Introduction
This paper seeks to compare and contrast two recordings of infants’ pre-linguistic period and the caregivers’ role in facilitating language acquisition. “Talking baby at 3 months old” by Weibell is the first video that will be analyzed in depth for this paper. The second YouTube video to be evaluated is “Dad has a hilariously adorable argument with his infant daughter.” The participants in the first video are a mother and her three-month-old son, Carlon. Based on the child’s comfort in the video, the mother and child are seated in a comfortable environment, which is likely the child’s home. The topic of discussion in this video is the child’s disposition. Because he was previously angry with her, the mother continued asking the infant if he was feeling okay. Therefore, they discuss whether the infant missed her and what he did while she was away.
In contrast, the second video features a father and his 2-month-old daughter. In this video, the father attempts to initiate a conversation with his two-month-old daughter while the child tries to participate to the best of her abilities. The father informs his daughter that she is only two months old and that he disapproves of her dating males.
Video 1.
The video depicts a carer attempting to use dialogue to calm a crying newborn who was three months old. She has made sure the discussion is tranquil by using pleasant and relaxing phrases to ensure the baby reacts appropriately and feels loved and cared for. The caregiver keeps talking to the baby in a child-friendly tone so that she may get down on the baby’s level and get a similar reaction from him.
The caregiver’s tone and word choice conveys the impression that she comprehends all the child says to her in his infant language. This gives the impression that she can understand the child. She asks him questions while listening to what he says and giving him signs. She keeps saying, “tell me more,” hoping that the child would feel more at ease and try to mimic her speech pattern. The caregiver’s tone is very reassuring and childlike, which helps the patient feel at ease. To get the infant to connect with her, she sometimes raises her voice, but she always does it in a kind and comforting way.
She takes her time speaking so that the infant may fully understand her. She also uses a lot of repetition to get the infant to respond to her questions and requests. For example, she may ask the infant, “Then what else?” Repeat after me, “What else did you do” By repeating the lines and making sure the baby understood what she was conveying via language, she received affirmation from the baby when the baby made a poop sound, and she asked whether the baby popped.
In terms of morphemes, the caregiver does not make much use of either kind. The utterances are brief and punctuated at just the right places to elicit a response from the infant. In contrast, the infant responds to almost every word she says throughout the movie. The infant has kept constant eye contact throughout the video and responded to her with both words and regular facial expression changes in what seems to be a child’s language. Baby plays at being shocked and upset before telling Mom how much fun he had swinging while she was gone.
The youngster seems to grasp what is being said to them during the whole engagement. The character’s responses show this to be true. He swings with the caregiver and giggles whenever his mother mentions swinging. When the caretaker inquires whether he has eaten, he says, “No.” To confirm, he nods his head and nods his tongue. In addition, she asks him if he wants more, and he says no. Once again, he gives an affirmative response in his childlike language and with a nod.
Video 2.
The father in the second video is severely and furious as he tries to grab his daughter. The pitch of his voice is high, yet he doesn’t seem distressed. The father’s tone is authoritative as if he were attempting to convince the youngster to be quiet and listen to him because of his superior status. The kid and the father both seem like they are from Africa, which would explain the African American accent. The father insists his daughter listen to him silently, saying, “I’m serious. The conversation with the daughter in the vernacular is not meant to be lighthearted or playful. He raises his voice to make it clear to his daughter that she should stop replying immaturely since he is upset and not in a pleasant mood. The father’s tone, mannerisms, and pitch are mild and accommodating, so he doesn’t scare the infant and lead her to scream.
The father often employed inflectional morphemes in this film. “Don’t be talking back” is an example of an inflectional morpheme. He continues repeating this phrase to get the kid to stop listening to him and engage with him. His use of the words “I am playing with you” immediately after the first line reinforces the idea that the daughter should be quiet and pay attention. He also utilizes the inflectional morpheme “What you talking” in his speech. During their chat, he uses these three inflectional morphemes to soften the tone and make it more conversational.
The infant continues responding to his words, but just how he would want. The infant continues to interact with her by crying and making other sounds. She constantly tries to prove to him that she is just as strong as he is by escaping from his grasp. This demonstrates that the child’s voice pitch and tone mirrored the caregiver’s. She even gives the dad the side eye for doing the same thing at the story’s start.
Comparison and Contrast
Both movies have in common that the youngster understands the caregiver’s tone and pitch and reacts appropriately. The youngster in the first video is consistently calm, joyful, and chirpy because the tone and pitch are highly calming and loving. In the second video, the caretaker’s tone and pitch are elevated, loud, and forceful, and the child’s reaction is the same. In the first video, the youngster is relaxed in his caretaker’s hand and only leaps when aroused. He has no immediate plans to abandon the caretaker. In the second video, the toddler wants to escape the talk completely by repeatedly trying to leave the caretaker. The kid seems open to the chat in the first video, but they want to go away in the second one.
Conclusion
In conclusion, comparing and contrasting the two videos helped clarify how infants respond to language acquisition. It can be concluded that the caregiver’s tone, cadence, and vocabulary determine the baby’s response to the conversation. If the words and tone are accommodating, the infant will respond similarly, and if the tone is high-pitched, the infant will react similarly and with the same facial expressions even at 2 months of age. The expressions of the caregiver play an essential role in determining the baby’s reaction to language acquisition.
Work cited.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZwHVbB7CrQ
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