The science of baby babbling – and why it can take on accents

By Andrew Jessop, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Liverpool

A video of 19-month-old Orla from Liverpool has gone viral, reaching more than 19 million views on TikTok. In the clip, babysitter Olayka is trying to coax Orla into having a nap. Orla, however, wants to stay up and protests in babbling sounds – with a distinct Liverpool English (“scouse”) accent.

Behind this adorable exchange, important processes of language acquisition are at work. Here is what science says about the importance of babbling and how it is linked to accents.

Baby babbling is an…

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