this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2026
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[–] monotremata@lemmy.ca 4 points 10 hours ago

I'd like to point out that children do, in fact, get confused in this way.

When my sister's child (who now uses they/them pronouns) was quite young (maybe three years old? I'm not certain), when something upset them, they would say "oh no wha happen?" because they knew that when their parents responded with concern after they scraped a knee or something, they would always respond with "Oh no! What happened?" So even though the new situation didn't rise to the level of provoking crying or whatever, because they wanted that same level of attention and concern, they just directly asked for that response. It was pretty cute.

Similarly, when they wanted something to happen, they would ask it as a question: "want to make those guys talk?" (which meant "please make believe with me and provide voices for some of these stuffed animals"). Or "want to just bring the bowl down?" (which meant "I'm not sure which candy I would like! please bring the candy dish down so I can pick them by looking at them [and maybe take more than one]"). So they were definitely imitating things their parents said before understanding the full grammar of the situations involved.

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 11 points 19 hours ago

My niece refers to herself as "you" because she doesn't understand that when people refer to her as "you", that isn't her name.

She's 27 years old...

[–] saimen@feddit.org 7 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

They understand almost everything long before they say their first words.

[–] zikzak025@lemmy.world 50 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Can't remember where I heard this, but I believe the terms themselves evolved around common infant mouth sounds. Hence why so many languages use the term "mama" for mother.

The baby makes random sounds, meaning is ascribed to them by the parents, the baby is given positive feedback and starts to make those sounds more frequently, and then the meaning eventually sticks for the child once they actually begin developing language.

[–] TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (2 children)

This is what I’ve heard as well. Ba/~~Da~~/Ma/Pa are the first sounds we interpret as “words” coming from babies.

[–] rmuk@feddit.uk 18 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

My first words were "boba" and "kiki" but my parents were both abstract two-dimensional shapes so that might have affected things.

[–] gooballer@lemmy.today 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

not Da as that is not bilabial

[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

What about dad's labia?

[–] naeap@sopuli.xyz 1 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Is Ma?

According to (German) Wikipedia M is not part of the list of bilabial sounds

[–] gooballer@lemmy.today 0 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

how is M not a bilabial sound!?

a bilabial consanant is one made with only your lips.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_nasal

[–] naeap@sopuli.xyz 1 points 10 hours ago

Args, actually wanted to comment here

https://sopuli.xyz/comment/25031727

[–] athatet@lemmy.zip 0 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

If you can make an ‘m’ sound with only one lip I would certainly like to hear it.

[–] naeap@sopuli.xyz 1 points 13 hours ago

I was thinking the same

But I've never heard that word before and just looked it up in Wikipedia. And there they state to list all of them, but I didn't see an 'm' - which I would put in as well, if I understood the definition correctly

That's my point, I'm not sure, if I miss something here or the article just isn't correct/complete

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilabial

[–] affenlehrer@feddit.org 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The very first document my daughter received by mail after she was born was her Tax ID. Thank you, Finanzamt.

[–] DmMacniel@feddit.org 5 points 1 day ago

The state has recognised your Daughter.

[–] amio@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago (2 children)
[–] hirihit640@sh.itjust.works 6 points 19 hours ago

I think it's talking about parents who say "say daddy" to the baby. If the baby was just parroting back, they would say "say daddy" back, but if they just say "daddy", then it implies that they know what "say" means

[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I think it's trying to imply that Only a sociopath wouldn't understand the mechanism.

The guy in the picture is Dokes from the TV show Dexter. He's the only one that recognized there was something wrong with Dexter.

[–] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago

I think you're reading too much into the meme format 😅

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] BoosBeau@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (3 children)
[–] Ioughttamow@fedia.io 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] AgentSeven@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

Say what again! I dare you. I double dare you motherfucker, say what one more goddamn time!

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] CultLeader4Hire@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

If no one is around you, say baby I love you

[–] redbrick@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

The first words from mine were... NO!! LOL

[–] 0ndead@infosec.pub 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is one of those memes you should feel bad about posting OP

[–] TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 21 hours ago

OP posted 350 times in 2 months, including Ai generated slop among other poor quality slop posts.

[–] Armand1@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Emphasis, most likely

[–] thurstylark@lemmy.today 3 points 1 day ago

My guess is that understanding language is just a brain thing, and formulating and speaking language is a brain and motor skills thing

[–] RockBottom@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago

You learn the simple things first, and the hard stuff only when you realize you absolutely must learn them.