I am absolutely enthralled by the ability of infants to begin learning as soon as they are born. Watching this week's video made me think a lot about language, our grammatical rules, and basic rules of conversation. Before this week, I never really paid attention to the proper etiquette of conversation and how we need to learn it. The ability to effectively communicate with others is something I take for granted. I really enjoyed watching the two little girls conversing in the video because you can clearly see that they understand each other and are making a social connection (as exhibited by their smiles and giggles).
I also took delight in the universality of language acquisition across cultures. Berger mentions that, "Even in preliterate societies, parents use child-directed speech, responding quickly with high pitch, short sentences, stressed nouns, and simple grammar" (Berger 2011). This was demonstrated in the video as well when mothers from various Asian and European countries were observed while they were interacting with their babies. When praising their child there is a clear rise and fall in their voice as opposed to when they say, "NO!" in a low-toned, staccato style.
Yesterday I read an article in Darling Magazine and one quote particularly stuck out to me: "In the heart of each of us there is a deep-rooted desire to be known." I believe language is the key to being known. It's a wonderful thing to be a social being.
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