Baby's First Word Filled Stone Age Papa With Pride

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 7-22-2004 | David Derbyshire

[Marie]

... then the meaning would tend to random Good point. You're very astute.

[Marie]

Thanks for all the pings! For the last two weeks, it's been like Christmas!

[Hatteras]

In North Carolina it's "Diddy".

[SunkenCiv]

Well, I have been trying to lose weight, but... ;')

[ElkGroveDan]

"Ema" is mother in Hebrew, "aba" is father.

In Klingon, mother is "SoS" and father is "vav".

A particularly rude insult in Klingon is "Hab SoSlI' Quch" which means "Your mother has a smooth forehead"

[ElkGroveDan]

the meaning would tend to random

...unless there were some other constant involved, such as the sounds a baby makes when nursing; i.e "mama" or similar. That would tend to create a bias towards mama being assigned to the mother, leaving "papa" or "dada" to be assigned to the father.

[Marie]

Verry punny... heh heh heh!

[JenB]

In Sindarin, they are Nana and Ada respectively.

What about in Quenya?

[Redcloak]

What about in Quenya?

Nana and Atto.

[tophat9000]

unless there were some other constant involved, such as the sounds a baby makes when nursing; i.e "mama" or similar. That would tend to create a bias towards mama being assigned to the mother, leaving "papa" or "dada" to be assigned to the father.

Hmmm, I could see that... Interesting variable to consider

[ThanhPhero]

in Vietnamese mom is me- pronouncet like "mat" without the "t". Dad is "ba."

[ThanhPhero]

Ma or ma-ma for mother is simply the first sound a baby tends to make and the first association is the mother's breast, thus the word "mammary" in English and Mama.

[ThanhPhero]

I.E. Papa and Dada would be found to mean Mother as often as Father and conversely Mama would be found be Father as often as Papa and Dada

Perhaps not. Ma is the probable sound when baby is nuzzling at the breast.

[The Red Zone]

If the first babbling is ma-ma-ma that would bias it towards the mother, because Daddy is rather unlikely to be suckling the child.

[The Red Zone]

In Klingon, mother is "SoS"

So Klingon babes learn to spit real early?

[yarddog]

My daughter's first word was Da da. It is in her baby book.

I am sure I read somewhere that da da is the most common first word.

[solitas]

Were the Frenchmen cunning linguists?

It depends upon what kind of animal is available...

[solitas]

Texas A&M builds one of these every year.
• And, every once in a while, quite badly.

[TRY ONE]

"Were the Frenchmen cunning linguists?"

Don't know but the difference between French women and Asian women is:

Asian women are cunning runts!

[Ichneumon]

Perhaps not. Ma is the probable sound when baby is nuzzling at the breast.

Babies aren't the only ones...