Study shows unborn babies cry in their mother tongue

Prenatal exposure to language was known to influence newborns. For instance, past research showed they preferred their mother's voice over those of others.

The way babies imitate melody patterns relies just on a command over their voiceboxes they had before birth, instead of the more advanced control of their vocal tracts they need for vowel sounds. As such, they can begin mimicking their mothers "at that early age," said researcher Kathleen Wermke, a medical anthropologist at the University of Würzburg in Germany.

Newborns' Cry Melody Is Shaped by Their Native Language