In an international airport, a Canadian hears two young infants crying. One of the infants is from Italy, and the other is from Austria. The Canadian insists that she can tell, from their cries alone, which baby is Italian and which baby is Austrian. Is the Canadian listener correct?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Studies have shown that newborns have acoustic patterns in their cries that are similar to the pitch patterns of their home languages. This means that a listener with enough experience listening to different languages might be able to distinguish between the cries of babies from different countries, including Italy and Austria. Vowel and consonant sounds, as mentioned in option B, are not typically present in newborn cries. Option C is incorrect, as newborn cries do not all sound the same. Option D about pauses in newborn cries has not been studied or confirmed as a way to distinguish between languages.

In an International Airport, a Canadian Hears Two Young Infants