Just now I heard on the regular Friday morning science news segment on ABC
Radio National (Australia) about a newly published study from British
Columbia, Canada. Babies from native English-speaker families were exposed
to two different pronunciations of the sound written as "th' (the "theta"
sound and the "thorn" sound), which involve different placement of the
tongue. The words used were from Hindi, so as to be completely unfamiliar
to all the babies. When a toy that held the tongue down was used, the
babies were not able to discriminate the sounds, but when another oral
object was substituted, that allowed the tongue to rise, the capacity to
discriminate returned. It was hypothetised that the tongue, as well as the
ears, is involved in acquisition of speech. During the segment the medical
reporter, Dr Chris Smith from Cambridge UK, discussed the possibility that
conditions affecting tongue mobility, including tongue-tie, could have an
impact on speech acquisition through affecting sound discrimination.
Has anyone seen this new study? If so, please share the publication details
here. While lactnetters' concerns about tongue restriction focus on the
effects on breastfeeding, that is part of a larger picture of its effects.
Virginia

Dr Virginia Thorley, OAM, PhD, IBCLC, FILCA
International Board Lactation Consultant (cohort of 1985)
Ipswich, Queensland, Australia

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