父母語是語言的社會催化劑。它不僅讓孩子們聽，而且讓他們說。”