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LONDON: If you think a baby’s shriek has no language, think again, for a new study says that toddlers cry in their mother tongue.

Researchers in Germany have carried out the study and found that babies cry with regional accents copied from their mothers — in fact they pick up the traits in womb, the Daily Mail reported.

Newborn babies tend to have simple cries that rise and then fall. But as the days and weeks pass, their cries become more sophisticated — varying in pitch and length.

For their study, the researchers, led by Dr Kathleen Wermke of the University of Wurzburg, analysed the patterns of cries of some 30 German and French babies in the first five days of life.

The study found that the screams of a five-day-old French baby have a distinct Gallic twang, while German babies have a Teutonic quality to their yells. The French baby cries tended to start low and then rise in pitch. In contrast, the German baby cries tended to start high and then drop in pitch. — PTI

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