Caroline Fryns

Why Humans Talk to Babies: The Evolutionary Puzzle of Infant-Directed Speech Among all great apes, only Homo sapiens showers its infants with babbling, cooing, and high-pitched “baby talk.” A new study shows just how rare—and recent—this trait may be.

Why do humans "baby talk"? A new study shows we're the only great ape that does so regularly—and it may have shaped the evolution of language. #PrimateCommunication #HumanEvolution #BabyTalk #Anthropology #Linguistics #CognitiveScience @carolinefryns.bsky.social @franziswegdell.bsky.social

There is some evidence of "gesturese" in great apes. So it could just be absent in the vocal modality but very much present in others! Would be super interesting to look at it through a multimodal lense for sure!

📰 🐒 These exciting new results from our consortium are also featured in an article from The New York Times, by Carl Zimmer.

👉 www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/s...

We studied the evolution of infant-directed communication by comparing vocal input rates across great apes!

A collaborative study led by @carolinefryns.bsky.social, Johanna Schick and me;

www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....

New paper by our @nccrlanguage.bsky.social team w @franziswegdell.bsky.social, @carolinefryns.bsky.social , J Schick , @zuberbuehler.bsky.social, C v Schaik, S Townsend, and myself. Child-directed communication is a driver of language evolution.
shorturl.at/eAfjW

5/5 Finally, this study would not have been possible without @nccrlanguage.bsky.social

4/n But all great apes hear quite a large amount of surrounding vocalisations as well (except for the semi-solitary orangutans).
We suggest early hominins probably relied on surrounding communication while infant-directed vocal communication became more prominent with human language!

an advertisement for netflix shows a man in a dark room and says big difference ALT: an advertisement for netflix shows a man in a dark room and says big difference

3/n After all that time in the forest, we compared the amount of immature-directed vocalisations across all great apes including humans!
While there is some instances of immature-directed vocalisations in non-human great apes, the difference between infant directed speech is huge!

2/n Infant or child-directed speech is very much present across multiple human cultures. But what about in great apes? We sampled vocalisations from wild populations of bonobos, chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas

The evolution of infant-directed communication: Comparing vocal input across all great apes Human infants receive more directed communication than other great ape infants, indicating that it evolved alongside language.

1/n Hot off the press!
The first empirical chapter of my PhD and the fruit of a hugely collaborative project led with Franziska Wegdell and Johanna Schick is out! We explore if immature-directed vocalisations are present and in what quantity in wild great apes.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The evolution of infant-directed communication: Comparing vocal input across all great apes Human infants receive more directed communication than other great ape infants, indicating that it evolved alongside language.

New work by @nccrlanguage.bsky.social
members @franziswegdell.bsky.social @carolinefryns.bsky.social J. Schick
@sabinestoll.bsky.social @zuberbuehler.bsky.social S. Townsend:
The evolution of infant-directed communication: Comparing input across all great apes, revealing an important shift in us 🧪

Did Baby Talk Give Rise to Language? The way that human adults talk to young children is unique among primates, a new study found. That might be one secret to our species’ grasp of language.

One thing that makes humans remarkable is baby talk. And that might be one reason why we have language. Here's my story [Gift link] nyti.ms/4k5duXd

🌍 Pint of Science Switzerland 2025 is here!

🗓 Monday, May 19 – 19h 🇬🇧
📍 Moonshinners - Rue des Fausses-Brayes 1, Neuchâtel
🐺 Wolves, 🐒 primates, 🌱 plants & 🌍 conservation: Co-existing

Program: pintofscience.ch/event/co-exi...

@pintsworld.bsky.social
#PintCH #Pint25
@nccrlanguage.bsky.social

a bald man in a blue suit is pointing at the words come join us . ALT: a bald man in a blue suit is pointing at the words come join us .

1/2 Parlons Terrain (*Let's Talk Fieldwork) is expanding!

Our group started for French speakers, but now we are welcoming EVERYONE no matter the language you speak!

You have done or will do #fieldwork? You want to connect with others to talk about your experience? Join us!

1/2 Notre workshop "Preparation au terrain" c'est ce jeudi a 18h CET.
Si vous partez bientot sur le terrain & avez des questions, c'est The place to be!
Decouvrez le panel des intervenant.e.s qu'on a reunit pour repondre a vos questions!

Lien du meeting: teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/…

Since we just arrived on this platform and quite a few members have joined our lab. We decided to present our team throughout the week!

Vous avez de l'expérience sur le terrain?

Pourquoi ne pas nous rejoindre, le 19 décembre, pour partager votre expérience avec ceux qui planifient de partir pour la première fois sur le terrain?

Contactez-nous avant la fin de la semaine pour faire partie de notre panel d'intervenants!

New paper alert 📢
Chimpanzees playing bouts fosters cooperation in adults! @lirsamuni.bsky.social and colleagues from the Taï Chimpanzee Project show how playing between adult chimpanzees predict cooperation between adults in the group. Enjoy!
doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.…

First time going to the Montier festival 📷and it's snowing ❄️

A vos agenda! Notre prochain atelier "Préparation au Terrain" aura lieu Jeudi 19 Décembre à 18h CET.

Vous souhaitez partager votre expérience? Contactez-nous!

Vous partez bientôt sur le terrai. Et avez 10 000 questions? Rejoignez nous le 19!

Lien: teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/…

Leopard chilling on a branch in the middle of a tree in Queen Elizabeth National Park

Working on my pictures through the weekend! I had to share this one of a #leopard chilling out and not giving a bother that we were there!
#wildlifephotography #canon

Ah that would be wicked! I think I have a few more bird pics coming soon actually! Thanks!

Its picture time again! Here is a saddle bill stork caught enjoying a rainy day in Uganda!

I finally took some time to go through (some of) my pictures!
I'm hoping posting a lot more of these in the coming weeks and /or months!
So here is a mushroom growing out of a fallen log in the Budongo forest!
(Canon R6MKii)

My first post, and how fitting it be at the end of my fieldwork phase of my PhD!
I'm still trying to grasp how blue sky functions but happy to be here!