Lyrics later. Life begins sometime before birth apparently, and the die is already cast.

scientists compared recordings of 30 French and 30 German infants aged between two and five days old. While the French newborns more frequently produced rising crying tones, German babies cried with falling intonation. The reason for this is presumably the differing intonation patterns in the two languages, which are already perceived in the uterus and are later reproduced.

In the last trimester of the pregnancy, human fetuses become active listeners. "The sense of hearing is the first sensory system that develops", says Angela Friederici, one of the Directors at the Max Planck Institute. "The mother's voice, in particular, is sensed early on." However, the fetus' hearing in the uterus is restricted due to the amniotic fluid. "What gets through are primarily the melodies and intonation of the respective language". In previous work, Professor Friederici's research team found evidence that the intonation patterns of the respective mother tongue are already ingrained in the brains of four-month-old babies. . .

This early sensitivity to features of intonation may later help the infants learn their mother tongue, the researchers say. "When they begin to form their first sounds, they can build on melodic patterns that are already familiar and, in this way, don't have to start from scratch", says the neuropsychologist. The evolutionary roots of this behaviour are older than the emergence of spoken language, the researchers believe. "The imitation of melodic patterns developed over millions of years and contributes to the mother-child bond" says Friederici.

I've seen parents reading and singing to their unborn infants. Knowing that it is the intonation and melodies that get through might help, and recognizing that they are under water and can't hear everything equally well may be useful.