<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">As as been noted by many of the respondents, the first word of many children (including mine) is something other than daddy. It is true, however, that for American children, daddy is among the very first words. Based on data from the CHILDES data base, daddy is produced by 50% of children at age 11.48 months, while mommy is produced by 50% of children at 11.64 months. Other words on the CHILDES list reach the 50% criterion after 12.28 months.<DIV><DIV><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>************************************</DIV><DIV>Carol Stoel-Gammon, Ph.D.</DIV><DIV>Professor, Speech and Hearing Sciences</DIV><DIV>University of Washington</DIV><DIV>1417 N.E. 42nd Street</DIV><DIV>Seattle, WA 98105-6246</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Phone: 206-543-7692</DIV><DIV>Fax: 206-543-1093</DIV><DIV>************************************</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN> </DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On Sep 12, 2006, at 12:40 AM, Annette Karmiloff-Smith wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Someone has asked me whether it is true that babies' first word is Daddy and whether this is because the articulation position of D is easiest?<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>not sure either is true but would appreciated comments from those who study this area.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>Are the words for Daddy/Papa etc. and Mummy/Maman etc. easier because there is no change of place of articulation?<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>All thoughts on the topic most appreciated.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">thanks</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Annette K-S</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">--<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">________________________________________________________________</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Professor A.Karmiloff-Smith, CBE, FBA, FMedSci,</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Head, Neurocognitive Development Unit,</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Institute of Child Health,</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">30 Guilford Street,</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">London WC1N 1EH, U.K.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">tel: 0207 905 2754</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">sec: 0207 905 2334</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/ich/html/academicunits/neurocog_dev/n_d_unit.html">http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/ich/html/academicunits/neurocog_dev/n_d_unit.html</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>