Speaking to / as a child

[kielmacdonald5536]

Hello JPod 101 !

I was wondering:
- Is there a good list of conjugations or grammar points that apply specifically to children? For example, in America children will call their mom's "mama" but as they grow old they call them "mom" or "mother". Are there similar nouns or verb conjugations that are very child-like?

- Is there conversely a form of words that people use only for children? In particular, the verb conjugations? Like would "食べます" when spoken to a child be " 食べる" or are there specific words only used for children?

I'm sure this is a somewhat complex question and requires some consideration, but even a place to start would be great.

Thanks !

[community.japanese]

kielmacdonald5536-san,
kon'nichiwa!

We have some words that we use for children, but I think it's more "for babies".
For example, calling mother by ママ is kind of childish in Japan.
When we "talk" with babies who don't speak much yet, we often use words like わんわん for dogs,
にゃんにゃん for cats, ブーブー for cars, etc.

We also have verbs like that. Instead of using a proper verb for "to swallow", we say ごっくんする
Also, we can use ないない(する) to say "it's finished", "to finish", etc., バイバイする to say "to give a greeting", "to say good-bye".

I can say that those words are often related to onomatopeia.

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[kielmacdonald5536]

We have some words that we use for children, but I think it's more "for babies"....

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

奈津子さん、説明したことありがとう！