Like other registers, baby talk or selected features of it may be extended to secondary uses, e.g. (i) to suggest the speech of children, (ii) in talking to pets, (iii) in coaxing other people or even objects to behave the way the speaker wants, (iv) in calling arttention to someone’s childishnesss, (v) in adult intimate interaction such as talk between lovers.
Standardized
Like other registers, baby talk or selected features of it may be extended to secondary uses, e.g. (i) to suggest the speech of children, (ii) in talking to pets, (iii) in coaxing other people or even objects to behave the way the speaker wants, (iv) in calling arttention to someone’s childishnesss, (v) in adult intimate interaction such as talk between lovers.
Keywords
baby talk
Domain
discourse
Type
unconditional
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
27 lgs, high in IE, low in African and Oceanic lgs: Bengali, Marathi (both Indic, IE), Dutch, English, German (all Germanic, IE), Greek (Greek, IE), Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish (all Romance, IE), Serbo-Croatian (Slavic, IE), Latvian (Baltic, IE), Syrian Arabic, Neo-Aramaic, Maltese (all Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Berber (Berber, Afro-Asiatic), Cocopa, Pomo (both Hokan), Comanche (Uto-Aztecan), Hidatsa (Siouan), Hungarian (Ugric, Uralic), Japanese (Japanese-Ryukyuan), Kannada (Havyaka) (Dravidian), Kipsigis (Nilotic, Nilo-Saharan), Luo (Eastern Sudanic, Nilo-Saharan), Nivkh (Isolate), Samoan (Oceanic, E. Malayo-Polynesian), Tzeltal (Mayan)
Some of these extensions are undoubtedly widespread or even universal, but there is considerable cross-cultural variation. The implicational core:If relevant features are used secondarily in (i)-(v), then they will also be used in baby talk.
Some of these extensions are undoubtedly widespread or even universal, but there is considerable cross-cultural variation.The implicational core:If relevant features are used secondarily in (i)-(v), then they will also be used in baby talk.