Scholars confirm what itsy bitsy babies around the world already know
When most adults, even older children, see an infant, they shamelessly slip into baby talk: Whooose a prettee baabee? Such a cuutiee. Their speech gets smoother, slower, higher pitched and sing-songy.
Researchers call this altered form of speech "parentese," but almost everybody does it — an uncle, a neighbor or the nice lady at the grocery store.
Based on research going back decades, scientists have found that talking baby talk to an infant happens in industrialized societies. But is it a universal human trait?
In a wide-ranging study, researchers at Harvard University's Music Lab collected 1,615 speech and song recordings directed at infants and at adults by 410 people in 21 diverse societies: urban, rural and remote indigenous cultures. Their findings
