Word Pairs

HOW TO PLAY:

  • Type the correct word in the boxes from the pairs of words [in brackets].
  • Click the button at the bottom to check your answers.
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The words
A new study has found that mothers all [over / under] the world speak to their babies in the same [weigh / way] . The research is from the Baby Lab [to / at] Princeton University in the USA. The researchers who did the study said "motherese" is a [universal / universally] language. They said baby talk is not just lots of [cuteness / cute] noises and coochy-coos. The words and sounds that mothers say to their babies are [quite / quiet] complex. They form a special form of communication that mothers use [on / in] the same way across the world. These sounds are very [importance / important] in helping the language development in infants. Dr Elise Piazza, co-author of the research, said baby talk is a lot [more / most] important than we thought. She said: "It is not something to be embarrassed about at [every / all] ."

The researchers [recorded / recording] 24 different mothers talking to their babies. The babies were [aging / aged] between seven months and one year. The mothers [spoken / spoke] to their children in 10 different [naive / native] languages, including English, Spanish, Mandarin, Russian and Hebrew. Dr Piazza said: "We [basically / basic] brought mothers into the [lob / lab] and had them play with and read to their [owner / own] babies, just like they would at home." She added: "We found that mothers change the basic [qualify / quality] of their voices when speaking to infants, and they do so in a very similar way across many [diverse / diversity] languages." The study didn’t look at fathers' talk, but Piazza said that it is likely fathers would also speak in a [similarity / similar] way across the world.

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