Language learning begins as early as the womb

Scientists from Pacific Lutheran University, led by Dr. Christina Moon, have discovered that newborns are much more receptive to the sounds of their native language than previously thought.

The results of the scientists’ research were published in the scientific journal “Acta Paediatrica”.

Researchers say the babies showed noticeable animation when they heard speech that had significantly different vowel sounds from their mother's language.

"Our study provides the first evidence that babies begin to distinguish only specific sounds even before birth," says Dr Moon.

Before starting the study, the scientists started from the generally accepted theory, which suggests that babies begin to distinguish vowels and consonants after birth.

The researchers monitored the newborns at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington, and Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm.

The co-authors of the scientific study were Hugo Laegercrantz, a professor at Karolinska University, and Patricia Kuhl, a professor at the Brain Research Institute at the University of Washington.

Accordingly, the infants heard either English or Swedish. The scientists observed their reactions to the speech they heard. They monitored how long and how intensely the newborns sucked on a pacifier when they heard speech.

One half of the children were given 17 sounds of their native language to listen to, and the other half were given 17 sounds of speech in an unfamiliar language.

In both countries, newborns who heard unfamiliar speech sucked harder on a pacifier than those who heard familiar speech sounds. The researchers say this suggests that their native language is not foreign to babies, confirming that they begin learning it while still in the womb.

While other studies have focused on prenatal learning of sentences or phrases, this is the first study to show that babies are able to recognize individual sounds, regardless of melody, rhythm and volume.

In total, the scientists tested forty newborns, who were between seven and seventy-five hours old at the time of the study.

Research by experts shows that newborns have the ability to learn and remember the basic sounds of their native language during the last ten weeks of pregnancy.

"These are exciting results," said study co-author Dr Cool. "While it was previously thought that language learning begins at birth, our study shows that this process begins much earlier, meaning that babies are not 'phonetically naive' at birth."

Dr Cool adds that babies are the best learners on the planet. The fact that children can learn vowels in the womb means that complex processes are taking place in the brain centers of the fetus even before the baby is born.

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