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Subject:
From:
Anne Robb <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 24 Oct 1997 18:30:18 -0700
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Hi,
        Dr. T. Berry Brazelton tells his mothers on his TV show that the
reason Mama is Mama is bc that is the sound the baby makes when it cries and
that is the person who has most usually responded -- hence the baby 'names'
the female parent by calling to it via newborn cries... While the sound
"dada" is more like the sound babies make when they are happily babbbling
during play -- especially rougher physical play that the male parent is more
likely to be involved in...
        In psycholinguistic terms it makes sense -- there are universal
syllable sounds that all humans make at birth regardless of language of
origin. These sounds are then guided and shaped by the sounds of the
language around them, hence the permutations of Mama, Mommy, Mother, Mumma,
Mum, Ahma, Ohma, omma, etc...
        So which came first? I'd venture a guess that the Latin word for
breasts was derived from the sound the infants make right before they are
brought to the breast. Not in terms of some group sitting around saying,
"what should be call this?" but rather a natural evolution of sounds made in
early communication being molded into formal language.
        I love the few threads going about how intelligent babies really
are, how adaptable, aware, able to learn...

aLLLways,
anne
Anne E. Robb, MAT, LLLL
Off on a Tangent, Oregon, USA
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