Inlinguistics,mama andpapa are considered a special case offalse cognates. In manylanguages 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 earlylanguage acquisition.[1][2][3][4]
Mama andpapa use speech sounds that are among the easiest to produce:bilabial consonants like/m/,/p/, and/b/, and theopen vowel/a/. They are, therefore, often among the first word-like sounds made bybabbling babies (babble words), and parents tend to associate the first sound babies make with themselves and to employ them subsequently as part of theirbaby-talk lexicon. Thus, there is no need to ascribe to common ancestry the similarities of!Kungba,Aramaicabba,Mandarin Chinesebàba,Yorubabàbá, andPersianbaba (all 'father'); orNavajoamá,Mandarin Chinesemāma,Swahilimama,Quechuamama, andPolishmama (all 'mother'). For the same reason, some scientists believe thatmama andpapa were among the first words that humans spoke.[5]
LinguistRoman 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.
Variants using other sounds do occur: for example, inFijian, the word for "mother" isnana, inTurkish, the word for mother isana, and inOld Japanese, the word for "mother" waspapa. The modern Japanese word for "father",chichi, is from oldertiti (butpapa is more common colloquially in modern Japanese). Very few languages lack labial consonants (this mostly being attested on a family basis, in theIroquoian and some of theAthabaskan languages), and onlyArapaho is known to lack an open vowel /a/. TheTagalog-na- /-ta- ("mom" / "dad" words) parallel the more commonma /pa in nasality / orality of the consonants and identity ofplace of articulation.
Khmer has different words that indicate different levels of respect. They include the intimate ម៉ាក់ (mak/meak) and ប៉ា (pa), the general ម៉ែ (mai/me) and ពុក (puk), and the formal ម្ដាយ (madaay) and ឪពុក (ovpuk).[9]
Vietnamese,mẹ is mother andbố is father.Má andba orcha respectively in Southern Vietnamese.
Tagalog, mothers can be calledina, and fathersama. Two other words for the same in common use,nanay andtatay, came fromNahuatl by way of Spanish.[10][11][12] Owing to contact with Spanish and English,mamá,papá,ma(m(i)), anddad[dʌd] ordádi are also used. In addition Chinese has influenced the Tagalog languages even before the Spanish Colonial Period; inOld Tagalog the word Baba was used for Father.[13]
InMalay, mother is calledEmak (mak) orIbu (buk), father is calledBapa (pak), Abah orAyah. The modern Indonesian word for father ispapi and mother ismami. The wordsmami andpapi have been used since the days of the Dutch Indies Colonial, causing the mixing of the words "Papa & Mama", Europe to "Papi & Mami", Indonesia.
InMāori,Papa is the name of theEarth goddess in thecreation myth, and as such is sometimes used to refer to the embodiment of motherhood. The sky father in the same myth is called Rangi.
Thoughamma andappa are used inTulu, they are not really Tulu words but used due to the influence of neighboring states' languages. The actual word formother in Tulu isappe (pronounced[apæ]) and the word forfather in Tulu isamme (pronounced[amæ]). Note that the usage of these words is at odds with the usage pattern in other languages (similar toGeorgian in that sense).
InTelugu, the common words for mother and father areamma andnanna.[14] "Thalli" and "Thandri" are used for mother and father in formal Telugu. Notice hownana refers tomaternal grandfather in Hindi, and how that differs from its Telugu meaning. "Nayana" is also used for father in informal Telugu in theRayalaseema region ofAndhra Pradesh andTelangana of India. Note that the usage of these words is at odds with the usage pattern in other languages (similar toTulu andGeorgian in that sense).
InMalayalam, the common word for mother is "Amma" and for father is "Achan/Appa". In scholastic usage,Mathav andPithav are used respectively. "Achan" is either a transformed Malayalam equivalent of the Sanskrit "Arya" for "Sir/Master" (Arya - >Ajja ->Acha) or originated from a native Dravidian word that means paternal grandfather (cf.Ajja in Kannada andAjje in Tulu meaning grandfather andAchan is an uncommon word for father in Tamil). Other words like "Appan","Appachan","Chaachan" (all 3 forms common among Christians, Appan is also used by Hindus of Tamil influenced areas),"Baappa/Vaappa" ,"Uppa" (both common among Muslims) etc. are also used for father, and words such as "Umma" (among Muslims), "Ammachi" (among Christians) for mother. Christians use Achan to mean Church Father."Thalla" which means mother and "Thantha" which means father are currently never used formally and are considered derogatory/disrespectful. "Thaayi" is another old and extremely uncommon word for mother.
InTamil, "thaayi" and "thanthai" are the formal Tamil words for mother and father; informally "amma" for mother and "appa" for father are much more common.
In theKannada language, "thaayi" for mother and "thande" for father are used formally. But to address them informally Kannadigas useamma for mother andappa for father.
Hungarianapa means "father" andanya means mother, which tends to use open vowels such as[ɑ] and[ɐ]. For formal usage, these words are applied, but in informal speech, bothmama andpapa are used as well. For family internal addressing,apu andanyu (variants of "apa" and "anya," respectively) are also used.
FinnishÄiti andIsä for mother and father, respectively. Also, the old Finnish word 'emä' for 'mother'.
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. For aunt and uncle: стринка (strinka) for father's brother's wife and чичо (chicho) for father's brother / вуйна (vuyna) for mother's brother's wife and вуйчо (vuycho) for mother's brother.
Russian мама (mama). In Russianpapa,deda andbaba 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 speechtata andtyatya for "dad" were also used until the 20th century;batya is also still occasionally used to this day. In some dialects,papa means "food".
Old Indo-Aryan (Sanskrit):Mātṛ /Ambā for "mother" andPitṛ / Tātaḥ for "father".
Assamese hasma ("মা") andaai ("আই") as "mother" anddeuta ("দেউতা") andpitai ("পিতাই") as "father". However, due to English borrowings, the wordsmamma andpappa are sometimes used today.
Bengali, the wordsmaa ("মা") andbaba ("বাবা") are used for "mother" and "father".
Bhojpuri has maai ("माई") and aama ("आमा") as "mother" and babu ("बाबू") as "father". Informally, the termsmami andpapa are also used, possibly due to English influence.
InDoteli language , "eeja" is used for mother while "buwa" or "baa" is used for father.
Gujarati usesmātā, ormā, for mother andbāpuji, orpitā, for father. Informally, the termsmammi andpappā are also used, possibly due to English influence.
Hindi has the wordmātā andpitaji as the formal words for "mother" and "father", though the shorter informal termmaa andpita is more common. Due to English borrowings, the wordsmamma andpappa 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 toMarathi. However, due to English borrowings, the wordsmamma andpappa are much more common today.
Maithili language has the wordMami andPapa to refer mother and father respectively, which were borrowed from English and are very popular inMadesh state ofNepal andBihar state of India.
Marathi Aai (“आई”) for mother and Baba (“बाबा”) for father. In some parts ofMaharashtra Amma ("अम्मा") for mother and Appa ("अप्पा") or Tatya ("तात्या") for father is also used. However, due to English borrowings, the wordsmummy andpappa 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 usesbapa (ବାପା) for father and maa(ମା), bou (ବୋଉ) for mother. However, due to English borrowings, the wordsmamma/mommy andpappa 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 ofTamil. In some areas of Sri Lanka, particularly in theCentral Province, Sinhalese use the word "nanachhi", or "thaththa" for father.
Urdu the words for mother aremaa/mɑ̃ːماں,madarمادر orwalidaوالدہ formally andammiامی,mamaمما informally, whereas father isbaapباپ (not used as salutation),pedar'پدر or 'walid'والد formally andbabaبابا orabbaابّا orabbuابّو informally.
Albanian nena/nëna, mama for mother and tat/at, baba for father
(Modern) Greek μάνα, μαμά (mana,mama) and μπαμπάς (babas)
Hittite 𒀭𒈾𒀸 (annaš, "mother") and 𒀜𒋫𒀸 (attaš, "father")
Pashtomoorمور is the word for Mother.Plaarپلار is the word for Father andbaba بابا is used for father as well.
Persianmadarمادر is the word for mother andPedarپدر is the word for father in formal speech. Informally, the word for "mama" isnaneننه and the word for "papa" isbabaبابا. However, in many Iranian dialectsnaneننه has been replaced by the French loan wordmamanمامان.[citation needed]
Hazaragi ‘’aba’’ is used for mother and ‘’ ata’’ is used for father.
Georgian is notable for having its similar words "backwards" compared to other languages: "father" in Georgian is მამა (mama), while "mother" is pronounced as დედა (deda). პაპაpapa stands for "grandfather".
Bodo, बिमा (bi-ma) and बिफा (bi-fa) are the words for "mother" and "father" respectively. However, parents are usually referred to by their children as आइ/आइयै (aai/aywi) or मा (ma) and आफा (afa) or बाबा (baba) — "Mom" and "Dad."
Burmese,မိခင် (mi khin) andဖခင် (pha khin) are the words for "mother" and "father" respectively. However, parents are usually referred to by their children asမေမေ (may may) andဖေဖေ (phay phay) — "Mom" and "Dad."
Cantonese,母親 (móuchàn) and父親 (fuchàn) are the formal words for "mother" and "father" respectively.媽媽 (màmà) or阿媽 (a mā) and爸爸 (bàbā) or阿爸 (a bà) are used informally for "Mom" and "Dad" respectively.
Mandarin Chinese,母親 (pinyin:mǔqīn) and父親 (fùqīn) are for "mother" and "father" respectively. Note that thef sound was pronounced bilabially (as with p or b) in older and some other forms of Chinese, thusfu is related to the common "father" wordpa. In addition, parents are usually referred to by their children as媽媽 (pinyin:māma;Wade–Giles:ma¹-ma) and爸爸 (pinyin:bàba;Wade–Giles:pa⁴-pa) — "Mom" and "Dad". In informal language,mā andbà are sometimes used as shorter versions of the aforementioned words.
Taiwanese Hokkien,老母 (lāu-bú) and老爸 (lāu-pē) refer to "mother" and "father" respectively. Note that some of theb sounds in modern Taiwanese was pronounced asm in older Chinese languages, hencebú is related to the common "mother" wordm. Additionally, parents are also referred as媽(má) /阿母 (a-bú) and爸 (pâ) /阿爸 (a-pah), equivalents to "Mom" and "Dad", respectively.
Hakka Chinese uses "â-pâ - â-mê" （阿爸阿姆） for father and mother. In theMeixian dialect mother is called "â-mà" (阿嫲). Other term is "fu-mû" (父母) or yà-ôi (爺ôi) for parents or both father and mother.
Thai, "mother" is แม่ (mê[mɛ̂ː]) and "father" isพ่อ (phô[pʰɔ̂ː]).มะ (Má[mɑ]) andบะ (ba[ba]) orฉะ (cha[tʃa]) respectively in Southern Thai. Colloquially, mamà and papà are also used.
Lao, "mother" is ແມ່ (maê) and "father" is ພໍ່ (phô).
Japanese, 父 (chichi) and 母 (haha)*papa (modern Japanese/h/ derives from thevoiceless bilabial fricative[ɸ]) which in turn is from the older *p.)[17] for "father" and "mother" respectively in formal style. They are basic words which do not combine withhonorifics. Japanese has also borrowed informalmama andpapa along with the native terms, stemming from American influence post-World War II.[18] Before the borrowing became common, a child usually called its mother おかあさん (‘’okāsan’’), かあちゃん (‘’kāchan’’), or so, and its father おとうさん (‘‘otōsan’’), とうちゃん (‘’tōchan’’), etc.. On the other hand, マンマ(‘’mamma’’) means “food” in baby talk.
Okinawan language, the word あんま (anma) is used to refer to mother while ふぁふぁ (fafa) refers to father.
Korean, 엄마 (eom-ma) and 아빠 (a-bba) are mom and dad in informal language, whereas the formal words are 아버지 (a-beo-ji) and 어머니 (eo-meo-ni) for father and mother. Korean is usually considered a language isolate with no living relatives, but some authorities differ.
Mapudungun:Chachay andpapay are respectively "daddy"[19] and "mommy",[20]Chaw andÑuke being "father" and "mother", respectively.Chachay andpapay are also terms of respect or sympathy towards other members of the community.
^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.
^Bancel, P.J. and A.M. de l'Etang. (2008)"The Age of Mama and Papa" Bengtson J. D. InHot Pursuit of Language in Prehistory: Essays in the four fields of anthropology. (John Benjamins Publishing, Dec 3, 2008), pages 417-438.
^Bancel, P.J. and A.M. de l'Etang. (2013)"Brave new words" InNew Perspectives on the Origins of Language, ed. C. Lefebvre, B. Comrie, H. Cohen (John Benjamins Publishing, Nov 15, 2013), pages 333-377.
