Why Babies In Arabic-Speaking Households Learn Some Numbers Faster
One, Two Photo by David Barner, UC San Diego Language and Development Lab Don't tell that hyper-competitive parent friend of yours. English-speaking toddlers learn the idea of the number one faster than Japanese- and Chinese-speaking kids, while Slovenian-speaking babies learn "two" sooner than English-speaking ones. The differences come from the languages themselves, according to a new study. English distinguishes between singular and plural nouns (one cat, two cats), while Japanese and Chinese do not. Meanwhile, Slovenian and Saudi Arabic, two unrelated languages, have different ways of saying singular nouns, nouns in twos, and nouns in numbers three or greater. In Slovenian, for example, one button is a gumb, two buttons are gumba, and three or more buttons are gumbi. These distinctions help babies understand those differences in numbers faster. Forty-two percent of the Slovenian two-year-olds knew "two," while only four...