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Don’t be Shy
It might sometimes sound
silly, but Parentese is great
for building your relationship
with your baby. Talk
Parentese to your baby. It’s
one of the most important
things you can do for your
child — and you.
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The sing-song way we talk to babies is called “Parentese.”
See a baby and you’ll probably start talking in a highpitched
tone and stretching out your vowels. “Whoose a
prettyy baybeee?” Experts call this musical way of talking
“Parentese” and report there’s a true value to it. Parentese
helps parents and caregivers connect to their babies and
helps babies develop language skills. You can hear an update on the latest research about the benefits of Parentese in this story on NPR.
Everyone talks Parentese.
The sing-song speech, often accompanied by exaggerated facial
expressions, seems to be used by almost everyone who talks
to a baby. Parentese is not merely an English-speaking practice.
It’s
spoken around the world, because we all love to do it — mothers, fathers,
grandparents, friends, older siblings, even preschoolers. And
what’s
more, babies seem to like it too.
Parentese delights babies.
Research shows that infants actually prefer parentese to adult
conversations. They will turn their head to hear it, even if
it’s
spoken in a foreign language. Babies not only enjoy the high-pitched
sounds, they also like watching our faces as we talk to them.
Parentese helps babies learn language.
The elongated vowels, high pitch, exaggerated facial expressions
and short, simple sentences actually help infants learn language.
Their brains are “mapping” the sounds they are hearing, and
talking in a way that gets their attention helps them learn
to speak and understand language.
How do you talk Parentese?
Parentese features well-formed, elongated consonants and vowels.
We tend to pronounce words precisely when we talk to babies — pulling
out the vowel sounds and clearly voicing consonants — in marked contrast
to the hurried way we speak to other adults. A “sweet baby” becomes
a bright “sweeet baybeee.”
Move in close so your baby can see your eyes widen and sparkle
and your lips move.
How is Parentese different from baby talk?
Babytalk uses sounds and nonsense words. Parentese uses actual
words, in short and simple sentences, often repeated over and
over again, for example, “Who’s my li-i-ttle baybee? Are you my
littlee baybee? Yes, yoooo are!”
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