小嬰兒咿咿呀呀的哭鬧聲也能反映出不同地區的口音? 不同地方的嬰兒的哭聲之間有著驚人的差異。在本文中，我們將瞭解嬰兒是如何開始學習語言、影響語言發展的因素有哪些、以及為什麼牙牙學語是語言發展的關鍵狀態。
詞匯：accents 口音
No! That’s the only word we hear in the latest cute baby video to go viral. But it’s not the words that baby Orla says that has made this video so popular. It’s the fact that her babbling clearly mimics the distinctive Scouse accent from Liverpool.
This now-famous infant may only have been born in 2022, but the different accents of babbling babies have been investigated for many years. A study from 2009 found that French babies tend to cry with a rising intonation, while German babies’ cries often have a falling intonation. Other studies have shown American and French babies reflecting syllables from English and French respectively, and that babies with parents who speak a tonal language, like Mandarin, had a greater range of tones in their crying.
So why does this happen? As children develop, they practise making the sounds of the language that they hear around them. It’s natural that they pick up the sounds and rhythms that surround them. In fact, babies start to learn language from their mother from three months before birth. However, it’s not just the language of immediate family and caregivers that has an impact. Professor of developmental psychology, Caroline Floccia, highlights studies suggesting that children are more likely to acquire the accent of their environment than that of a parent who has an accent that is foreign to that location.
Why is this important to know? Well, what it shows us is that babies are learning language through practice, and that the more time that parents spend interacting with their children, the greater the opportunity for this there is. While babbling babies may not be able to say many words, studies estimate that they can understand many times the number of words than those that they can actually say. Giving babies exposure to a greater number of words, allows them to better build their vocabulary.
詞匯表
babbling 嬰兒發出的咿呀聲
mimic 模仿
distinctive 獨特的
Scouse accent 利物浦口音
infant 嬰兒
intonation 語調
syllable 音節
tonal 有聲調的
tone 聲調，語氣
sound 聲音
pick up 學會
rhythm 韻律，節奏
immediate family 直系親屬
caregiver 看護者
developmental psychology 成長心理學
acquire 學到，獲得
foreign 不同的，外來的
interact 互動
exposure 暴露，接觸
vocabulary 詞匯量
測驗與練習
1. 閱讀課文並回答問題。
1. Which accent does Baby Orla’s babbling sound like?
2. How does the intonation of French and German babies’ crying differ?
3. How is the crying of babies whose parents speak a tonal language different?
4. When do babies start to learn language?
5. True or false. Babies always learn the accent of their parents.
2. 選擇意思恰當的單詞或詞組來完成下列句子。
1. People’s _______ can have a rising or falling pattern.
exposure vocabulary intonation infant
2. People from Liverpool often have a _______ accent.
babbling tone syllable Scouse
3. The sound of a word is made up of different _______ .
syllables exposure vocabulary babbling
4. Some birds _______ the sounds they hear around them.
exposure tone interact mimic
5. The bassline of a piece of music gives it _______ .
exposure distinctive rhythm intonation
答案
1. 閱讀課文並回答問題。
1. Which accent does Baby Orla’s babbling sound like?
Baby Orla’s babbling sounds like the scouse accent of Liverpool.
2. How does the intonation of French and German babies’ crying differ?
French babies often show a rising intonation in their crying, while German babies show a falling intonation.
3. How is the crying of babies whose parents speak a tonal language different?
Babies whose parents speak a tonal language have shown a greater range of tones in their crying.
4. When do babies start to learn language?
Babies start to learn language from their mothers from three months before birth.
5. True or false. Babies always learn the accent of their parents.
False. Babies are unlikely to acquire the accent of a parent who is foreign to that location.
2. 選擇意思恰當的單詞或詞組來完成下列句子。
1. People’s intonation can have a rising or falling pattern.
2. People from Liverpool often have a scouse accent.
3. The sound of a word is made up of different syllables.
4. Some birds mimic the sounds they hear around them
5. The bassline of a piece of music gives it rhythm.
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