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Cited by 564Phonetics and Phonology ResearchNeuroscience and Music PerceptionInfant Health and Development

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 53 of the 55 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Newborns' Cry Melody Is Shaped by Their Native Language

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Mampe, Birgit, Friederici, Angela D., Christophe, Anne, Wermke, Kathleen·2009·Current Biology
DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2009.09.064
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Abstract

Human fetuses are able to memorize auditory stimuli from the external world by the last trimester of pregnancy, with a particular sensitivity to melody contour in both music and language. Newborns prefer their mother's voice over other voices and perceive the emotional content of messages conveyed via intonation contours in maternal speech ("motherese"). Their perceptual preference for the surrounding language and their ability to distinguish between prosodically different languages and pitch changes are based on prosodic information, primarily melody. Adult-like processing of pitch intervals allows newborns to appreciate musical melodies and emotional and linguistic prosody. Although prenatal exposure to native-language prosody influences newborns' perception, the surrounding language affects sound production apparently much later. Here, we analyzed the crying patterns of 30 French and 30 German newborns with respect to their melody and intensity contours. The French group preferentially produced cries with a rising melody contour, whereas the German group preferentially produced falling contours. The data show an influence of the surrounding speech prosody on newborns' cry melody, possibly via vocal learning based on biological predispositions.

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Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Granier-Deferre, 1998, Fetal and neonatal cardiac orienting response to music in quiet sleep, Dev. Psychobiol., 33, 372
  2. Wermke, K. (2002). [Investigation of the melody development in cries of monozygotic twins in the first 5 months of life]. Habilitationsschrift (postdoctoral thesis), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin. http://edoc.hu-berlin.de.
  3. Wermke, K., and Mende, W. (1994). Ontogenetic development of infant cry and non-cry vocalization as early stages of speech abilities. In Proceedings of the Third Congress of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association, R. Aulanko and A.M. Korpijaakko-Huuhka, eds. (Helsinki, Finland: University of Helsinki), pp. 181–189.
  4. Delattre, 1961, [The intonation model of Simone de Beauvoir: A declarative comparative study on intonation], French Review, 35, 59

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Metadata

Authors
Mampe, B., Friederici, A. D., Christophe, A., & Wermke, K.
Affiliations
  • Max Planck Society (DE)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • University of Würzburg (DE)
Corresponding author
Wermke, Kathleen
ORCID
Venue
Current Biology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2009-12
Volume
19
Issue
23
Pages
1994-1997
ISSN
0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.cub.2009.09.064
OpenAlex
W2057083828
Cited by
564
References
55
Citations by year
2026: 36 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 43 · 2020: 77 · 2019: 34 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 35 · 2014: 37 · 2013: 37 · 2012: 31
FWCI
27.13
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Current Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
  • Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
Funders
European Commission
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phonetics and Phonology Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Infant Health and Development
Keywords
newborn crying, pitch contour, language influence, prosody, child-directed speech, prenatal language exposure, France-Germany comparison, vocal learning, emotional prosody
MeSH terms
Auditory Perception, Crying, Female, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Language, Male

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