The adorable video of a father talking to his baby son took a turn after two linguistics got into a tiff regarding “baby talk.”
The tiff was between Karla Holloway and Carina Hilbert, both of whom tried to assert their linguistic knowledge onto whether the baby would develop greater speech comprehension patterns as a result of the baby’s father speaking to him like an adult.
To sum it up, Professor Holloway, who has a doctorate degree, claims speaking to a baby like an adult is good for speech, while Hilbert, who has her master’s degree, claims baby talk is good for babies.
As a linguist, let me just say, this child will develop complex verbal skills before those who get (high-pitched) "baby talk" from parents. Talk to children w/regular vocabulary. Sit back, notice the developmental milestones! Toddler's conversation w/dad https://t.co/SYtKdCgkYU
— karla fc holloway (@ProfHolloway) June 6, 2019
I'll match my psycholinguistics/language acquisition background (incl. my PhD) w/your "research-based baby-talk." Complex speech patterns yield greater language comprehension and production. Yes, baby talked to children speak. How they speak and understand is the variable.
— karla fc holloway (@ProfHolloway) June 6, 2019
“Yeah, my master’s in second language acquisition from USC with Krashen-trained profs is worthless,” Hilbert wrote.
That’s the moment that set Holloway up for the ultimate comeback.
“Sorry to hear that,” Holloway replied.
sorry to hear that.
— karla fc holloway (@ProfHolloway) June 6, 2019
Twitter was shook. Shook.
— Kerri Moseley-Hobbs (@CollegeWizard) June 7, 2019
Flame herrrrrrrrrrrrr pic.twitter.com/ENPxv4XJ0W
— The Starter and The Finisher 😌 (@itsyagirlsp) June 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/BabesSoap/status/1136939644153683970
— Hendrix Monae (@HendrixMonae) June 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/ebonyinthecity/status/1137078166634270722
— #PettyPendergrass (@ashoncrawley) June 8, 2019
That was pretty legendary Dr. Holloway. pic.twitter.com/YiTTQRgX2r
— Big E (@EHMart) June 7, 2019
— Afro Disiac (@OhMyReese) June 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/augvision/status/1137488848571682816
Holloway’s reply, alone, racked up more than 16,000 likes–and ascended her to legend status.
Screenshots posted by @dreamgirlphae called out Hilbert, who is a white woman with a lesser degree, for thinking that she was smarter than a Black woman with the highest level of an academic degree.
“Today in white women think they’re smarter than everybody. Niece literally tried to match a Ph.D….with her masters. Goodnight.”
https://twitter.com/DreamGirlPhae/status/1137077475941527554
But Holloway hit back at those who thought this was a racial incident, rather, stating it was just two educated women differing on the science of language acquisition.
Say folks, what I like abt Twitter is common ground alongside license to play. @CarinaHilbert and I might differ on language acquisition, as does the field (cognitive v behavioral); but we share more than we disagree. Leave her be. We've met up in DMs. No apologies need to happen
— karla fc holloway (@ProfHolloway) June 8, 2019
“People, this is not about race …. I’m old enough (older than all y’all I suspect) to recognize bias,” she reiterated.
People, this is not abt race.We engaged.I sorta won the shade battle (well, maybe that was racial advantage).But we've connected thru DMs, and enjoy the engagements.I'm old enough (older than all y'all I suspect) to recognize bias.Nope. Not at all. So move along w/the race read.
— karla fc holloway (@ProfHolloway) June 9, 2019
Luckily, both women are taking the incident in stride, with Hilbert commenting Holloway on her classic comeback, and Holloway calling Hilbert her “new twitter friend.”
It was really good, I can’t lie. 😄
— 🦆 🧶 Carina Hilbert✌️ (@CarinaHilbert) June 8, 2019
Finally, Twitter beef that ended peacefully–or without anyone losing their job.
READ MORE:
- Babbling baby and his father go viral for wholesome couch conversation
- The ‘I’m baby’ meme is all about being comforted
- This college professor is pissed his student didn’t give him credit on viral tweet
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