It’s instinctual. The theory is that it helps children learn language in some way maybe by making the syllables very clear.
When you think about it when we talk we essentially just sort of mumble, especially in English. Which is why speech recognition is such a difficult task. There are videos online of people who cannot speak English emulating the tones and flow of the language and it really is just us going, hur mayus apparry mar son mor.
To an extent, things like “baby want milk?” also help with language acquisition. We could say “would my baby like to have a drink of milk?”, and that would give exposure to a lot more vocabulary early on, but it also uses much more complex grammar and abstract concepts like “would”, whereas the former phrase uses only a subject, an object, and a verb which corresponds to a thing that the baby can easily conceptualize because they “feel” it (the feeling of wanting something). It’s similar to learning a language later in life - you usually start with things like “I am a boy” or “This cat likes fish”, rather than “My good sir could you please enunciate better so that I might understand your foreign tongue”, because it helps our brains take on the basic “shapes” and “sounds” of the language, which make learning the more complex and abstract parts easier later.
As for why people do it with pets, who aren’t learning a language? Idk, I guess small cute thing kicks the baby instinct into gear whether it’s human or not 😂
It’s instinctual. The theory is that it helps children learn language in some way maybe by making the syllables very clear.
When you think about it when we talk we essentially just sort of mumble, especially in English. Which is why speech recognition is such a difficult task. There are videos online of people who cannot speak English emulating the tones and flow of the language and it really is just us going, hur mayus apparry mar son mor.
We must have different definitions of babytalk.
You are describing very clear annunciating. Clearly and distinctly pronouncing syllables.
To me, this is instinctual, and mumbling, which you say is the norm, well I find that to be greatly off putting.
I can, and do, as a joke, just speak Simlish, out loud.
Ah, hawarbageebno! Do wah? Sey wotsnugish jot gareemo!
I can easily make up some gibberish like that on the fly, and I annunciate it concisely.
Anyway, to me baby talk is gaa gaa goo goo, using an extremely simplistic vocabulary, dramatically simplifying sentence structure.
Baby need diapy change? Baby want milk?
That kind of nonsense.
To an extent, things like “baby want milk?” also help with language acquisition. We could say “would my baby like to have a drink of milk?”, and that would give exposure to a lot more vocabulary early on, but it also uses much more complex grammar and abstract concepts like “would”, whereas the former phrase uses only a subject, an object, and a verb which corresponds to a thing that the baby can easily conceptualize because they “feel” it (the feeling of wanting something). It’s similar to learning a language later in life - you usually start with things like “I am a boy” or “This cat likes fish”, rather than “My good sir could you please enunciate better so that I might understand your foreign tongue”, because it helps our brains take on the basic “shapes” and “sounds” of the language, which make learning the more complex and abstract parts easier later. As for why people do it with pets, who aren’t learning a language? Idk, I guess small cute thing kicks the baby instinct into gear whether it’s human or not 😂