Learning Language in the Womb

The relationship between language learning and prenatal development, and the studies conducted to find the correlation between the two are very interesting. A recent article that I have read, called "Bilingual Babies Learn Language in the Womb," talks about a study on this issue.

The research shows that babies who hear two languages while they are in their mother's womb later show equal preference for both languages and are more open to be bilingual. Those babies can distinguish between the two languages from very early stages of their development, and thus do not have any difficulty acquiring the ability to speak in both languages with a high level of proficiency without confusing them later in their lives.On the other hand, babies who hear only one language during their prenatal development do not show any interest when they hear a second language after they are born.

It is very interesting to see that the acquisition of language and bilingualism start in the mother's womb. I have found another research reported on Science Daily that talks about how babies start familiarizing themselves with the language that they hear in their mother's womb. Their cries, as opposed to what we usually think, are actually responses to that language. Babies who hear French during their prenatal development, for instance, cry with a rising intonation as to mimic the French language that they hear. On the other hand, babies who hear German during their prenatal development cry with a failing melody contour. This same phenomenon is, however, not seen with the babies who do not hear the language during their prenatal development and are exposed to it only after 12 weeks of postnatal care. Interestingly, these babies do not show the same pattern as the first group do. Their cries do match the characteristics of the language that they start hearing during postnatal development.

I have been always fascinated by the notion of prenatal development, and how the baby understands and interprets things from the outside world. What I wonder about this research is whether the question of who is speaking to the baby during the prenatal development has an significance. Some studies mention that babies, when they are born, can recognize their mother's voice but not necessarily other people's voices who have also talk to the baby during the prenatal stage.

Some of the questions that these studies make me think about are these: Does the person who speak to the baby in two different languages have to be the mother if babies tend to recognize her voice more than they do others' voices? Does it make any difference whether it is the mother or someone else who speak to the baby during the prenatal stage? Also, how does the baby actually hear and process the language? Does the baby hear it through vibrations in the uterus? Does the baby's brain use a different way of processing the language during the prenatal stage? Are there any other significant similarities or differences between language acquisition during prenatal and postnatal development?

Link to article: http://news.discovery.com/human/babies-language-bilingual.html

Link to additional research: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091105092607.htm