Lullabies enrich child lingustic development

Lullabies Enrich Child Linguistic Development Uththara Aseni Nandakumara Postgraduate student of the Department of Linguistics University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka [email protected] The course of this research is based on the effect of lullabies on the development of children’s language. It appears that lullabies have their own special features that provide highly essential fundamental environment to an infant’s requirement of language learning. Thus, this explores the essentiality of lullabies for children to improve their ability of linguistic behavior. According to the Merriam Webster’s dictionary, a lullaby is “a soothing refrain.” (Webster’s, 2014). The common definition of the term “lullabies” is that they are melodious simple songs with a lulling effect that are used to aid infants/ children into sleep. As GÜNEŞ say, “Lullabies are rhymed and harmonious words; in the form of poetry and prose according to a certain melody generally sung by mothers but sometimes also by relatives like grandma, aunt, elder sister etc. in order to soothe crying children or make them sleep” (GÜNEŞ, 2012, p.316). The input of language commences with the child’s most intimate auditory world. In other words, mothers play a major role in feeding the child with his native language system, so that the “linguistic output‟ from the part of the child becomes fruitful. The input of language into newborns or children happens in various manners. As Skinner theorizes, “A child acquires verbal behavior when relatively unpatterned vocalizations, selectively reinforced, gradually assume forms which produce appropriate consequences in a given verbal community (Skinner, 1957). Even if many Cognitive linguists are opposed to Skinner’s S-R Theory of language acquisition, Houston proclaims, “It is difficult to determine the degree of inherited predisposition to language, partly because children‘s verbal stimulus input cannot be experimentally controlled” (Houston, 1972). Skinner further assumed that a human child imitates the language used in his environment, comprehends it and when reinforcement on the infant‘s trials of using language in his speech act is done the child readily absorbs and produces it. He says, “The parent sets up a repertoire of responses in the child by reinforcing many instances of a response” (Skinner, 1957, p.29). In her review of Skinner‘s theories, Houston claims them as “The most comprehensive association-theory-based description of the language acquisition process is that developed by B.F. Skinner” (Houston, 1972, p. 46). Even though the cognitive approach criticized the Skinnerian theory of language acquisition and learning, it seems to be highly influential in the field of psycholinguistics. Thus, it can be claimed that lullabies are one such input of language which is uncontrollable. It is fact that the auditory world of a newborn infant normally consists of his mother’s voice and that he acquires his native language first through his immediate auditory environment. All around the world, mothers use to sing lullabies to the infants. The main point they achieve with it is that the child sleeps harmoniously along with mother’s singing. Mostly the research work is based on the musicality of lullabies which send the children into sleep. Mothers propose the native language to the infants by constant verbal communication with them. It is widely accepted that mother’s speech, which is child directed, instigates the child’s language development. The commonly agreed view is that the healthy infants start their first pure linguistic communication with the outer world at the age of 2 – 2 1/2 months where they start “cooing‟. Obviously, mother’s monologue is not the only means with which they provide the native language to the babies. An infant acquires basic perceptions about his mother tongue with a sharp ear. Lullabies, of which the origin is not yet found, offer the suggestions of the native language to infants in a noteworthy manner. The spotlight of this research is how the lullabies improve child linguistic system from an early age of the infants, since it was identified that as same as motherese or Child Directed Speech (CDS), the lullabies too influence a child’s knowledge of his mother tongue effectively. It is rarely that one focuses on the linguistic significance of lullabies in relation to the development of language in children. The linguistic awareness that lullabies instigate in infants or children is a field of research in psycholinguistics which is closely observed and elaborated by many linguists and psychologists. However, it was observed that no such extensive linguistic research has been conducted upon the lullabies in the Sinhala language throughout the time being. Therefore, this article provides some valuable information that sets grounds for the linguists who are interested in further studies regarding the concerned topic. The primary argumentative fact at the foundation level of this research is whether lullabies are only meant to lull a child to sleep or whether there are linguistic goals achieved by lullabies which are quite invisible to the ordinary masses. Lullabies are sung by mothers to the newborns and children no matter in which country or culture: Not only that, but mothers bearing fetus too tend to sing lullabies. It is quite obvious that lullabies are universally shared and are mainly used in the communities where there are children who are yet growing up. The current survey of lullabies in the development of linguistic system in infants or children mainly addresses “Which role do lullabies play in the linguistic development of children?” Being a universally shared experience by human infants, lullabies appear to be a really crucial element in human infancy. Hence, the ultimate objective of this research is to investigate “whether” and “how” lullabies bear any kind of special significance in shaping an infant brain into gaining specific knowledge of human language, more than becalming into sleep. At this moment, it seems useful to scrutinize the similarities and the differences between the two concepts, Child Directed Speech and lullabies, in order to determine the importance of lullabies in the child language expansion. Many assumptions are brought forward by researchers regarding the two notions. Examining these theories is of much importance to establish the eminence of lullabies in the language acquisition procedure. Child Directed Speech is phrased as “a form of communication made up of short sentences with high-pitched, exaggerated expression, clear pronunciation, distinct pauses between speech segments, clear gestures to support verbal meaning and repetition of new words in a variety of contexts” (Fernald et al., 1989, p.16, 477-502; O‘Neil et al., 2005, p. 8, 352-359). Both motherese and lullabies consist of similar elements. It is due to these compatibilities that both norms are widely shared all over the world. Thus, a magnified vision on their similar points is benevolent. One fundamental similarity of the two is that they both disappear from an individual’s life when a certain age of childhood is reached. According to Fernald (1991), both Child Directed Speech and singing are characterized by higher pitch levels. Preverbal infants and children are acute in their auditory senses since they acquire the sounds of their L1 through what they hear in their environment. At the same time, a higher pitch gains their attention immediately. Tsang and Conrad (2010) report the research conducted by Trainor and Zacharias (1998) of which the result is that the 6 months old infants liked listening to high-pitched over low-pitched versions of the same songs that they used to gather data. Further, they refer to Fernald (1991) and declare that similar results are found with when high-pitched speech is used. Apart from that, the phonological characteristics seen in both motherese and lullabies seem similar. These include onomatopoeia, reduplication, use of lot of vowel sounds and mild and bilabial consonants. The morphological and syntactical aspects in both CDS and ID singing (lullabies) are often considered as simple since both concepts appear only during the period when children try acquiring their L1. Even if there compatibilities between CDS and lullabies, certain dissimilarities too exist between them. Corbeil, Trehub and Peretz (2013) presented that the children prefer listening to speech which consists of ‘greater acoustic variability’ and ‘expressiveness’, than the lullabies which are lesser in above qualities. However, Nakata and Trehub (2004) conducts research regarding the attention level of infants separately towards mother‘s speech and singing. Their report significantly shows that the infants pay more attention on the lullabies/ play songs than mother‘s speech. Therefore, there exists a dilemma whether the attention paid by the infants can be taken as a measuring stick to judge whether it is speech or singing of lullabies influences the child linguistic system the most. In the meantime, many researchers heed upon the universal linguistic features found in lullabies. The language that the adult speakers use to infants embodies its own noteworthy features which do not occur in the Adult Language (AD). In that sense, ‘verbal communication’ that takes place between an adult speaker and an infant/ a child can be either ‘speech‘ or any other form like ‘lullabies‘ since they both contain linguistic elements. Emeksiz (2011) says that lullabies bear non-sleep inducing cues quoting the words “wake up” which occur repetitively in one lullaby persuading the infant to rise from sleep rather than being asleep. Thus, directing the ministration on the topic of the features of lullabies is indispensable. As maintained by many researchers, certain features that are there in lullabies can be witnessed in ID speech too (Stern, Spieker & MacKain, 1982). On the report of Trehub, Unyk and Trainor (1993), finding out the musical universals in lullabies have reached limited success so far but they add assertively “directed speech but present in infant-directed speech across cultures (Fernald et al., 1989), such universals may emerge in infant-directed music”. Their first experiment in order to measure this fact of universality came out with considerable results. The participants of the research (40 adults consisting of 28 females and 12 males) succeeded in identifying lullabies as lullabies exactly (as shown in Table 2.3). 48% of the participants have had no formal training in music. The 30 samples of lullabies were chosen from various countries. The results of their research present certain universal features of lullabies like repetitiveness, simplicity and etc. across cultures. The prosody of a certain language is very significant in the process of its acquisition. With a detailed description regarding speech and music, Fonseca-Mora et al., (2011, p. 3) uphold “It is only through prosody that a language becomes accessible to a child. Prosody enables the segmentation of the flow of audible speech and thus the recognition of meaningful structural elements. Melody is the most salient prosodic element for this developmental process […]”. And also they profess about CDS as being “characterized by exaggerated melodies, expression and exemplifies how messages are conveyed to the preverbal human infants by means of melody”. Friederici (2006) comments “Newborns can also discriminate a variety of other linguistic characteristics based on the musical aspects of language. For example, infants can distinguish the characteristic prosody (or melody) of their native language from others”. ID speech is often named as a ‘sing-song’ mode of interaction between an infant and a caregiver. It is through this same ‘melodic’ speech that infants pick sounds or hints regarding their L1. Melody is a feature that vitally appears in any lullaby. Hence, it has certain prosody which appeals to an infant. Therefore, as per the statements above, it can be inferred that human infants gather ‘verbal cues’ along with the lullabies that are sung to them. Lullabies contain both prosody and intonation: mothers/caregivers sing lullabies while paying attention onto the melody and they change their intonation according to the situation. This kind of changing of intonation depends on the infant‘s reaction to the singing. One can observe how intonation can alter a lullaby into a neutral song or a play song (see O‘Neill, Trehub and Trainor, 2001). Moreover, Fernald and Kuhl (1987) handles that ‘intonation contour’ is the most important to infant listeners. Infants seem to be interested in the changing contours of lullabies when they are sung. The higher pitch ranges seem to gain the attention of the newborns. But “In terms of performance, lullabies are generally sung by caregivers in a lower pitch and a slower tempo than play songs, while play songs are generally high in pitch and highly rhythmic” (Tsang and Conrad, 2010). Yet, as same as intonation, pitch also can be altered while singing a lullaby which would make one difficult to figure out whether the song is a lullaby or a play song. However, Whitwell, a music therapist in United States, claims “singing voice has a richer frequency range than speech”. Lullabies naturally are accompanied with a ‘singing voice’. Thus, Whitwell‘s comment represents that infants are introduced to varied, novel pitch ranges though lullabies due to the ‘singing voice’ in them. The normal ‘stress’ that happens on the sounds that are produced in a human language is unique to that particular language. It is a phenomenon that occurs unknowingly to a native speaker of language. The adult speaker, no matter in which mode of communication, either in speech or in singing, does the particular stresses over where they should occur. The infant absorbs the awareness on which sound/ syllable to make the stress, and then imitates it the same manner. At the beginning of the process of acquisition of L1 cues, the infant may tend to stress a lot more on some sounds than it is generally expected. But this takes place only due to the fact that infants attempt to follow the sounds produced by the adult the same manner. The places where the ‘stress’ falls in a lullaby may change due to other prosodic features like melody and intonation. Yet, the stress(es) in a morph stays the same as in speech. Thus, the child listening to a lullaby happen to acquire the ‘stress’ in one‘s L1 through lullabies too to a certain amount though not as same as through CDS. As Patel (2008) puts it, rhythm is “the systematic patterning of sound in terms of timing, accent and grouping” (p. 96). He further marks the significance of ‘rhythm’ in terms of speech very clearly: “[…] each language has a rhythm that is part of its sonic structure, and an implicit knowledge of this rhythm is part of a speaker‘s competence in their language” (p. 97). It is affirmative that the rhythm of speech is different from the rhythm that prevails in lullabies. The musical quality of lullabies may seem as disrupting the rhythm of speech. In fact, any lullaby does pay heed to the syntactic relations built up in them. Thus, the beat/ rhythm of a lullaby influence the child‘s linguistic knowledge to a certain extent. The imitation of the sounds of animals, objects or abstract elements is prevalent in the lullabies across cultures. It is known as ‘onomatopoeia’ and is a very noteworthy means of producing sounds bearing weighty meanings. One such example in English is the word ‘hush’: “Hush-a-by baby on the tree top, When the wind blows the cradle will rock When the bough breaks the cradle will fall […]” The infant who listens to this onomatopoeic sound automatically directs attention to it and absorbs what is meant by ‘hush’. Thus, it is not only in speech that the rich auditory element like ‘onomatopoeia’ is used, but also in lullabies. The same feature may occur widely in many other lullabies irrespective of the geographical setting of the country or culture. By scrutinizing Lust’s table (Lust, 2006, pp.274 - 275), one may observe that most of the sounds perceived by the infants are vowels (short and long) and plosives, dentals, nasals and liquids out of consonants. It appears that these are the sounds that the infants find easier to pronounce from birth until 6 months of age. She further adds that there is significant reduction of clusters, liquid substitution, reduplication and special sounds (p. 111). Therefore, directing one‘s attention on the vowels, consonants and syllables used in lullabies too is important at this moment. Examining the Hazara lullabies (central Afghanistan), Sakata (1987) mentions that most of the sounds in them are mellifluous and that most of the sounds are used not to deliver any meaning, but for the sake of producing sounds. Hence, it is visible that the adults of this community make efforts to introduce the simpler sounds of their L1 to their infants through their use in lullabies. Also, according to many researchers such as Brakeley (1950) and Brown (1980), the sounds produced in the lullabies consist of humming and syllables which are nonsensical. Thus, it can be inferred that the sounds that accompany the lullabies despite of the country or the culture, share identical phonological features that instigate the infants/ children to use them in their linguistic perception is on process as CDS does. Lust‘s presentation (Lust, 2006, p. 280) clarifies how much intelligent children are to distinguish between their L1 and any other language. This awareness occurs due to the frequent morphological and syntactic structures that they first hear as mere sounds. For infants, the sounds around them are nonsensical at first, but it is later that the perception of morphemic and syntactic elements appear as useful to them. Thus, one may declare that either CDS or any other form of language, including lullabies, influences the perception of the child regarding the L1. In order to reinforce the usage of language, there are two main methods that adults use in CDS (repetition and reduplication). The same may reflect in lullabies too since it also is a mode of communication between adults and the infants. Studying the common features of the morphological and syntactic structure of CDS, may aid understanding and discovering the identical features of CDS and lullabies that emphasize children using those elements in their communication. In CDS, repetition is a common feature. The repeated sequences of elements of L1 are quickly absorbed by the children. They test what they acquire in their daily interactions with the adults. Speech is what human beings normally employ in building up their communication with the outer world. Hence, along with the reassertion of language elements to children is mostly done with CDS. However, “The repetitive, lulling properties of ID singing may foster more moderate arousal levels, which facilitate longer bouts of infant engagement. Accordingly, we predicted that infants would show more sustained attention to extended episodes of maternal singing than to comparable episodes of maternal speech” (Nakata and Trehub, 2004, p.3). Therefore, it can be presumed that the element of repetition that lies in lullabies also generates the attention of the infants towards the useful linguistic aspects of L1. Studying Blackfoot lullabies, Miyashita (2011) states he finds reduplication of words in lullabies and names it as ‘vacuous reduplication’. He further says “vacuous reduplication in songs does not require the language to have reduplication in its grammatical repertoire”. The main objective of reduplication of morphemes and syntactic structures in a language, that befalls in CDS and lullabies, be it nonsensical or less functional, is yet again to re-emphasize the language use to children. The infant brain being highly spongy, absorbs the elements of language faster when they are being reinforced. Therefore, it can be assumed that the reduplication that takes place in lullabies do persuade the language (L1) absorption of infants. Apart from the above universal features, there is one external universal feature, which is not verbal yet linguistically important, that can be observed regarding lullabies. It appears in CDS also mostly in a different manner of expression since speech, as one envisages much earlier in this review, is dominant in terms of constructing communication. Body language occurs in CDS and it seems very much a part of lullabies too. Thus, a closer examination on that branch too is vital. As Parklain and Lerner (2010) assert, “Singing a lullaby while rocking a baby stimulates early language development”. Caretakers tend to dramatize the lullabies at times. It happens mostly with play songs. But depending on the situation, they get the aid of the body language. This, in a way, captures the attention of infants. Specially, ‘rocking’ happens when the lullabies are sung to infants. Further, the linguistic importance of lullabies during the intrauterine life of the infant and the life after birth has gained platform of discussion of many linguists. Lecanuet (1996) presents the fact that the auditory perception of the foetus is very much stronger by the last three months of the mother‘s pregnancy period. Patel (2008) also agrees on the fact that the foetus can hear, remember and identify familiar melodies and he adds “Native sound system leaves an imprint on our minds”. This statement does not discriminate in between whether the imprint is only created due to speech. The researchers, Partanen et al. (2013), record of a research done taking 12 foetus which heard the English lullaby ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ between 138 – 192 times. After the birth of these infants, their brainwaves are examined. Another control group of infants who had no experience of listening to the same lullaby are also examined. Their observations revealed that the infants with prior experience of listening to the lullaby during the fetal life react more strongly than the control group of infants to the melody when it is played after birth. The researchers adjoined their belief that the singing and speech instigate baby brain development on a shared mechanism. Speech being the most prominent form of human communication, gains much attention in the domain of linguistics. When it comes to the topic of language acquisition of infants, again it is the ‘speech’ that is given consideration. As presented earlier, the speech of infants and the speech used towards infants have many distinctive characteristics and they differ from the world of adult speech perception and production. However, Moog (1976) distinguishes between two types of babbling that occurs in infants: musical babbling and non-musical babbling. Further, he adds that the musical babbling comes out first preparing the infant for the process of language acquisition. ‘Babbling’ is first pre-linguistic set of sounds that a human infant produces. Therefore, it is obvious that even though first efforts of generating language from the part of the infant commences in a ‘musical note’, proceeds into being the form of speech soon afterwards. Furthermore, since “music poses less cognitive demands” (Fonseca-Mora et al., 2011), it can be further inferred that lullabies provide more ease to infants in absorbing the language. Concerning the facts issued above, it is highly significant that lullabies neither can be solely dropped into the category of music, nor into speech: they now resemble more like an amalgamation of music and language/ speech. As Fonseca-Mora et al. (2011, p.2) says “Speech melodies are the natural intersection between music and language”. Thus, lullabies create both linguistic and musical awareness in infants while reinforcing their attachment and preference regarding the L1 gradually. Since they are an “intersection” between one’s language and music, the children may find it as faster means of acquiring language to a certain level since lullabies cannot be considered as a form of everyday ‘speech’. This deviation separates lullabies from being a pure mode of daily interaction between humans. The primary question placed by the topic of this research is whether lullabies actually play a role of enriching a neonate’s linguistic system. This major question could be narrowed down into many logical questions in order to arrive at conclusions regarding the research topic. Thus, one may specify into the various dimensions that the inspiration of lullabies is imposed on an infant human brain by interpreting the answers for the following questions by analyzing the results that were gained. When do mothers sing lullabies? What are the features of lullabies and are those features universal? What exactly draws the infant’s attention onto a lullaby? Are motherese second to lullabies? Which similarities and differences are seen in between CDS and lullabies? How do lullabies facilitate language development in infants or children? How do they stimulate the function of the brain? How does a child improve language by listening to lullabies? Are there any significant points in the rhythm and the melody in lullabies? Has there been an evolution of the notion of lullabies along with the time span? Which other major and sub-disciplinary areas of linguistics does the study of lullabies refer to? The study of how lullabies improve child linguistic system requires scrutinizing the data samples that are gathered to test the hypothesis of the linguistically enriching factors in lullabies . Method 1 A questionnaire is issued in order to collect the data so that the answers written for each question posed in the sheet of questionnaire can be analyzed closely in relation to the subject of the current research. Participants: The data for the research is collected from twenty eight (28) females who have children from age of birth until 3 years. The educational or social status of the participants are not considered as important since almost every mother tends to sing lullabies to the child irrespective of their economic, social or educational level. Yet all the twenty eight females, from whom the data is gathered, are literate enough to write in their L1. All the 28 participants use Sinhala language as their L1. Moreover, none of the participants involved in the study are professionals in language or music. Further, the questionnaire sheets are completed by them in the absence of the researcher so that no personal views or explanations are provided. Material: The participants of the research are issued with a questionnaire entitled ‘Lullabies enrich child linguistic development’. The language used in the questionnaire is Sinhala since the participants of the research bear Sinhala as their L1. The questionnaire consists of ten (10) questions for which the participants have to answer on the dotted lines provided. Procedure: First, many females are questioned whether they have children aged from birth till 3 years. The questionnaire sheets are distributed among twenty eight females who have children of the age range mentioned above. They are requested to complete the questionnaire considering their own experience with their children. Only one sheet is issued to an individual participant considering only one child that one has. The entirely completed questionnaires are recollected in order to analyze the data. Results & Discussion: As per their answers the result is that all the twenty eight mothers do sing lullabies to their children irrespective of the age of the children. Thus, it is significant that, as mentioned earlier, similarly to speech towards the children, mothers do use lullabies also. Their main intention may be to put the children to sleep but at the same time it can be mentioned that no mother, spares speech as only means of communication towards their children. After all, even sending the child to sleep with a lullaby is another means of using a series of communicative language signals. The results further indicate that the mothers sing lullabies to their children more than thrice per day due to the fact that the children tend to sleep frequently during the period from birth until 3 years. It is worth while mentioning at this point that even within the time of sleep, the infant brain process and grows. Mothers do not normally speak to the children in order to send them to sleep, yet singing lullabies they choose as a great option. When the time of sleep arrives, the slower rhythm of words in the lullabies asserts the sounds to the children effectively. At the same time, within the time of preparation for sleep, the other physical activities of the children cease, and therefore they receive time to pay attention onto mothers’ voice of the lullabies. Thus, keen brain activity is paid when the lullabies are sung to children. The participants are further questioned whether they use other songs beside lullabies. Out of the twenty eight (28) mothers, twenty six (26) of them mention that they do use other songs. At the same time one mentions that she uses the popular Sinhala song /muhudu patulə jatə id̃əla:/ whereas three mention that they sing /pute: nub̃e: loku amma:/, which is another popular song, as alternatives for what is traditionally known as „lullabies in Sinhala‟ Further, three (03) of them specifically mention that they use children songs/ play songs for their children as lullabies. Thus, it is clear that the term ‘lullabies’ has now evolved into a status where mothers use varied songs by bringing their intonation, contour, rhythm and the pitch compatible to the qualities found in traditional lullabies and thereby converting them into melodies that put children to sleep. Twenty five (25) mothers out of twenty eight (28), from whom the data was obtained, were very assertive in bringing out the fact that it is speech that they use mostly to encourage communication in children. Thus, it is evident that according to the general acceptance, CDS rests superior to lullabies in the role of development of language skills in children in the early stages of life. Children imitate the sounds made by the adult world around them. This is the main reason why adults have invented CDS as a means of providing extra help in guiding children to use their L1. Yet, the fact whether lullabies also furnish any such helpful background to children was noticed as worth discovering. Twenty five (25) out of the twenty eight (28) children concerned in the study were claimed as never staying silent when lullabies are sung to them. Instead, they either make attempts in following up mother’s melody or else if their vocal tract is grown up enough to produce nearly the same pitch, melody and rhythm of the lullaby, they do not miss the chance. Even if sometimes children do not try imitating, as same as ‘listen to speech’, they do listen to melodies too. Through the data gathered, it is evident that children do make attempts in imitating the lullabies sung to them. The types of vocal imitations that the children concerned in the present study can be tabulated in brief as below. Table 1 Types of vocal imitations of the lullabies done by children Age of the children Number of children Vocal imitation 5 – 7 months 2 Elongated vowels like /a:/ & /o:/ 9 – 11 months 3 Elongated vowels & syllables like /ga:/ while changing pitch & intonation 1 – 2 years 14 Elongated consonant /m/ Nouns - /puta:/ for ‘son’ /ba:loli/ a type of a flower /koka:/ for ‘crane’ /atə/ for ‘the hand’ Verbs - /gija:/ for ‘went’ Interjections - /onnə/ - for ‘watch out’ Above 2 years 9 Nouns - /æti:ja:/ for ‘elephant’ /muttijə/ for ‘pan’ Verbs - /aləgenə/ for ‘carrying’ /ge:nnə/ for ‘bring’ Phrases - /lattəlaŋ puta:/ for ‘precious son’ /elə kotuve:/ for ‘vegetable plot’ /kili tudu a:va:/ for ‘milky white hare’ The youngest children concerned in the study produce vowels to catch up with the mother’s melody and attempts novel ways of producing sounds and experiments the perceived sounds. The 9 – 11 months olds use consonants and syllables to imitate mother’s lullaby. The older children acquire, specially, many nouns (singular and plural) and verbs in many tenses through the lullabies. The vocabulary children gain can be used in daily utterances in newer manners. Even if /ba:lolɪ/ is not a word that normally occurs in CDS, it is there in some Sinhala lullabies. Thus, the child gains the opportunity to add new words into the lexicon. Children seem to acquire semantics as well (acting like an elephant and a hare). They learn expressing possession and adjectives though in a discreet manner. Deviations of pronunciations from AS occur (ex: /æti:ja:/ for /ætInnIja:/) since the children are yet experimenting the sounds of L1 and identifies the ways in which they can be put together. In addition, 14/28 mothers stated that they used to sing lullabies to their children when they were still in the womb and that those children respond more positively and attentively to the lullabies they got familiar with during the intrauterine life. By the end of the analysis conducted regarding the answers provided by twenty eight mothers who rear children ranging from age of birth– 3 years of age, it assertive that the lullabies do impose a positive impact on the development of the linguistic ability of the children in their pre-learning stages of L1. Method 2 As the second methodology, employed in the current research, one stanza of a Sinhala lullaby was linguistically analyzed. This particular method provides the opportunity to scrutinize the distinctive characteristics of a lullaby in relation to its phonological, morphological and syntactic levels so that it emphasizes the significant features in the lullabies that facilitate the children in acquiring the L1. Participants: Accompanied by the linguistic knowledge of the researcher, a closer examination of a Sinhala lullaby is performed. The subjective hypothesis of the current research is thus backed up by this study by surveying various linguistic elements that appear in lullabies in general. Material: One stanza from the famous lullaby, /ha: ha: hari ha:va:/, which also is used as a play song, in the Sinhala language is linguistically analyzed in order to surface the distinctive linguistic elements observed in it so that it provides a general outlook of the elements linked with language that support the infants/ children to accumulate language cues in their L1. Table 2 Tested Sinhala lullaby in IPA and its translation in English Concerned Sinhala lullaby converted into IPA Translation of the lullaby (English) /ha: ha: hari ha:va: kæle: mædin a:va: hitə genə gag̃ə ga:va: vatə pitə æhæ læ:va:/ The clever hare came across the forest standing near the river watched out keenly At this point, Tabulation of linguistic elements in the lullaby can be inferred as contributive to draw out the significance seen in them in relation to the ability of perception and the capacity of production of linguistic elements by the children when considered with the age as done by Lust (2006). Procedure: One stanza of the Sinhala lullaby considered is converted into IPA symbols and the selected verse for the study is linguistically analyzed while presenting the noteworthy linguistic elements envisaged in the lullaby as providing hints of language to the infant/ child listeners. The lullaby is analyzed in four levels: Phonological, morphological, syntactical and semantic layers. The material provided by Lust (2006, p. 272 - 280) is kept by the side in order to scrutinize the ability of the infant/ child and also to gain a comparative view point of lullabies. Apart from that, it provides descriptively the systematic steps taken throughout the research in collecting data and sorting them out to test the hypothesis made. Results & Discussion: The given conversion of the lullaby into the IPA symbols presents the fact that the lullaby contains two syllable words mostly and at the same time it is visible that it consists of ample of short or long front vowels. The child who listens to the above lullaby (play song) can therefore easily grasp the sounds made by the adult voice and imitate accordingly. If the child is yet within the period where he can produce only monosyllables or simple two syllabic sounds, the child may attempt imitating the melody of the song with the best possible pitch and sounds. The intonation of the words is slowed down by the adult singer so that the child is given the time and space to absorb the intonation of each word properly. Due to the higher yet mild simulative rhythm creates attraction of the child naturally towards the lullaby. The self-same liking of the infant may lead to his reproduction or imitation or trials of imitation of the lullaby from his part. The stanza of the lullaby consists of simpler lexicon which the child listener can memorize with ease and speed. The nouns and the verbs that appear in it are ones which the child may need to use in daily communication. Further, by the beginning of the lullaby itself one may observe reduplication of /ha:/ which emphasizes and encourages the infant listener to try and produce it. One may observe it taking place at the end of the last stanza also. In addition, the repetition of the same lullaby which occurs whenever the child is ready to sleep reinforces the words and the strings of words of the lullaby to the child. It is fact that the sentence structure in the poems and songs differ from everyday speech, yet one may observe the fact that the considered lullaby bears two well formed sentences which do not deviate from the normal speech. Hence, it does not harm the child’s comprehension of forming simple syntactic structures in his L1. Table 3 The two sentences in the first stanza of the lullaby /ha: ha: hari ha:va: kæle: mædin a:va:/ The clever hare came across the forest /hitə genə gag̃ə ga:va: vatə pɪtə æhæ læ:va:/ Standing near the river, watched out keenly One may also test it along with another stanza of the same lullaby so that a comparative study may help reaching the conclusive remarks even more assertively. Thus, the second stanza of the same lullaby is segmented as follows for observation. Table 4 Comparing the first stanza with the second linguistically /kolə dekatak kæ:va:/ Ate a bit of grass /pæn ugurak bi:va:/ Had a sip of water /tolə katə levə kæ:va:/ Smacked the lips /itin ætæi ki:va:/ Said that it is enough The second stanza consists of four sentences and all the four consist of action verbs. Even though the subject (S) of the sentence is not mentioned here, it is suggested. The object (O) and the verb (V) are placed grammatically within all the four lines as same as it is done in the first stanza. The child listener thereby is offered the opportunity to acquire the manner how the sentence structure of Sinhala is constructed (S+O+V). Hence, though being poetic, the grammatical rules are not breached within the lullaby. It is traditionally believed that grammar is not heeded in poems or songs, and yet this simple lullaby is the opposite of such assumption. Semantically considered, one may notice that he two syllabic words of the lullaby also produce the kinetic sense of the hare’s hop which in a way retains the child’s brain stimulation. It further affirms the child listener that the noun or the subject of the lullaby, the hare, is associated with a hopping movement of its own. A child after its first year after birth seeks for rich lexicon. Thus, a lullaby accompanied by movements intensifies the child’s perception and comprehension of the morphological elements of the native tongue and it reinforces the semantics of L1 to the child by the earliest acquisition period. Therefore, it is affirmative that the current research is based on the ways in which lullabies impose an impact on the child’s linguistic development during the ‘early infancy’. This statement thereby connotes that a linguist may concern the overall role played by the lullabies in an infant’s life within a period of time where lullabies are sung to them by the adults. It further suggests that the action of singing lullabies to children does disappear when the children grow up physically and mentally. And along with that maturation, the abilities of absorbing language also expands. Thus, it becomes that by reaching the age of 4 – 5 years after birth, the children are exposed to a broader view of language and its means of acquisition. Mothers sing lullabies to their infants normally when they intend to send their children to sleep. The belief is that the soothing nature of the lullabies induces children to sleep. It is quite known that infants tend to sleep very much during the early years of their lives. This is concerned as healthy for the physical and psychological maturation of the babies. The pediatricians concern it as normal due to the rapid brain maturation of the infants (Baby Sleep Basics, 2014). This further emphasizes that the baby brain is active even during sleep be it light or deep sleep. The research data analysis supports this factor by observing that mothers sing lullabies to their children ‘whenever’ they are put to sleep. The features of lullabies now can be reasserted as universal. By comparing the factors presented by researchers with the features of the Sinhala lullaby analyzed in the fourth chapter of this report, one may be clear of any doubt regarding such linguistic dilemma about lullabies. The analysis further intensifies the fact that lullabies cannot be set apart from everyday speech due to its musicality, but should be taken into attention because of the phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic richness and variety seen in them that aid the child into vast expansion of language. It also sheds the traditional creed that poetry, which is in lullabies may disrupt the apprehension of pure linguistic elements, by declaring the unharmed syntactic structures that are visible in lullabies. As the analysis of the data provides, it is because lullabies are a mixture of words and musical elements that retains the attention of the infants. They further intensify that lullabies are not always sleep inducing, but also stimulate the infants to listen and acquire more cues on the L1. Some lullabies are of the same pitch and intonation whereas there are ones which start with the soothing pitch, intonation and melody but later break into staccatos while keeping the children spur into absorbing the L1. The children adapt into the habit of listening to lullabies when they are put to sleep by mothers when the mothers sing to them habitually. The fact that parentese major the process of child’s acquisition of language is unbeatable. In spite of singing to the children, it is the speech that governs the human communication. Thus, even to a neonate, the adults use the speech. It is this frequency of speech used for children that help them primarily to acquire the L1. Due to the fact that lullabies occur in the infant’s world only when they are sent to sleep stays as the prime reason for CDS to remain superior. CDS comprise of certain distinctive elements which encourage the children to absorb the language easily. Yet, one may observe the self same traits in lullabies also. Specially, due to the significant phonological factors like rhythm, prosody and onomatopoeia, the lullabies can be measured as superior to CDS. Sometimes the lullabies are entirely of AS, but they consist of the basic lexicon which is needed for children in comprehending and producing language. The distinctive features of lullabies which facilitate and enrich the process of acquiring language are discussed referring to many previous linguistic researches, analysis of the reasons provided by mothers for concerning lullabies as effective in language development in children and through the analysis of the Sinhala lullaby in detail. And also, as previously mentioned, lullabies stimulate the infant brain even throughout sleep since it is highly active during the physical and cognitive maturational period. The infants are always stimulated when the voice of the mothers is heard. As pointed out by many researchers, it is positive that the children have an extraordinary storage of memory. It is due to that they comprehend well that they are able to produce speech along with the maturation of the vocal tract. Further, it is understandable that children absorb more linguistic skills than what is seen outward. Even if their performance is lower during the infancy, the brain is much more advanced. They prefer language at the earliest and they do respond whenever possible. When a lullaby is sung repetitively through a certain time period, the children get familiar with the words which are mingled with the rhythm. Since they naturally are bias to rhythm, they tend to listen more attentively to mothers’ lullabies. Simultaneously, the infants are more attentive onto the pitch and the prosodic features of language. They are always keen on the intonation patterns. Speech has varied intonations, but in lullabies it depends on how the mothers perform them. Thus, the efficacy depends on the intonation. Yet, since mothers now use varied types of lullabies for children, these different types of intonations are engraved in them. The children being very inquisitive of how language works do always attempt to acquire the cues. Even if is one syllable that children can utter, they experiment with it using different intonations and sometimes they understand what is meant by each intonation pattern when they communicate with other children. So even if lullabies have lesser types of intonations, they introduce children of how different prosodic features can be used in varied levels. The melody of lullabies thus instigates infants to test varied tone levels, be it with one vowel or a consonant that can be produced vocally. This is the same reason why the tone language speakers have the capability of acquiring the language faster than others. Considering all the factors discussed above, one may now establish the fact that lullabies enrich the child linguistic development. Even if the lullabies do not linguistically amount to the heights as same as parentese, they are a rich resource which ultimately support the linguistic abilities of the children during the infancy. Reaching the conclusive level of the research report, one is convinced of that the lullabies have a very important impact on enriching the linguistic perception, comprehension and production in infants. The role of lullabies, though not surfaced as an essentiality in early childhood, is hence now being forwarded as a very supportive factor in language acquisition. 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