How do babies tell one language from another?
Rhythm Detectives
How do babies tell one language from another?
A baby lying in a crib hears voices all day long. Grandma speaks Spanish. Dad speaks English. The neighbor upstairs speaks Mandarin through the wall. How does the baby's brain figure out that these are different languages — and not just one big jumble of sounds?
Here's the secret: babies are rhythm detectives. Every language has its own rhythm — the pattern of which syllables are long or short, which sounds go up or down, where the pauses fall. Spanish sounds like da-DA-da-DA, with a bounce. English sounds choppier, like a staircase with uneven steps. Mandarin rises and falls like a singing voice.
