Across human cultures, people modify their speech when interacting with children, typically using higher pitches and a wider range of pitches. It’s sometimes referred to as “motherese” or “baby talk,” though it is used by caregivers of both sexes and directed towards children as well as infants. A more inclusive term is child-directed communication, but even that may not be broad enough: new research suggests that bottlenose dolphins similarly change their communication signals in the presence of their calves.

Read more at my Animal Minds blog: Dolphins Talk in “Motherese” To Their Calves.