I speak to my dog in complete sentences which was a mistake because now she knows every synonym for park, walk, treats, and any time we're referring to her even if we just say 'her,' 'it,' or 'the hound.' She even learned that any time we spell a word it's related to something she likes and she goes bonkers.
We had a dog once that was super smart and would learn what different words meant very rapidly. I'd say with most dogs I've had, you can go most of their life and they'll maybe learn 2-3 different words for "dinner" and you can use other words if you're trying not to excite them too much. But this dog I swear near the end of her life we would have to say ridiculous things around her like "Did you put the K9 cereal in the receptacle?" because she had learned just about every other basic way to say "did you feed the dog?".
It takes her only 2-3 repetitions to learn a new word, it's wild. She's super clever but also the doofiest dog I've ever seen, it's hilarious
It's one thing to use baby talk with an infant, (hence the baby talk moniker), and another to speak that way to a child that is actually learning to form words and construct a sentence.
Use whatever voice you prefer with your pets. Dogs actually enjoy the soft sounds of baby talk. A bit of brilliant manipulation of humans by the dogs.
i'm pretty sure baby talk came about in the first place because it works, it genuinely helps infants develop and as you say pets generally enjoy it, i think the high pitch is easier for them to hear?
I won't argue with your thought. I'm certainly no accredited expert either, just a dad that, along with my wife, raise 4 daughters and pets - mostly working hunting dogs.
My take is that baby talk is impossible to do in a loud and angry voice. And is always done in a soft and gentle tone. I have noticed that when training dogs, I'm a fan of Spaniels, that if you are speaking in a loud voice and that has angry tones, they will start to separate from you and watch you closely. Because ain't no one wants to get yelled at. It's kind of similar to loud sharp barking I suppose. Cats though, are generally arse holes and just don't care......
When our Daughters were newborns, they started to make just sounds after about a month. So baby talk was was pretty much just making intelligible sounds back at them in a soft and soothing tone. As they started to actually learn and use "real" words, less baby talk and far more normal speech is used by parents I think. But children are also smart enough to know the different between the baby talk when playing peek-a-boo with daddy and then need for normal speech at other times.
I certainly don't see baby talk to infants and small children as an issue except in rare disfunctional family situations.
Me, a chinese that only use one syllable word for my first 6 years: ._.
I'd never really thought about until now, but do Chinese (specifically mandarin speaking) 3 year olds use Ma in place of the English speaking equivalent of "why" (repeated ad nauseum until the adult being questioned snaps!)?
I don't do baby talk because I just don't like it. Not to babies not to animals.
I do find baby talk irritating, but to each their own. As long as they don't say anything to me for no baby talking I won't say anything for those who baby talk.
But I will just say that I'm under the impression that baby talk is done more for the talker wanting to talk like that, rather that for the listener to have a easier understanding, as I was always understood the same without baby talking and just trying to use simpler words for smaller kids but without that cartoon voice.
