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Simon 128 reading exercisesIELTS Reading: yes, no, not given(@Actual IELTS Test)128 READING EXERCISESIELTS Reading: yes, no, not given
Read the following passage about how parents speak to infants.
'Parentese'
Parentese, the exaggerated, drawn-out form of speech that people use to communicate
with babies, apparently is universal and plays a vital role in helping infants to analyse and
absorb the phonetic elements of their parents’ language. An international study shows that
infants are so good at analysing this speech that by the age of 20 weeks they are beginning
to produce the three vowel sounds common to all human languages
— “ee,” “ah” and “uu.”
“Parentese has a melody to it. And inside this melody is a tutorial for the baby that contains
exceptionally well-
formed versions of the building blocks of language,” explains Patricia
Kuhl, a University of Washington neuroscientist.
The new study examined differences in how American, Russian and Swedish mothers
speak to their infants and to other adults. The study shows that parentese is characterised
by over-articulation that exaggerates the sounds contained in words. Mothers in the study
were, in effect, sounding out “super-vowels” to help their infants learn the phonetic
elements of language.
“In normal, everyday speech adults generally race along at a very fast pace,” Kuhl says.
“But we know it is easier to understand a speaker when they stretch out sounds. That’s why
we tend to speak more slowly and carefully to increase understanding when we teach in the
classroom or talk to strangers. We also do this unconsciously with babies, giving them an
improved verbal signal they can capitalise on by slowi
ng down and over articulating.”
Do the statements below agree with the author's claims?
Write yes, no or not given.
1.
‘Parentese’ is not common to all cultures.
2. Parents tend to lengthen and over-emphasise certain sounds when speaking to infants.
3. Adults are aware that they need to use parentese when speaking to babies.
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