Author Claims Baby-Talk Is A Universal Proto-Language Which Can Be Understood

The baby-talk "code." She claims the language is reflexive. "Neh," for example, mimics the sound a baby makes when he's feeding, so "neh" means "I'm hungry."

After a nurse told her not to worry about her baby’s constant colicky crying, Priscilla Dunstan, now 32, decided that there must be a better answer. As a professional musician in Australia with a “photographic” memory for sound, she began to keep notes on her newborn son’s wails, and, sure enough, detected a pattern — five specific sounds that he would make when he was hungry, tired, needed to burp, was uncomfortable, or had gas.

“These words are created when sound is added to a baby’s natural reflexes,” explains Dunstan, whose research on over 1,000 babies has led her to believe that these words are universal among infants during the first three months of life. “This system is about helping the mother to believe in her own intuition,” she says.

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Here are two words to get you started.

“I’m hungry!”

The word: Neh

Where it comes from: The noise made when a baby pushes his tongue to the roof of his mouth because he wants to eat, “neh,” is an infant’s sucking reflex with sound added to it.

“I need to burp!”

The word: Eh

Where it comes from: When a big bubble of air is caught in your baby’s chest, the sound you hear is “eh,” as your baby tries to get the burp out.

I suppose it's possible. Her explanation is plausible enough. Not that that makes it true.

But What Does "Heh" Mean? Ghengis (or as I call him, Jenjis) writes to say he thinks he knows.

"Heh" is baby-talk for "I needs me some of those puppies."

posted by Ace at 06:56 PM

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