What Will Be My Baby, Daddy Or Mommy’s First Word?
While we want the baby’s first word to be mom, we also teach him to say daddy. There are many words that the baby can understand from birth, and he at least knows the sounds that make up maternal speech.
It’s very likely that your baby’s first word will be Mom or Dad, because that’s what we’re usually taught to say; but it can also be anything that has to do with his diet, the names of people around him, or something he hears often. Sometimes it is common to repeat the name of a pet or other child in the household to the baby.
However, from a linguistic point of view, there are words that are easier to execute by the organs involved in speech production. It is likely that the child can only repeat that vocabulary that his organism is ready to produce, most of which will cost him an effort or will not be executed correctly.
“Daddy” is most common as baby’s first word
Perhaps we are surprised and generally jealous that the first word is dad. It even sounds unfair when we consider everything we’ve done for him; but we tell you it’s not your fault. Between the words “daddy” and “mommy” the first is a little easier to produce by our body than the second.
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies the sounds of speech. In this case, to produce the elements of the phonetic chain (words) it is necessary to put several organs in motion at the same time. According to studies in this branch of linguistics, open vowels like /a/ and nasal consonants like /m/ and /n/ are the most difficult for the organism.
In this sense, for a baby who is learning to use his system, the word “mommy” could cost much more than “daddy”, whose pronunciation is estimated as one of the simplest in Brazilian speech. So, even though the child may surprise you by saying Mom perfectly, it is possible that he will have to make a greater effort.
The repetition of syllables is also very common in the production of baby sounds, so the most common words tend to be in this style: “papa”, “mommy”, “tete”, “dada”, “tata”. Hardly a baby can introduce more complex phonemes like /r/ or /z/ in their first words; but there is no guarantee, although it is believed that universally there are similar possibilities for sounds.
What do babies say?
If a baby starts saying his first words around six months, it doesn’t mean he hasn’t tried them before or that he wasn’t familiar with them. Even if the little one cannot express his emotions with words, it is a fact that his lexical structure is forming inside him.
Language is itself an abstract element that is in our brain ready to interpret, express and analyze linguistic structures; when a baby is encouraged to speak for the first time, he must have rehearsed that he can do so. Inside your brain are the necessary structures and your phonetic production organs are activated.
As for meaning, babies may not understand many things we say, but they do recognize their sound. We know that they quickly learn the meaning of “no” and that they are aware of what “tete” or “water” is; therefore, they start with words they have heard, are easy to pronounce, and know that they will have an effect on others.
Since they are very young, we take care to ask them to repeat “mommy”. So while it’s not clear what this means, babies have known their mother has been asking them to say since they were born. Babies talk about things around them and use words to refer to objects they see and point to, usually nouns related to everyday life.
