Human Growth and Development / Unit 3 HGD 0370 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Universal Listener and Child-Directed Speech
Captions available
The idea
Young infants are universal listeners, distinguishing the sounds of all languages, but by ten to twelve months they lose most non-native distinctions.
In practice
Child-directed speech: higher pitch, a sing-song rhythm, repetition and long pauses, which infants prefer from birth.
Where people slip
Children who hear child-directed speech learn words faster, and more responsive caregivers have children with larger vocabularies.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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