Language Development

A recent article by Elizabeth Landau, reporter for CNN, described the conclusions of an experiment which explored the link between language development of babies, and depression during pregnancy and early motherhood.  The article begins with the use of pathos, as it engages the reader by discussing the supernatural ability of infants to learn language at an incredible rate, and also their ability to interpret  the different tones of a native, and nonnative speaker of a language. As the article begins to progress, the author uses a lot of logos as it goes on to explain the methods of the performed experiment. The researchers made three categories of participants. One group of pregnant women was depressed, but did not take medication for it. the second group of pregnant women was also depressed, but DID take medication, and the third group of pregnant women served as the control group, as they did not have symptoms of depression. The results of the experiment were that the infants born in the control group were in their prime for learning a language at approximately 6 months, children born from non-medicated mothers with depression were in their prime at approximately 10 months, and children who were born from mothers who medicated for their depression had already reached, and passed their prime time for developing language by the time they underwent their first screening at 6 months. Author Elizabeth Landau ends her report with rhetorical questions, encouraging readers to think into what this research could mean for the future. There were no official conclusions drawn from this research so far, so the author engages the interest of the readers by using the element of mystery to conclude her article.