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Kansas City, Kan., Jul 31, 2017 / 04:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A new study from researchers at Kansas University has found that unborn babies are able to distinguish between different languages as early a month before they are born.The study found that unborn children, at an average of 8 months in the womb, are able to distinguish the difference between someone speaking in English and someone speaking Japanese, even if the languages were being spoken by the same person.Two dozen pregnant American women and their in-utero babies took part in the study conducted by a team from KU’s Department of Linguistics, and published in the journal NeuroReport. The study used a non-invasive magnetocardiogram (MCG) - sensing technology that can detect fetal heartbeats, breathing and other body movements.According to study leaders, previous research had shown that language development began as early as a few days after birth, with babies just a few days old showing sensitivities to differ...
Kansas City, Kan., Jul 31, 2017 / 04:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A new study from researchers at Kansas University has found that unborn babies are able to distinguish between different languages as early a month before they are born.
The study found that unborn children, at an average of 8 months in the womb, are able to distinguish the difference between someone speaking in English and someone speaking Japanese, even if the languages were being spoken by the same person.
Two dozen pregnant American women and their in-utero babies took part in the study conducted by a team from KU’s Department of Linguistics, and published in the journal NeuroReport.
The study used a non-invasive magnetocardiogram (MCG) - sensing technology that can detect fetal heartbeats, breathing and other body movements.
According to study leaders, previous research had shown that language development began as early as a few days after birth, with babies just a few days old showing sensitivities to different languages, such as sucking pacifiers at different rates when different languages were spoken.
“This early discrimination led us to wonder when children’s sensitivity to the rhythmic properties of language emerges, including whether it may, in fact, emerge before birth,” said Utako Minai, associate professor of linguistics and team leader for the study, according to a press release from Kansas University.
“Fetuses can hear things, including speech, in the womb. It’s muffled, like the adults talking in a ‘Peanuts’ cartoon, but the rhythm of the language should be preserved and available for the fetus to hear, even though the speech is muffled.”
A previous study had also suggested that babies in the womb were sensitive to different languages, but it hadn’t determined whether the babies were reacting to different languages, or just to different speakers.
For this study, Minai had a bilingual speaker make two recordings, one in English and one in Japanese, to play for the babies in utero. English and Japanese are considered to be rhythmically distinct languages.
When the babies heard the familiar English language, their heart rates did not change, even when played a second English recording. However, their heart rates did change when they were first played an English recording, and then a second recording of the unfamiliar language of Japanese.
“These results suggest that language development may indeed start in utero, Minai said.
“Fetuses are tuning their ears to the language they are going to acquire even before they are born, based on the speech signals available to them in utero. Prenatal sensitivity to the rhythmic properties of language may provide children with one of the very first building blocks in acquiring language.”
Minai said the finding was “extremely exciting” for language development research, and could potentially apply to other fields.
IMAGE: CNS photo/Jose MontoyaBy Jose MontoyaWASHINGTON (CNS) -- Whiledriving to work with his son, Eric Von Gay Sr. noticed a homeless man walk outof his tent to look for food in the grass. That's when Eric Gay Jr. got theidea to "keep what Father Bill started."His thought about helpingthe less fortunate was in response to a luncheon Father Bill Carloni hosted forunderserved people a couple weeks earlier at Holy Name Catholic Church inWashington, where the priest is administrator.Eric Jr. believed hisidea would be a perfect way to get the community at Holy Name involved withdoing something bigger than themselves.Since then, Eric Sr. andhis wife, Gale Gay, committed themselves to giving food to the homeless afterchurch."In this day and age withall that's going on, I think people need to see that there are people out therethat are trying to help them," said Gale, who spoke to Catholic News Servicewhile giving out lunches. "A positive image that we give to them might givethem a vision ...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Jose Montoya
By Jose Montoya
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- While driving to work with his son, Eric Von Gay Sr. noticed a homeless man walk out of his tent to look for food in the grass. That's when Eric Gay Jr. got the idea to "keep what Father Bill started."
His thought about helping the less fortunate was in response to a luncheon Father Bill Carloni hosted for underserved people a couple weeks earlier at Holy Name Catholic Church in Washington, where the priest is administrator.
Eric Jr. believed his idea would be a perfect way to get the community at Holy Name involved with doing something bigger than themselves.
Since then, Eric Sr. and his wife, Gale Gay, committed themselves to giving food to the homeless after church.
"In this day and age with all that's going on, I think people need to see that there are people out there that are trying to help them," said Gale, who spoke to Catholic News Service while giving out lunches. "A positive image that we give to them might give them a vision to what they could do for somebody else."
Before the school year ended in June, Father Carloni got some of the kids involved with the bagged lunch program.
"When school was in, we would give them (sandwiches) to Father Bill and he would have the kids ' walk out with them and give them to the homeless," Eric Sr. said.
Overall it is a group effort to help those in need, he added.
Holy Name is not only changing the lives of those in need, but its parishioners as well.
"It's like a fellowship," Eric Sr. said. "There would be like 20 people down here putting together 50, 60, 70 lunches together."
Every other Sunday, parishioners gather after the 11 a.m. Mass and fill bags with a sandwich, chips and water. After the bags are prepared, the group walks around the Atlas neighborhood near the church and gives the food to homeless people.
For Eric Sr., "it's a great feeling." From the smiling faces to the conversations, he loves interacting with and giving to those in need.
He has served as the parish council president for 10 years and is a member of the 11 a.m. choir. In addition to giving meals to the homeless on the streets, he volunteers his time at the church's food pantry.
The pantry at Holy Name started as a couple cabinets of food in 2014. The pantry gave out around 10 to 15 bags of groceries per week when they first started. Since then, it has transitioned to a room filled with food in addition to two refrigerators and freezers.
"Now we serve people twice a week," said pantry volunteer Teresa King-Smith.
The pantry is open on the second and fourth Tuesdays and Thursdays of each month. People can come to the pantry on Tuesdays from 5-7 p.m. and on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
King began volunteering at Assumption Catholic Church in 2008. In fall 2014, she left Assumption and came to Holy Name.
The food pantry consistently gives out 75 to 100 bags per week.
"Our group is steady because most of them are low-income to under low-income," King told CNS. "We have people come all year long."
It's not just the food people come for. Many of them come for prayers from Father Carloni or one of the volunteers. King said she enjoys when people ask for a hug and prayer.
The priest's church is lively and full of music that has the congregation clapping to the beat. During the rite of Peace, Father Carloni walks around the entire church and shakes each person's hand.
Holy Name's churchgoers are diverse in age and race, and Father Carloni said he enjoys seeing the change in the parish community -- which reflects the changes in the neighborhood around Holy Name.
"This is a neighborhood that is transforming very quickly," Father Carloni said.
To learn more about the community near Holy Name, Father Carloni asked the District of Columbia government to conduct a study on the area's demographics.
It showed the neighborhood has a high percentage of young adults, that the cost of housing has risen and the amount of people living in poverty has remained similar to what it has been.
"Of all the changes that have happened, the amount of people that are under the poverty line has only gone down 1 percent," Father Carloni said.
This means that those who cannot afford to move out of the neighborhood to find a lower cost of living became more prone to being at the poverty level.
Because of the large number of those in poverty near the church, Holy Name has continued to find ways to help those in its community.
Between the bagged lunch and the food pantry, Holy Name puts a big effort into helping out those in need. The church doesn't just help those without homes.
"Some of these people have homes, it's just that they don't have enough as far as financial stability," Gale Gay said.
Cheryl McLaughlin, director of religious education and parish secretary at Holy Name, has seen the effects of homelessness in the Trinidad neighborhood, which sits just north of the church and is where many of the church members live.
"I have the privilege of living in the Trinidad neighborhood so I get to see a lot of what goes on in the neighborhood," McLaughlin said. "We have a lot of homeless people."
To help those in need, Holy Name provides much more than food, she said.
"We also have shampoos and soaps and toothbrushes and toothpastes and razors and combs," McLaughlin said. "Simple things that the average person takes for granted, we provide those for anybody that comes to the door and have a need."
Throughout the year, Gale and her husband offer advice to those they reach out to who need to get on a better financial footing.
"It's not only about being homeless, but about people that just feel like they don't have a way out, don't have a way to succeed," Gale said. "(We're) trying to give them that vision that they do."
In the end, it's about being there for others.
"You don't have to be a rich person or a poor person to give back to your community," Eric Sr. said. "You just have to have commitment to your community and a commitment to the Lord."
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