According to a new study infant of just 4 months can very well differentiate between the languages with only visual information.
The Canadian researcher’s states that — small babies of who are just 4 months old can distinguish between languages without properly listening the spoken words.
The study reports that it was observed that little ones were able to mark the difference between languages by just watching their elder’s facial expression.
Researchers think that kids utilize the way that people move their mouth when they talk to tell the difference between somebody speaking their native languages and somebody speaking an unfamiliar language.
Dr. Athena Vouloumanos of McGill University’s Department of Psychology said in a statement:
It (the study) shows us that infants are sensitive to visual properties of spoken language, one more step in putting together a symbolic, multi-modal system of communication.
The kids were shown mute video clippings of some people who were speaking either French or English. Kids of 4 and 6 months watched the videos longer when the speakers switched languages, even though words of the speakers’ couldn’t be heard. The kids may have marked down — how peoples face changed in speaking different words.
Researchers notice that as babies grow, they lose the power to differentiate between the two languages, as they start to focus on one of them.
The study is published in the journal Science.
Via: MSNBC
