It’s an apparent mystery. While there are 6,000 to 7,000 languages in the world, babies, in almost all latitudes, affectionately refer to their father and mother with the same two words: “mama” and “papa”. And this with a few nuances.
Judge for yourself. In Italian? Mom And dad. In Spanish? Mama And papa. In Romanian? Mama And aunt. In Occitan? Mama And dad. Oh, I can already hear the objection: “No wonder: they are all Latin languages.” Very well, then let’s see what about a Germanic language like German: mother And dad ; from Polish, a Slavic language: mother And aunt ; from Welsh, a Celtic language: mom And dad… The hotheads will still reply that I have chosen only Indo-European languages? Very well, then let’s move on to Swahili, spoken in East Africa: mother And baba. Or in Mandarin: mother And babaAt this point in my article, logically, the hotheads had to fall into line…
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Let’s be honest: we do see small differences from time to time. “Mom” and “Dad” say each other mom And bav in Kurdish; mom And babbu in Corsica; mother And pai in Portuguese. But that doesn’t change the general observation. Unless your bad faith rivals mine when I watch a Section Paloise rugby match, we have to admit that something is happening. Especially since we don’t observe the same equivalence at all for a word like “dog”, which is said dog in German, mbwa in Swahili and gou in mandarin.
Linguists have been studying this proximity for several decades and they think they have found the solution, notably thanks to the work of one of the most famous members of the profession, Roman Jakobson (1896-1982). According to him, the universality of the words “mama” and “papa” would be linked to the learning of speech by babies. The first sound that an infant emits is in fact always the vowel [a] while the first consonants that he manages to articulate are those called “labial”, which are formed by closing the lips, like the [m]THE [p]THE [b]. Later, the child associates them to compose syllables like [ma] Or [pa]before having the idea of repeating them: here is our “mama” and our “papa”! Other words built on the same model will soon follow, such as “mémé”, “pee” or “popo”. A few more months of patience and the little one will manage to come up with more varied combinations: “bato”, “gato”, “tati”, “l’express”, etc. (find the odd one out).
Since Jakobson’s work, research has obviously progressed, but his conclusions have generally been validated: yes, words like “mama” and “papa” are indeed favored because they are made up of syllables that are easy for infants to articulate. But don’t conclude that our toddlers’ abilities are limited. “On the contrary, we now know that when a child babbles, he plays with language and explores a maximum of possibilities, so much so that at eight months he has a much wider range of sounds than his parents! underlines the linguist Naomi Yamaguchi, lecturer at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University. It is only from the moment he begins to want to communicate that he focuses only on the phonemes of his mother tongue and eliminates those that are not useful to him.” This is why adult English people have so much trouble pronouncing [r] French when they would have been able to do so without difficulty a few months after their birth.
In plain language? While there are similarities for words like “mama” and “papa,” don’t conclude that the existence of a universal language for babies is not established. “Studies are clear: French-speaking babies do not babble like English-speaking, Arabic-speaking or Japanese-speaking babies,” continues Naomi Yamaguchi. And this for a simple reason: each of them is influenced by the language they hear around them. Concretely, a little Japanese will pronounce more sounds [k] while a Parisian child will tend to lengthen the last syllable.”
That’s for babies. But researchers have also noticed that we adults talk to them in a particular way. Not only do we tend to use specific vocabulary (“go to sleep” for sleep, for example), but we use a higher-pitched voice than usual and slow down the pace of our sentences. And this serves a dual purpose: to capture the child’s attention and to help him or her acquire language.
Let’s note in passing that in this matter, the supposed adults are not afraid of ridicule. Because let’s admit it: we sometimes lean over little Chloé’s crib and say in a sing-song voice: “Is the baby okay?” Well, a word of advice: don’t you dare use the same tone during your annual interview by asking your boss: “Is the boss okay?” Between you and me, I’m not sure that this is the best way to get your raise…
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Francophonie: an upcoming summit in France…
For the first time in thirty-three years, France is preparing to host the next summit of the Francophonie. It will be held on October 4 and 5, in Paris and Villers-Cotterêts. The main theme of this political event will be “Creating, innovating and undertaking in French”.
This summit will be accompanied by a very rich and creative “Francophonie festival”, with numerous shows organized mainly at the Gaîté Lyrique in Paris, but also at the 104, another cultural venue in the capital.
Mayotte Senator Thani Mohamed Soilihi has been appointed Secretary of State for Francophonie and International Partnerships in the new Barnier government. He will be attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This lawyer is the first Mahorais to become a minister. Coming from the centre-left, he joined Emmanuel Macron in 2017.
An opponent of regional languages at the Ministry of Education
Bad news a priori for so-called regional languages. Anne Genetet, the new Minister of Education, is one of the rare Macronist parliamentarians to have opposed the Molac law in 2021 – the only one ever adopted in favor of minority languages in France under the Fifth Republic. Even more worrying: she is one of the 61 parliamentarians to have seized the Constitutional Council to obtain its censure. A profile that worries the supporters of cultural diversity, who ask her to clarify her position on the subject.
Take part in the European Day of Languages
At the initiative of the Council of Europe, the European Day of Languages is celebrated every year on 26 September. Through multiple events, it aims to raise public awareness of the importance of language learning and to promote Europe’s linguistic heritage.
Manual of Occitan linguistics, by Louise Esher and Jean Sibille
While the Occitan language benefited from European influence in the Middle Ages, it has now become a minority language. Developed under the direction of Louise Esther and Jean Sibille, this Occitan linguistics manual brings together 26 contributions from leading academics who describe Occitan in all its aspects: its internal structure, its chronological evolutions, its geographical variations, its teaching, its golden age and its decline. High-quality contributions that pay tribute to the dignity of this language and should make this Manual a reference work.
Manual of Occitan linguistics, by Louise Esher and Jean Sibille. Editions de Gruyter.
What AI can bring to the languages of France
On Friday, October 4, linguists Mélanie Jouitteau and Loïc Grobol will host a webinar devoted to the perspectives that artificial intelligence opens up for the processing of documentary corpora in minority languages.
Catalan under attack on France Bleu Roussillon
An open letter against the eviction of Catalan from France Bleu Roussillon has just been sent to its director, Christine Arribas. The cause: the suppression of “the only program in Catalan, Periscope” and “the absence of any news journal in Catalan”. A “policy of eviction and linguistic discrimination against Catalan” deemed “incomprehensible”.
To watch
Do you know about France Télévisions’ regional language broadcasts?
Perhaps not, as it is true that their place in the public service remains modest. All the more reason not to miss those devoted to them. For example, you can watch youth broadcasts in Breton.
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