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Newborns recognize vowel sounds from their native language

a. true
b. false

User Syvel
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

Newborns can recognize vowel sounds from their native language, show preference for their mother's voice over others, and differentiate sounds early in life to adapt to their language environment.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question of whether newborns recognize vowel sounds from their native language is true; newborns do indeed exhibit this capacity. This phenomenon begins before birth, as babies start to attune to the specific phonetic features of the language spoken by their mother. Research has shown that newborns prefer their mother's voice and can differentiate between their mother's language and foreign languages. Additionally, babies can distinguish between language-related sounds and non-speech sounds very early on.

In the first year of life, babies' auditory systems are sensitive to all human languages but start to specialize in recognizing the phonemes of the languages they hear often. This highlights infants' impressive capacity for early language acquisition and their predisposition for adapting to the linguistic environment in which they are raised. For instance, the distinct cooing of a baby reflects the tonal qualities of the language spoken by their parents, with further development in language and communication marked by stages such as babbling and first-word utterances.

User Arun Patra
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