Mama and papa

Last updated

In linguistics, mama and papa are considered a special case of false cognates. In many languages of the world, sequences of sounds similar to /mama/ and /papa/ mean "mother" and "father", usually but not always in that order. This is thought to be a coincidence resulting from the process of early language acquisition. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Etymology

Mama and papa use speech sounds that are among the easiest to produce: bilabial consonants like /m/, /p/, and /b/, and the open vowel /a/. They are, therefore, often among the first word-like sounds made by babbling babies (babble words), and parents tend to associate the first sound babies make with themselves and to employ them subsequently as part of their baby-talk lexicon. Thus, there is no need to ascribe to common ancestry the similarities of !Kung ba, Aramaic abba, Mandarin Chinese bàba, Yoruba bàbá, and Persian baba (all 'father'); or Navajo amá, Mandarin Chinese māma, Swahili mama, Quechua mama, and Polish mama (all 'mother'). For the same reason, some scientists believe that mama and papa were among the first words that humans spoke. [5]

Linguist Roman Jakobson hypothesized that the nasal sound in "mama" comes from the nasal murmur that babies produce when breastfeeding:

Often the sucking activities of a child are accompanied by a slight nasal murmur, the only phonation which can be produced when the lips are pressed to mother’s breast or to the feeding bottle and the mouth full. Later, this phonatory reaction to nursing is reproduced as an anticipatory signal at the mere sight of food and finally as a manifestation of a desire to eat, or more generally, as an expression of discontent and impatient longing for missing food or absent nurser, and any ungranted wish. When the mouth is free from nutrition, the nasal murmur may be supplied with an oral, particularly labial release; it may also obtain an optional vocalic support.

Roman Jakobson, Why 'Mama' and 'Papa'?

The baby, with no particular thought, is babbling his "mamma, mamma", and the adults are interpreting it their own way. Some imagine he calls "mother", others believe he addresses his father, and yet others thinks he calls no one, but is simply hungry, wants to eat. They are all equally correct, and are all just as equally mistaken.

Lev Uspensky, The Word About Words (1954) [6]

Variants

Variants using other sounds do occur: for example, in Fijian, the word for "mother" is nana, in Turkish, the word for mother is ana, and in Old Japanese, the word for "mother" was papa. The modern Japanese word for "father", chichi, is from older titi (but papa is more common colloquially in modern Japanese). Very few languages lack labial consonants (this mostly being attested on a family basis, in the Iroquoian and some of the Athabaskan languages), and only Arapaho is known to lack an open vowel /a/. The Tagalog -na- / -ta- ("mom" / "dad" words) parallel the more common ma / pa in nasality / orality of the consonants and identity of place of articulation.

Examples by language family

"Mama" and "papa" in different languages: [7] [8]

Afro-Asiatic languages

Austroasiatic languages

Austronesian languages

Dravidian languages

Uralic languages

Indo-European languages

In the Proto-Indo-European language, *méh₂tēr meant "mother" while *ph₂tḗr and *átta meant "father".

Romance

  • Catalan mamà / mama and papà / papa
  • French maman / papa (mother / father) and mamie / papy (grandmother / grandfather)
  • Friulian mame / pai or papà(mother / father)
  • Galician nai, mai / pai
  • Italian mamma and papà or babbo
  • Lombard mader
  • Portuguese mãe / pai (mother / father); Portugal: mamã / papá; Brazil: mamãe / papai
  • Romanian mama / mamă (mother) and tata / tată (father)
  • Sardinian mama and babbu or formal "Mammai" and "Babbai"
  • Spanish mamá and papá

Balto-Slavic

  • Belarusian мама (mama) for mom and тата (tata) for dad.
  • Bulgarian мама (mama) for mom and татко (tatko) for dad; майка (maika) for mother and баща (bashta) for father; баба (baba) for grandmother and дядо (dyado) for grandfather.
  • Czech máma and táta
  • Lithuanian mama
  • Macedonian мама/mama for mom, and татo/tato for dad. мајка/majka for mother, and татко/tatko for father.
  • Rusyn мама (mama) for mom and татo (tato) for dad.
  • Polish mama and tata
  • Russian мама (mama). In Russian papa, deda and baba mean "father", "grandfather" and "grandmother" respectively, though the last two can represent baby-talk (baba is also a slang word for "woman", and a folk word for a married woman with a child born). In popular speech tata and tyatya for "dad" were also used until the 20th century; batya is also still occasionally used to this day. In some dialects, papa means "food".
  • Serbo-Croatian mama for mom, and tata for dad.
  • Slovak mama / tata, also tato. In addition, papanie / papať means "food" / "eat" respectively.
  • Slovene mama / ata, also tata
  • Ukrainian мама (mamа) and тато (tato) (папа (papa) in South-eastern dialects).

Germanic

  • Dutch mama / mam / ma and papa / pap / pa
  • English mama / mum/mummy (standard British) / mom/mommy (US/Canada/sometimes regional Irish) / momma / mam (regional British and regional Irish) / ma and dad / dada / daddy / papa / pa / da
  • Faroese mamma
  • German Mama / Mami and Papa / Papi
  • Icelandic mamma; pabbi
  • Norwegian mamma and pappa
  • Swedish mamma and pappa
  • Swiss German mami, but mame in the dialect from Graubünden and mamma in certain dialects from the Canton of Bern

Celtic

Indo-Aryan

Old Indo-Aryan (Sanskrit): Mātṛ / Ambā for "mother" and Pitṛ / Tātaḥ for "father".

  • Assamese has ma ("মা") and aai ("আই") as "mother" and deuta ("দেউতা") and pitai ("পিতাই") as "father". However, due to English borrowings, the words mamma and pappa are sometimes used today.
  • Bengali, the words maa ("মা") and baba ("বাবা") are used for "mother" and "father".
  • Bhojpuri has maai ("माई") and aama ("आमा") as "mother" and babu ("बाबू") as "father". Informally, the terms mami and papa are also used, possibly due to English influence.
  • In Doteli language , "eeja" is used for mother while "buwa" or "baa" is used for father.
  • Gujarati uses mātā, or , for mother and bāpuji, or pitā, for father. Informally, the terms mammi and pappā are also used, possibly due to English influence.
  • Hindi has the word mātā and pitaji as the formal words for "mother" and "father", though the shorter informal term maa and pita is more common. Due to English borrowings, the words mamma and pappa are also common.
  • Kashmiri, Mauj/mauji for mother is used in both formal and informal language where as Moul for father in formal and Baabé/Baba in informal language.
  • Konkani language, the word "aai" for "mother" and "baba" "father" are used, given the language's close similarity to Marathi. However, due to English borrowings, the words mamma and pappa are much more common today.
  • Maithili language has the word Mami and Papa to refer mother and father respectively, which were borrowed from English and are very popular in Madesh state of Nepal and Bihar state of India.
  • Marathi Aai (“आई”) for mother and Baba (“बाबा”) for father. In some parts of Maharashtra Amma ("अम्मा") for mother and Appa ("अप्पा") or Tatya ("तात्या") for father is also used. However, due to English borrowings, the words mummy and pappa are much more common today in urban areas.
  • Nepali language has the words Aama ("आमा") or Ma ("मा") to refer to mother and Buwa ("बुवा"), Buba ("बुबा"), Baba ("बाबा"), or Ba ("बा") for father. Generally, the former word or words are considered more formal and respectful than the latter. Mummy ("मम्मी") and Papa ("पापा") is also common as English loan words.
  • Odia uses bapa (ବାପା) for father and maa(ମା), bou (ବୋଉ) for mother. However, due to English borrowings, the words mamma/mommy and pappa are much more common today.
  • Sinhalese, the word for mother originally was "abbe" ("abbiyande") and father was "appa " ("appanande"). Use of "amma" for mother and "nana" for father is due to heavy influence of Tamil. In some areas of Sri Lanka, particularly in the Central Province, Sinhalese use the word "nanachhi", or "thaththa" for father.
  • Urdu the words for mother are maa/mɑ̃ːماں, madarمادر or walidaوالدہ formally and ammiامی, mamaمما informally, whereas father is baapباپ (not used as salutation), pedar'پدر or 'walid' والد formally and babaبابا or abbaابّا or abbuابّو informally.

Iranian

  • Pashto مور (mūr) is the word for mother, پلار (plār) is the word for father and بابا (bābā) is used for father as well.
  • Persian
    • In Iranian Persian, مادر (mâdar) is the word for mother and پدر (pedar) is the word for father in formal speech. Informally, the word for "mama" is مامان (mâmân), a French loanword, or a natural variant such as ماما (mâmâ) and the word for "papa" is بابا (bâbâ). However, some Iranian dialects use ننه (nane, nene) for "mama."
    • In Dari, just like Iranian Persian, مادر (mâdar) and پدر (padar, pidar) are the words for "mother" and "father" respectively in formal speech. Informally, ننه (nana) for "mama" and بابا (bâbâ) for "papa" are used.
      • Hazaragi آبه (âba) is used for mother and آته (âta) is used for father.
  • Kurdish dayê and yadê or is the word for mother.
  • Luri دا and دالکه dāleka is the word for mother, and bowa or bawa is the word for father.

Other Indo-European languages

  • Albanian nena/nëna, mama for mother and tat/at, baba for father
  • (Modern) Greek μάνα, μαμά (mána, mamá) and μπαμπάς (babás)
  • Hittite 𒀭𒈾𒀸 (annaš, "mother") and 𒀜𒋫𒀸 (attaš, "father")

Kartvelian languages

Mayan languages

Niger-Congo languages

Sino-Tibetan languages

Kra–Dai languages

Turkic languages

Other families and language isolates

See also

References

  1. Jakobson, R. (1962) "Why 'mama' and 'papa'?" In Jakobson, R. Selected Writings, Vol. I: Phonological Studies, pp. 538–545. The Hague: Mouton.
  2. Nichols, J. (1999) "Why 'me' and 'thee'?" Historical Linguistics 1999: Selected Papers from the 14th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Vancouver, 9–13 August 1999, ed. Laurel J. Brinton, John Benjamins Publishing, 2001, pages 253-276.
  3. Bancel, P.J. and A.M. de l'Etang. (2008) "The Age of Mama and Papa" Bengtson J. D. In Hot Pursuit of Language in Prehistory: Essays in the four fields of anthropology. (John Benjamins Publishing, Dec 3, 2008), pages 417-438.
  4. Bancel, P.J. and A.M. de l'Etang. (2013) "Brave new words" In New Perspectives on the Origins of Language, ed. C. Lefebvre, B. Comrie, H. Cohen (John Benjamins Publishing, Nov 15, 2013), pages 333-377.
  5. Gosline, Anna (26 July 2004). "Family words came first for early humans". NEW SCIENTIST.
  6. "Слово о словах", глава "Устами младенцев"
  7. mama on the map
  8. papa on the map
  9. អឹង, គឹមសាន (2015). រិទ្យាសាស្រ្ដសិក្សាសង្គម (Grade 1 Society School Book). Cambodia: Publishing and Distributing House. pp. 2–3. ISBN   9789995001551.
  10. Rodriguez, Evelyn Ibatan (2005-01-01). Coming of Age: Identities and Transformations in Filipina Debutantes and Mexicana Quinceañeras. University of California, Berkeley. p. 65. [A] considerable number of elements crept into Philippine languages...including...nanay...and tatay.
  11. Morrow, Paul (2007-10-01). "Mexico is not just a town in Pampanga". Pilipino Express News Magazine. Retrieved 2017-01-17.
  12. Wright, Mr Mal (2013-03-01). Shoestring Paradise - Facts and Anecdotes for Westerners Wanting to Live in the Philippines. Lulu Press, Inc. ISBN   9781105936265.
  13. English, Leo James (2015). Tagalog-English Dictionary (27 ed.). Quezon City: Kalayaan Press Mktg. Ent. Inc. (National Book Store). ISBN   978-9710844654.
  14. Ryali, Rajagopal (1984). A Semantic Analysis of Telugu Kinship Terms. Pravasandhra Bharati. p. 65.
  15. Am Faclair Beag
  16. Am Faclair Beag
  17. Frellesvig, B. (2010). A history of the Japanese language. Cambridge University Press. pp. 204–205, 311–316, 386–387, 414–415. ISBN   978-0-521-65320-6.
  18. Shoji, Kaori (2004-10-28). "For Japanese, family names are the worst growing pains". The Japan Times . Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  19. 2007. Ineke Smeets. A Grammar of Mapuche. Berlin: Mouton Grammar Library.
  20. 1916. Fray Félix José de Augusta. Diccionario Araucano-Español y Español-Araucano. Santiago: Imprenta Universitaria