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English
Noun
baby talk (uncountable)
- (linguistics) The form of speech used by adults in talking to very young children.
- Synonyms: babyese, child-directed speech, hypocorism, motherese, parentese
- Coordinate terms: childspeak; adultspeak
- Meronym: babble word
1960, P G Wodehouse, chapter III, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:[...] while not a super-goof like some of the female goofs I'd met, she was quite goofy enough to be going on with. Her whole aspect was that of a girl who at the drop of a hat would start talking baby talk.
- (linguistics) The prelanguage, and subsequent developing language, used by small children, incorporating crying, cooing, and babbling in sequence before the acquisition of adult language capabilities.
- Coordinate terms: child language, childspeak
- Meronyms: babble word, goo goo ga ga
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