baby talk your pets

[aubrerry]

Hi, I'm new to this board, forgive me. I am doing a project for a class and I am trying to compare the way parents speak to babies similar to how some petowners speak to their pets. My guess, it's to show affection. I don't know about you all, but I definitely talk to my pet that way, even though it's embarassing! Anyone else?


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[Jessika]

Oh of course I do hehe. Especially since I refer to my pets as my "kids" :)

[Alysser]

Yes, I do! I have been doing that since she was 6 weeks old so I guess I'm used to it. I baby talk my dog because she is special. It's just our special way of communtcating. If you talk to her in a different voice she won't look at you.

[dab_20]

i do especially. my brothers think i am weird. lol... i do to my toy poodle molli because she is so tiny. and sammy because he is a baby!! Good luck with your school project!

[BitsyNaceyDog]

NO!! I hate baby talk! My tone changes when I talk to the dogs- depending on what we are doing.

I don't use baby talk when I talk to babies either. I use a slightly higher voice, but not baby talk.

[Bigyummydog]

I sweet baby talk to MAXIMUS at times. But, mostly I talk to
him in my normal discussion voice. Alot of people look at me
like I'm nuts . "Who were you talking to?" Oh, just MAXIMUS.
You talk to your dog? Well, don't we all?
He enjoys our baby talk times. It is mostly at bed time or just
lying on the floor giving him rubs....quiet, alone times.

[aubrerry]

I know with children it's good to baby talk to them, studies show that it helps them with language acquisition. Ofcourse, pets don't acquire language when we baby talk with them, but they can sense our affections I bet. :)

My project is going okay except that I don't have any really good examples of pet owners talking with their pets. If anyone has a microphone built into their computer, let me know if you would be part of my study for my linguistics class. If so, you could just talk into the microphone and I can give my email address out and you could email me a sound clip, it wouldn't have to be anything huge, just like 30 seconds worth or something. All I plan on doing is testing the pitch levels, how high they go. Anyways, sorry for putting my two cents in!

Goodnight everybody!
Aubrey

RIP
Harlequin "Harlee" Jasper Isuzu

[Chica]

Yes, I talk to my pet Chihuahua like she is my baby.I call her sweetie, lovebug, mama's baby. ;) I talk to her like she is a human child. She thinks she is human. ;)

[animal_rescue]

I do baby talk to baby animals but to my older pets I usually talk in a high squeaky voice...

[Corinna]

I talk to my babies just as I did my children . But let me clarify that statement I never "baby" talked to them I talked as I would to any one. Think thats why my homeschooled kids could converse with all age groups at young ages . Also they both handled langauge skills above their grade level.
My animals all know the different inflections of my voice all know the mean mommy voice and KNOW their are in trouble. I rarely have to use negitve reinforcement, Dugan is the exception he is new here (only been here a year) also he's part chow (very indepentant those guys) But he's getting better he knows he stays at home (and he hates being left behind) if he doesn't behave on our walks.

[Jessika]

Well I suppose I should reiterate what I said earlier -- I would have considered it "baby talk" but I don't go all "ohhhh goo goo gaa gaa" type talk. I talk higher-pitched and maybe a little more excited but I don't talk to my pups as I would a baby. But I don't talk to them as "adults" either. Agg, I don't know how to explain it :(

[tz1]

i always baby talk zero...only when no one's around ;)

[cali]

I talk baby talk to most of my dogs to show affection lol but Happy HATES being talked down to, if i dont talk to her like a normal humane being she will walk away and ignore me lol

[Tollers-n-Dobes]

I don't, I personally can't stand "baby talk". I talk to them like I would if I were having a regular conversation with somebody, I do talk to them with a little more expression I guess sometimes. I can't really explain though.

[poofy]

I dont know if its baby talk..its kinda like kid talk I guess, and they love it..I just call it being sweetie with them..but most of the time its in a reg voice.lol.. :D

[aubrerry]

Hey all,
I should have clarified what I meant when I said "Baby talk" in my original post. I don't mean baby talk like gaa gaa goo goo. I should have said "infant directed speech" or "pet directed speech." I mean, the way that parents (or pet owners :) ) talk to their babies (or their pets).

Take care!
Aubrey

RIP Harlee

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[Toby's my baby]

Yes and No. I talk to Autumn a lot in "baby talk" and use a higher pitched voice, except when she does something bad, obviously. I talk to Maggie like that too. Boo boo I dont though, I just talk to him "normally". :p

[Miss Z]

I do sometimes, mostly to Foxy and Tia Maria. Zsa-Zsa looks at me like i've totally lost it if i try and talk like that to her:)