A deeper understanding of human language acquisition is coming out of a new study involving songbirds. An element of vocal development in birds could explain how babies transition from babbling to speaking.
Researchers from Hunter College taught a group of songbirds a song, and then introduced a similar one that required the birds to repeat the same syllables in a different order. The birds were able to learn the new song only by practicing for weeks, indicating that the main roadblock was learning the transitions.
Likewise, babies babble not just to learn syllables, but also the transitions between the syllables. When babies verbalize a new sound, they first repeat it ("ga-ga"), add it to the front or end of other syllables ("ga-da-do"), and then once they have a more thorough understanding, insert it between other syllables. The hardest part of babbling is learning how to transition from one syllable to another, just like it is for songbirds.
This study is not one for the birds; the link between human speech and understanding is now just a little clearer.
(via NYT, Image via Futurity)
