Why are some words, like “mama and papa”, similar in many languages?
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There is a developmental aspect to this as well. Infants begin to “coo” anywhere from one to four months of age. This is expressing a single phonemic sound, like “aaa” “aaaa” etc. At about 6 months of age, with a wide variation, infants begin to “babble,” which is combining to two phonemes. So they begin to utter things like “mmaaa” “mmaaa” “Mmaaa” or “ddaaa” etc.
There is an environmental link here, also. Caregivers hear the babble and repeat it back. They say “OH! I think she just said “ma-ma!” Say it again! Say Ma Ma!” and encourage and reinforce the babbling.
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