Eli5 why the words for mom and dad are so similar in a wide variety of languages
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i’ll add on to the other great explanations about the sounds “ma,” “da,” “pa” being easy to say and some of the first sounds made involving forming the lips vs crying or making guttural sounds. the parents would *respond* to pretty well all sounds the baby makes.
the sounds “ma,” “ba,” “pa” are called bilabial consonants. “bilabial:” both lips. you can basically puff air through your lips and make one of these sounds. the open vowel /a/ is the simplest vowel sound to make. (i’m using “vowel” sound as i can’t remember all my linguistics 101 terms from years ago.) you just open your mouth and your vocal chords naturally vibrate that sound, vs “e” or “o” which involve some tightening and positioning of cheek, lip, vocal chord or tongue muscles.
if you notice, “mama” is a slightly simpler sound to form. “papa” has a slightly harder mouth form needed to make the sound and so does “baba.”
it would make sense that parents over millenia would consistently identify with the first sounds a baby makes as being something the parent would self-refer as and start reflecting that back to the baby. baby makes “ma ma ma ma” sounds. mom goes to baby and attends to its needs, having noting the repetitive use and says something like, “yes! mama!” when the behavior is repeated and it’s then reinforced as a name.
it’s impossible to say how far back in our lineage these identifiers would go. but it makes sense that any ancestor with the oral and throat structures to form those sounds would start making those associations.
chimps and gorillas have been taught to use sign language, demonstrating that they have a capacity for language but not the physiology to speak. the debate about vocalizations of other primates and whether they are using an oral language is becoming very interesting and something fun to explore.
again, not an expert, so not claiming this is absolutely correct. just enthusiastic and curious about these things.
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