Baby talk

Two new hypothesis about language:

“Do we learn to think before we speak, or does language shape our thoughts? New experiments with five-month-olds favor the conclusion that thought comes first.”

And a far more controversial theory suggests that babies learn their language from their mothers.

“It was the gibberish that foraging mothers were crooning to restive infants that evolved into language, according to the theory of Dean Falk, physical anthropologist with Florida State University.

She seeks to refute earlier scientific belief that language originated from the communication needs of hominid males hunting in a group, says the latest Scientific American magazine.”

Either way, the next time I meet a baby, I promise not to say “blubble” to it; instead, it will be treated to Heidegger, Sartre, and perhaps a little Rilke for variation.