Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T03:46:03.003Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Melody as a primordial legacy from early roots of language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2006

Kathleen Wermke*
Affiliation:
Center for Pre-Speech-Development and Developmental Disorders, Julius-Maximilians-University, Wrzburg, Wrzburg, 97070, Germany
Werner Mende*
Affiliation:
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Science, Berlin, 10117, Germany

Abstract:

The stormy development of vocal production during the first postnatal weeks is generally underestimated. Our longitudinal studies revealed an amazingly fast unfolding and combinatorial complexification of pre-speech melodies. We argue that relying on melody could provide for the immature brain a kind of filter to extract life-relevant information from the complex speech stream.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Note

1. Only soft crying and whining uttered in a context of low distress and mitigated in its intensity was recorded.