Father, Papa, Dada, Baba, Tata. Babies' words for father tend to be similar. Linguist Roman Jakobson attributes this to the way babies learn to speak. The easiest sound for a baby to make is the 'ah' vowel. Soon after, 'mmm' and 'p'/'b' sounds follow. Putting them together, babies start to call their parents a variation of 'Mama' and 'Dada' no matter what language their parents speak. (http://bit.ly/2ZwJMle)
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Fact-a-Day
June 18, 2019
