'Baby,' Honey,' 'Boo Boo,' 'Angel' — love goo-gooing to your loved ones?
But, after reading this, you might never use these words ever.
Every relationship has these kinds of cutesy pet names and you may cringe a little to know that this kind of habit comes down from your mother.
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According to Broadly, Florida State University neuro anthropologist Professor Dean Falk said, "Baby talk is used really extensively, including cross-culturally, by mothers around the world.
"It exists for language acquisition in infants, and it also expresses love and facilitates bonding between the mother and infant."
Professor Dean Falk is the author of Finding Our Tongues: Mothers, Infants, and the Origins of Language, and a specialist in the origins of human language development.
Studies show that we love baby-talking in our romantic relationships because babies love to goo-goo in childhood and love being called by cutesy names by their mothers. Hence the study indicates that we often go back to our childhood memories by doing this.
She also said, "Couples, speaking this way, harken back to their own experience when they were infants and to their first love, their mother."
"Commonly, when babies begin acquiring language, they use the vowel "a", and consonants like "p", "b", and "m" because they are bilabial (a sound caused by the closure or near closure of the lips) and the easiest to pronounce," said Professor Frank Nuessel of the University of Louisville.
"One reason is to initiate a role-playing scenario so that both participants can feel free to express their thoughts and feelings in a comfortable framework," Nuessel further explained. "It allows both people a certain freedom from the normal constraints of adult roles."
Thus, the words baby, baby doll, sweetie, and buttercup are the most commonly used terms in the adult baby-talk.
So, from now on every time you call her babe, you can blame your mom.
