Baby Babbling Scouse Accent
People from Liverpool are incredibly proud, not only of where they’re from but also of all aspects of the culture of the city. That includes the accents, which can often be used as a thing to poke fun at by those not from the Merseyside region.
People of a certain age will remember well the Harry Enfield Scouser sketch, for example, in which the comedian and his colleagues dressed up as ‘Scousers’ and spoke with thick accents.
There have been countless examples of Scouse accents in the media, but perhaps none have gone viral quite like the baby babbling to her mum with a Scouse accent.
Where the Video Came From
Back in the June of 2024, a woman shared a video of her baby speaking with what viewers discerned was a Scouse accent. The baby wasn’t yet able to talk at that point, yet the garbled babbling that she produced definitely sounded Scouse. The woman wasn’t the baby’s mother, rather being a friend of her mum Rhiannon who was looking after her at the time.
The clip was posted to TikTok and, even though it was only a minute long, soon garnered more than a million clips on the social media app, with most people thinking that it was an adorable moment between the two.
@iamcustardpot Cutie patoooootie!! #scousetiktok #fyp #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp ♬ original sound – Custard Pot
Olayka was trying to get baby Orla to bed but she started crying. When she started talking to her, however, the baby stopped crying and so Olayka carried on the conversation. She began filming when she thought that Rhiannon would like to see it, finding the baby’s reactions to what she was saying amusing.
After checking that it was okay with Rhiannon, Olayka posted the video to social media and the pair were ‘blown away’ by the reaction of everyone online. The major cause for interest in the clip was due to the fact that Orla sounded so clearly Scouse to everyone listening.
Why it Became So Popular
In the video, Olayka asks Orla if she wants to go to sleep, and the baby seems to reply ‘no’ in a Scouse accent. When Olayka asks her why not, the baby appears to answer her, and from there the conversation continues. Olayka is interpreting what Orla is saying, offering an amusing conversation for everyone watching to follow.
Although very few of the noises made by baby Orla sound like words, there is no question that she sounds as though she’s got a Scouse accent and that is what seems to have tickled the fancy of the hundreds of thousands of people who’ve watched the video.
Have you seen the videos of baby Orla babbling in a distinct #Scouse #accent? This video has raised questions about how babies can develop accents so early into their #Language learning journey.
Dr Andrew Jessop explores this question here: t.co/tD7rcKVZdK
#Langsky
— Dr Keighley Perkins (@perkinskeighley.bsky.social) 2 September 2024 at 10:14
For some, it was the perfect example of how a baby should interact with someone else, whilst the fact that Orla appeared to have a Scouse accent was proof that she obviously interacts with her parents and their friends on a regular basis. Too often, some people suggest, babies babble in a ‘Peppa Pig’ accent in a way that demonstrates that their parents have opted for parenting by television rather than spending time with their little ones.
In the case of Orla, it is clear that she has picked up the accent from somewhere and that is almost certainly going to be from the adults in her life.
Babbling is Important for Babies
In the majority of cases, babies will start to make babbling sounds before they’ve even celebrated their first birthday. The babbling then increases and improves, starting to more readily resemble the sounds of language. Over time, that morphs into more recognisable words that can be used for communication.
Scientists have, perhaps unsurprisingly, seen that babbling will reflect the way in which the caregivers of the children tend to speak, which can be seen in the fact that babies babbling in England will sound different to babies babbling in French, even though they’re not saying words.
The suggestion is that babies are actively attempting to learn the language in which they are spoken to. The babbling of Orla might well be nonsense to those listening from the outside, but it demonstrates that she was trying to communicate using the basic sounds and intonations of those that have spent time speaking to her.
In the video, she even seems to be reacting to what Olayka is saying to her, even if she can’t actually communicate her feelings on the matter. That is due to the fact that babies can understand more words than they’re able to say, even if it’s in a Scouse accent.
