In the last two days, a YouTube video of two 17-month-old twins chatting and laughing with each other has gone viral, with many blogs speculating on what the babies are talking about. According to ABC News, they spoke a “secret twin language.” But did these twins invent their secret language from nothing?
No, according to one language development expert. They do not speak their own language, as do most twins who communicate in a high-level language. However, toddlers reveal a lot about how babies learn to communicate.
“These two adorable 17-month-olds exaggerate what most babies show, but they’re usually nowhere near as developed,” said Virginia Valian, director of Hunter College’s Research Center for Language Studies. “The repeated muttering – all this “yes-yes-yes” – is very common. This is universal among hearing children, though most children do not take it to its logical conclusion,” Valian said.
