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Howling:Baby language: Difference between revisions
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Anyone who has dealt with preverbal children will tell you that they definitely have personalities and opinions, wants and needs, even if they are not capable of, say, discussing the influence of Elizabethan playwrights on television sitcoms. They do recognize their mothers very early, their other caregivers a bit later, and cry differently for different issues even a few hours after birth. Even for adults, a lot of information is conveyed by body language, expresison, and even tone of voice -- notice how easily flame wars start online. Combine experience with infants and the telepathy that the Doctor is capable of, even a low-level empathy, and the Doctor is likely quite capable of understanding what a baby wants, whether it's the difference between wanting her diapers changed, being hungry or being sleepy, that there is something very odd around the Doctor's neck, or that there is a "Big Milk Thing" and everyone else. (''A Good Man Goes to War''). Likewise, the egocentrism of a preverbal child can be indicated in translation by a title like Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All. which is a pretty good translation of a small child who wants mummy, right now, not this other person who's around a lot, but is not mummy.[[User:Boblipton|Boblipton]] 03:25, September 28, 2011 (UTC) | Anyone who has dealt with preverbal children will tell you that they definitely have personalities and opinions, wants and needs, even if they are not capable of, say, discussing the influence of Elizabethan playwrights on television sitcoms. They do recognize their mothers very early, their other caregivers a bit later, and cry differently for different issues even a few hours after birth. Even for adults, a lot of information is conveyed by body language, expresison, and even tone of voice -- notice how easily flame wars start online. Combine experience with infants and the telepathy that the Doctor is capable of, even a low-level empathy, and the Doctor is likely quite capable of understanding what a baby wants, whether it's the difference between wanting her diapers changed, being hungry or being sleepy, that there is something very odd around the Doctor's neck, or that there is a "Big Milk Thing" and everyone else. (''A Good Man Goes to War''). Likewise, the egocentrism of a preverbal child can be indicated in translation by a title like Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All. which is a pretty good translation of a small child who wants mummy, right now, not this other person who's around a lot, but is not mummy.[[User:Boblipton|Boblipton]] 03:25, September 28, 2011 (UTC) | ||
That isn't usually how the Doctor's telepathy is depicted though. Usually, if he wants to read minds he has to make physical contact with them. Even if he could read baby's minds, I can see him being able to tell if the baby wants to be changed, wants food, or wants his old crib, but not really things like Stormageddon and peasants. Stormageddon Dark Lord of All would really suggest that the baby feels superior to others more than anything (which may be true), but while baby's may be aware of a lot of what's going on around them, I doubt that they can pick up names like Stormageddon from TV. Also, the Doctor's response to Melody seemed more like Melody insulted the Doctor's bow tie than asking him what it was. A baby may be curious as to what it is, though it isn't particularly strange compared to all the soldiers and creepy eyepatched women she's been exposed to, but I doubt she would say or think something along the lines of "That bow tie is hideously ugly and completely outdated." Melody's supposed comment about the Doctor's hair was also likely made up, so that he could avoid the subject off whose crib it was. And, if the Doctor can speak baby, it still leaves open the question of why he's never demonstrated this ability with any other baby character. For example, when he was trying to persuade baby Rose not to cause a universe ending paradox, he didn't act like she was responding to him at all. I'm not saying that it is impossible that the Doctor speaks baby, but it is pretty unlikely.[[User:Icecreamdif|Icecreamdif]] 06:03, September 28, 2011 (UTC) | |||
