Motherese or baby talk

Baby talk, also referred to as caretaker speech, infantdirected speech (IDS) or child-directed speech (CDS)
[1][2][3][4]
and informally as "motherese", "parentese",
"mommy talk", or "daddy talk" is a nonstandard form of
speech used by adults in talking to toddlers and infants. It
is usually delivered with a "cooing" pattern of intonation
different from that of normal adult speech: high in pitch,
with many glissando variations that are more pronounced
than those of normal speech. Baby talk is also
characterized by the shortening and simplifying of words.
Baby talk is similar to what is used by people when talking
to their pets (pet-directed speech), and between adults as
a form of affection, intimacy, bullying or condescension.

Use with infants

Baby talk is more effective than regular

speech in getting an infant's attention.

Studies have shown that infants actually
prefer to listen to this type of speech. Some
researchers, including Rima Shore (1997),
believe that baby talk is an important part of
the emotional bonding process between the
parents and their child that help the infants
learn the language.

Brain research on the importance of 'baby

talk/motherese'

This is according to findings by researchers at the

RIKEN Brain Science Institute and their collaborators,

which show for the first time that experience, gender
and personality affect how parents process the
speech they use when addressing infants.
This is according to findings by researchers at the

RIKEN Brain Science Institute and their collaborators,

which show for the first time that experience, gender
and personality affect how parents process the
speech they use when addressing infants.

Monkeys Use Baby Talk With Infants

Humans aren't the only animals to use baby

talk when speaking to offspring

rhesus monkeys also go "gaga" over babies,
new research says.
Puerto Rico's female rhesus monkeys make
unique vocalizations to interact with infants to
get their attention, the study finds.

Monkeys Use Baby Talk With Infants

"These female monkeys are definitely excited

about looking at babies, and their

vocalizations convey that excitement," said
study co-author Dario Maestripieri, an
associate professor in comparative human
development at the University of Chicago.
(Related:
"Brain Has 'Face Place' for Recognition, Monk
ey Study Confirms"
[February 3, 2006].)

Aid to cognitive development

Shore and other researchers believe that baby

talk contributes to mental development, as it

helps teach the child the basic function and
structure of language. Studies have found that
responding to an infant's babble with
meaningless
babble
aids
the
infant's
development; while the babble has no logical
meaning, the verbal interaction demonstrates
to the child the bidirectional nature of speech,
and the importance of verbal feedback

The childs brain; the purpose of motherese

Babies learn to speak by listening. And all of us all over the world

help them, modulating the sounds of the quicksilver flow of speech in

fundamentally the same way. Put simply, when we speak to infants
we speak in a very funny style. When confronted with a baby, adults
produce a signal that is raised about an octave in pitch and slows
down very carefully and creates these swooping contours. It's not a
job interview voice. It's a very distinct voice that's fetching to a baby.
Why would every person on the planet do it if it's not important?
Doctors and scientists have analyzed it every which way, and learned
that adults make an unconscious effort to stretch the signals,
exaggerate the acoustic components that are exactly the dimensions
that the baby needs to pay attention to in order to form the maps for
speech.