Newborns cry in native tongue
Friday November 6, 2009
Categories: Science
Amazing findings -- newborns cry in tones native to the language of their mothers, suggesting that they begin acquiring rudiments of language in the womb. What does this say about the humanity of the unborn? Hmm?...
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Advertisement
Advertisement
Search This Blog
Recent Posts
About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
Subscribe
Archives
Blogs Worth Reading
- Front Porch Republic
- The American Conservative
- Patrick Deneen
- Conventional Folly
- The American Scene
- First Things
- Andrew Sullivan
- The Plank
- Eunomia
- Get Religion
- Postmodern Conservative
- Alex Massie
- The Corner
- Contentions
- Sharon Astyk
- Barry Ritholtz
- The Oil Drum
- Mere Comments
- First Principles (ISI)
- Brian Kaller
This is way cool. The new era of science is not physics, nor information technology, but biology, genetics, and the brain. It's going to be a wild ride.
What does this say about the humanity of the unborn? Hmm?
This sort of talk makes me shake my head. The "humanity" of the unborn was scientifically never in question. That's not the issue.
The issue is, has always been, and remains: do adults have the power to use children tot their own ends, even to death? YES. Do adults benefit? YES. The only thing that has changed since the 1960s and the era of abortion, and the only question remaining to ask, is: do we care about others as much as ourselves? That's all there is to it. Trying to argue with people by showing how "alive" children are is an absolute waste of time for this progressive generation. It's like trying to prove to a slaveholder that blacks are "fully human". What does he care? He's making bank.
So it's simply a moral question, not a rational one of persuasion. We've known the science for some time. And I think we all know the moral answer as well. Look around you.
I have priceless memories of my daughter pushing her hand against the inside of the womb, and I would place my hand gently on top of hers. Then I would move my hand, and she would gracefully but clearly follow. This went of for five or ten minutes at a time for two months. My son did the same thing, except he would punch. (The nature of their play was highly indicative of their personalities.) Before they were born, I talked to them and I played with them, and they responded. (When they were first born and crying thier first cries, as soon as I spoke to them, they calmed right down and looked at me. They knew my voice.) And yet, they had no protection under the law.
Wow!!
Rod, this is fascinating ... and typical of the kind of thing you do here that keeps me coming back to see what interesting nuggets or perspectives you have to offer. No wonder you attract so many people to this blog.
Hi Rod,
here's a reasonably detailed analysis of the paper in question: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1869
Language Log have a bit of a bee in their bonnet about how journalists present scientific "news", hence the detailed treatment.
Dolphins in different parts of the world click in different languages. Australian dolphins cannot communicate with Asian dolphins, and so on. I'm sure it hasn't been studied yet, but I'm sure that this prenatal language acquisition happens among dolphins, too.
What does this tell us about the humanity of dolphins?
Does the language acquisition--assuming it happens--occur during those first few days after birth, in the last month of pregnancy, during the first trimester when 85% of U.S. abortions take place and a good three months before viability?
According to the two books I'm following in my own pregnancy, the fetus starts to hear at about 20 weeks. However according to the internetz, reaction to sound has actually only been observed at 30 weeks and later.
Joel,
Nothing. Are you daft?
It would tell us a whole lot about the dolphiness of preborn dolphins though. Was that ever in question?
Your Name, 6:01, no, I'm not daft, I'm snarky. Rod asked a ridiculous question, and I responded appropriately.
I don't see how this is really news. My wife is in week 36 of her pregnancy (I still can't bring myself to say "our" because she is the one doing all the work - I can't stand other men who say "we're pregnant") and we were advised to do things like let our dog bark (as if we could stop her) and don't be overly quiet - so that when she arrives she will understand those sounds and not be frightened when my dog barks at the air or will sleep through a vacuum cleaner, etc.
Is it unreasonable to expect that a baby starts forming or getting ideas of how to speak as soon as they start hearing - even though it's through a mother's stomach?
And with that, I'll just second what Mdavid said in his first post. I think he's dead on in his analysis
Brian - I'm with you in refusing to say "we are" pregnant. This perversion of the English language infuriates me. Pregnancy is a medical condition which only a woman can experience. My wife and I can be "expecting" a baby together, but only my wife can be "pregnant." We've had three babies together thus far, and my wife has been the only one who's been pregnant with any of them.
"What does this say about the humanity of the unborn?"
Precisely nothing.
Unborn children are also chemically affected by the mother's environment. Has anybody ever (a) denied this or (b) seriously imagined that it represents a stunning insight pro-choicers have somehow failed to notice?
And what's the difference?
Well, of course it shows that "just blobs of tissue" aren't "just blobs of tissue." But we can't say that because the "It's not a human being!!!!" aka Flat-Earth Society can't have these 'inconvenient truths' getting out, now, can they?
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.