Did you know research suggests that newborns can hear the difference between the rhythm of languages as early as 5 days old? There are theories that the languages of the world can be differentiated in different classes: stress-timed, syllabic-timed or mora-timed (a mora is the smallest unit of sound in Japanese and a few other languages). English is classified as stress-timed, French is classified as syllabic-timed. The newborns can hear the patterns of the rhythm of their own language class and recognize their own language rhythmic patterns from other languages that are of another class. At 5 days old! As Bryson said, "We really are fearfully and wonderfully made!" (This is one of the articles I read today.)
Rhythm of speech, called prosody, is thought to be a central part of language acquisition. So when the rhythm is played with to have a structure that follows meter and a pattern, like that of music, will that increase language acquisition for individuals who might struggle with language, for example, kids with autism? Hmm...
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