Dunstan Baby Language is a claim about infantile vocal reflexes as signals, in humans. The claim is that across cultures and linguistic groups there are five sounds, each with a meaning, that are used by infants before the language acquisition period. The hypothesis was developed by Australian former mezzo-soprano, Priscilla Dunstan, and has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Dunstan's claims have not been scientifically validated.
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Dunstan's claims
Between 0–3 months, infants make what Dunstan calls sound reflexes. According to Dunstan, we all have reflexes, like sneezes, hiccups, and burps, that all have a recognizable pattern when sound is added to the reflex. There are other reflexes that all babies experience, and when sound is added to these, a distinct, preemptive "cry" will occur before the infant breaks into what Dunstan calls the hysterical cry. Dunstan states that these preemptive cries can indicate what the infant requires (e.g., food, comfort, sleep, etc.), and they escalate to the hysterical cry if they are not answered. As the infant matures past 3 months in vocalization, the sound reflexes become replaced with more elaborate babbling.
Words (sound reflexes)
According to Dunstan, the five universal words (or sound reflexes) used by infants are:
Dunstan states that she has a phonographic memory for sounds and that this, combined with her years in the opera and her experience as a mother, allowed her to recognize certain sounds in the human voice. A DVD set called The Dunstan Baby Language was released by Dunstan in November 2006. The two-disc set covered the five universal words of the language, methods of learning how to recognize the vocalizations and sounds, numerous examples of baby cries from around the world to "tune your ear," and live demonstrations of newborn mother groups experimenting with the language.
Criticism
Linguistics experts point out that Dunstan's hypothesis has not been subjected to rigorous testing or academic scrutiny. The Dunstan company had, at one time, developed a clinical trial plan with Brown University researchers to test its claims, but abandoned it for consumer surveys and small-group observations in order "to hasten the development of a system that could be used by parents," skipping rigorous testing to go straight to market.