‘Baby talk’, also referred to as motherese, caregiver speech and Infant Directed Speech (to name a few) is a term regularly used in Linguistics – specifically in the study of Child Language Development – to describe the way adults talk to young children. Agreed by a range of Linguists, ‘baby talk’ is a widely accepted phenomenon that exists universally across several cultures and languages – including English, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and Arabic. New research even suggests that baby talk is not just confined to humans, but apparently appears in the linguistic repertoire of female Rhesus Monkeys when trying to gain the attention of their young. Although this specialised speech takes little conscious thought to use, it is not just as simple as cooing at cute little faces. Like all other variations of language, ‘baby talk’ requires structure (and in a loose sense, rules). So, what are these constraints that make ‘baby talk’ suitable for young children?

These important characteristics are:

• Different vocal cues, such as a higher pitch with many glissando variations, louder volume and slower rate of speech with longer and more frequent pauses.
• Shortening of words (although, in reality this can often be the opposite).
• Hypo-articulation: the exaggeration of speech sounds.
• Simplification through substitution.

In his article, ‘Baby Talk in Six Languages’, Linguist Charles Ferguson gives practical examples of how these characteristics look when spoken. He begins with simplification and notes that in English we use simplification of consonant clusters and word substitution to help young children with pronunciation of difficult words – for example, the common use of the word “tummy” to replace “stomach”. This example can be further simplified to “tum tum” by employing the use of repetition, which young children seem to really enjoy.

The truth is there is research for and research against the use of ‘baby talk’, with many researchers concluding that ‘baby talk’ is a possible tool in aiding child language development, but not necessarily a definite method. Some adults may use ‘baby talk’ because they believe it does help young children develop in aspects of language; some may use it as a comfort to themselves, making them feel closer to the child and others may use it without even realising. Whatever category you fit into, it is almost effortless to get completely wrapped up in the wonderful world of young children; however, having read many (and I mean many) parent forums, it is to be noted that there is a limit to how much ‘baby talk’ adults around you can tolerate. Apparently, completely adopting a fake new language, using words such as “sippie” and “soosies”, is not cute. Also adults using ‘baby talk’ to engage with other adults shows no benefits in language development, is slightly uncomfortable and should be stopped (immediately).