Mama And Papa

In linguistics, mama and papa are considered a special case of false cognates. In many languages of the world, sequences of sounds similar to and mean "mother" and "father", usually but not always in that order. This is thought to be a coincidence resulting from the process of early language acquisition. Jakobson, R. (1962
"Why 'mama' and 'papa'?"
In Jakobson, R. ''Selected Writings, Vol. I: Phonological Studies'', pp. 538–545. The Hague: Mouton. 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. In ''Hot 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"
In ''New Perspectives on the Origins of Language'', ed. C. Lefebvre, B. Comrie, H. Cohen (John Benjamins Publishing, Nov 15, 2013), pages 333-377.

Etymology

''Mama'' and ''papa'' use speech sounds that are among the easiest to produce: bilabial consonants like , , and , and the open vowel . They are, therefore, often among the first word-like sounds made by babbling babies (babble words), and parents tend to associate the first sound babies make with themselves and to employ them subsequently as part of their baby-talk lexicon. Thus, there is no need to ascribe to common ancestry the similarities of !Kung ''ba'', Aramaic ''abba'', Mandarin Chinese , Yoruba ''bàbá'', and Persian ''baba'' (all 'father'); or Navajo ''amá'', Mandarin Chinese , Swahili ''mama'', Quechua ''mama'', and Polish ''mama'' (all 'mother'). For the same reason, some scientists believe that ''mama'' and ''papa'' were among the first words that humans spoke.

Linguist Roman Jakobson hypothesized that the nasal sound in "mama" comes from the nasal murmur that babies produce when breastfeeding:

Variants

Variants using other sounds do occur: for example, in Fijian, the word for "mother" is ''nana'', in Turkish, the word for mother is ''ana'', and in Old Japanese, the word for "mother" was ''papa''. The modern Japanese word for "father", ''chichi'', is from older ''titi'' (but ''papa'' is more common colloquially in modern Japanese). Very few languages lack labial consonants (this mostly being attested on a family basis, in the Iroquoian and some of the Athabaskan languages), and only Arapaho is known to lack an open vowel /a/. The Tagalog ''-na-'' / ''-ta-'' ("mom" / "dad" words) parallel the more common ''ma'' / ''pa'' in nasality / orality of the consonants and identity of place of articulation.

Examples by language family

"Mama" and "papa" in different languages:

Afro-Asiatic languages

*Aramaic: ''Imma'' for mother and ''Abba'' for father
*Hebrew: ''Imma'' for mother and ''Ab'' for father
* Arabic: (''umm'') for mother and (''ab'') for father (formal). When actually talking to them, they are called ''Ummi'' for Mother and ''Abba'' for Father
*Berber: ''Yemma/Ma'' for mother and ''Aba/Baba'' for father

Austroasiatic languages

* 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)''.
* Vietnamese, ''mẹ'' is mother and ''bố'' is father. ''Má'' and ''ba'' or ''cha'' respectively in Southern Vietnamese.

Austronesian languages

* Tagalog, mothers can be called ''ina'', and fathers ''ama''. Two other words for the same in common use, ''nanay'' and ''tatay'', came from Nahuatl by way of Spanish. Owing to contact with Spanish and English, ''mamá'', ''papá'', ''ma(m(i))'', and ''dad'' or ''dádi'' are also used. In addition Chinese has influenced the Tagalog languages even before the Spanish Colonial Period; in Old Tagalog the word Baba was used for Father.
*In Malay, mother is called ''Emak'' (''mak'') or ''Ibu'' (''buk''), father is called ''Bapa (pak), Abah'' or ''Ayah''. The modern Indonesian word for father is ''papi'' and mother is ''mami.'' The words ''mami'' and ''papi'' have been used since the days of the Dutch Indies Colonial, causing the mixing of the words "Papa & Mama", Europe to "Papi & Mami", Indonesia.
*In Māori, Papa is the name of the Earth goddess in the creation myth, and as such is sometimes used to refer to the embodiment of motherhood. The sky father in the same myth is called Rangi.

Dravidian languages

* Though ''amma'' and ''appa'' are used in Tulu, they are not really Tulu words but used due to the influence of neighboring states' languages. The actual word for ''mother'' in Tulu is ''appe'' () and the word for ''father'' in Tulu is ''amme'' (). Note that the usage of these words is at odds with the usage pattern in other languages (similar to Georgian in that sense).
* In Telugu, the common words for mother and father are ''amma'' and ''nanna''. "''Thalli''" and "''Thandri''" are used for mother and father in formal Telugu. Notice how ''nana'' refers to ''maternal grandfather'' in Hindi, and how that differs from its Telugu meaning. "''Nayana''" is also used for father in informal Telugu in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana of India. Note that the usage of these words is at odds with the usage pattern in other languages (similar to Tulu and Georgian in that sense).
* In Malayalam, the common word for mother is "''Amma''" and for father is "''Achan/Appa''". In scholastic usage, ''Mathav'' and ''Pithav'' 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 and ''Ajje'' in Tulu meaning grandfather and ''Achan'' 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.
* In Tamil, "''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 the Kannada language, "''thaayi''" for mother and "''thande''" for father are used formally. But to address them informally Kannadigas use ''amma'' for mother and ''appa'' for father.

Uralic languages

* Estonian ''ema'' for mother and ''isa'' for father.
* Hungarian ''apa'' means "father" and ''anya'' means mother, which tends to use open vowels such as and . For formal usage, these words are applied, but in informal speech, both ''mama'' and ''papa'' are used as well. For family internal addressing, ''apu'' and ''anyu'' (variants of "apa" and "anya," respectively) are also used.
* Finnish ''Äiti'' and ''Isä'' for mother and father, respectively. Also, the old Finnish word 'emä' for 'mother'.

Indo-European languages

In the Proto-Indo-European language, ''*mā́tēr'' (modern reconstruction: ''*méh₂tēr'') meant "mother" while ''*pǝtḗr'' (modern reconstruction: ''*ph₂tḗr'') and ''átta'' meant "father".

Romance

* Catalan ''mamà'' / ''mama'' and ''papà'' / ''papa''
* French ''maman'' / ''papa'' (mother / father) and ''mamie'' / ''papy'' (grandmother / grandfather)
* Friulian ''mame'' / ''pai'' or ''papà''(mother / father)
* Galician ''nai'', ''mai'' / ''pai''
* Italian ''mamma'' and ''papà'' or ''babbo''
* Lombard ''mader''
* Portuguese ''mãe'' / ''pai'' (mother / father); Portugal: ''mamã'' / ''papá''; Brazil: ''mamãe'' / ''papai''
* Romanian ''mama'' / ''mamă'' (mother) and ''tata'' / ''tată'' (father)
* Sardinian ''mama'' and ''babbu'' or formal "Mammai" and "Babbai"
* Spanish ''mamá'' and ''papá''

Balto-Slavic

* 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.
* Czech ''máma'' and ''táta''
* Lithuanian ''mama''
* Macedonian мама/''mama'' for mom, and татo/''tato'' for dad. мајка/majka for mother, and татко/tatko for father.
* Rusyn мама (''mama'') for mom and татo (''tato'') for dad.
* Polish ''mama'' and ''tata''
* Russian мама (''mama''). In Russian ''papa'', ''deda'' and ''baba'' 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 speech ''tata'' and ''tyatya'' for "dad" were also used until the 20th century; ''batya'' is also still occasionally used to this day. In some dialects, ''papa'' means "food".
* Serbo-Croatian ''mama'' for mom, and ''tata'' for dad.
* Slovak ''mama'' / ''tata'', also ''tato''. In addition, ''papanie'' / ''papať'' means "food" / "eat" respectively.
* Slovene ''mama'' / ''ata'', also ''tata''
* Ukrainian мама (''mamа'') and тато (''tato'') (папа (''papa'') in South-eastern dialects).

Germanic

* Dutch ''mama'' / ''mam'' / ''ma'' and ''papa'' / ''pap'' / ''pa''
* English ''mama'' / ''mum/mummy'' (standard British) / ''mom/mommy'' (US/Canada/sometimes regional Irish) / ''momma'' / ''mam'' (regional British and regional Irish) / ''ma'' and ''dad'' / ''dada'' / ''daddy'' / ''papa'' / ''pa'' / ''da''
* Faroese ''mamma''
* German ''Mama'' / ''Mami'' and ''Papa'' / ''Papi''
* Icelandic ''mamma''; ''pabbi''
* Norwegian ''mamma'' and ''pappa''
* Swedish ''mamma'' and ''pappa''
* Swiss German ''mami'', but ''mame'' in the dialect from Graubünden and ''mamma'' in certain dialects from the Canton of Bern

Celtic

* Irish ''máthair'' () / ''áthair''
*Scottish Gaelic ''màthair'' () / ''athair'' ()
* Welsh ''mam'' / ''tad'' (mutates to ''dad'')
* Breton ''mamm'' (mutates to ''vamm'') / ''tad'' (mutates to ''dad'' or ''zad'')

Indo-Aryan

Old Indo-Aryan (Sanskrit): ''Mātṛ'' / ''Ambā'' for "mother" and ''Pitṛ / Tātaḥ'' for "father".

* Assamese has ''ma'' ("মা") and ''aai'' ("আই") as "mother" and ''deuta'' ("দেউতা") and ''pitai'' ("পিতাই") as "father". However, due to English borrowings, the words ''mamma'' and ''pappa'' are sometimes used today.
* Bengali, the words ''maa'' ("মা") and ''baba'' ("বাবা") are used for "mother" and "father".
* Bhojpuri has maai ("माई") and aama ("आमा") as "mother" and babu ("बाबू") as "father". Informally, the terms ''mami'' and ''papa'' are also used, possibly due to English influence.
* In Doteli language , "eeja" is used for mother while "buwa" or "baa" is used for father.
* Gujarati uses ''mātā'', or ''mā'', for mother and ''bāpuji'', or ''pitā'', for father. Informally, the terms ''mammi'' and ''pappā'' are also used, possibly due to English influence.
* Hindi has the word ''mātā'' and ''pitaji'' as the formal words for "mother" and "father", though the shorter informal term ''maa'' and ''pita'' is more common. Due to English borrowings, the words ''mamma'' and ''pappa'' 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 to Marathi. However, due to English borrowings, the words ''mamma'' and ''pappa'' are much more common today.
* Maithili language has the word ''Mami'' and ''Papa'' to refer mother and father respectively, which were borrowed from English and are very popular in Madesh state of Nepal and Bihar state of India.
* Marathi Aai (“आई”) for mother and Baba (“बाबा”) for father. In some parts of Maharashtra Amma ("अम्मा") for mother and Appa ("अप्पा") or Tatya ("तात्या") for father is also used. However, due to English borrowings, the words ''mummy'' and ''pappa'' 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 uses ''bapa (ବାପା)'' for father and maa(ମା), bou (ବୋଉ) for mother. However, due to English borrowings, the words ''mamma/mommy'' and ''pappa'' 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 of Tamil. In some areas of Sri Lanka, particularly in the Central Province, Sinhalese use the word "''nanachhi''", or "''thaththa''" for father.
* Urdu the words for mother are ''maa''/''mɑ̃ː'' , ''madar'' or ''walida'' formally and ''ammi'' , ''mama'' informally, whereas father is ''baap'' (not used as salutation), ''pedar or 'walid' formally and ''baba'' or ''abba'' or ''abbu'' informally.

Other Indo-European languages

* Albanian ''nena''/''nëna'', ''mama'' for mother and ''tat''/''at'', ''baba'' for father
* (Modern) Greek μάνα, μαμά (''mána'', ''mamá'') and μπαμπάς (''babás'')
* Hittite 𒀭𒈾𒀸 (''annaš'', "mother") and 𒀜𒋫𒀸 (''attaš'', "father")
* Pashto ''mūr'' is the word for mother, ''plār'' is the word for father and ''bābā'' بابا is used for father as well.
* Persian ''mādar'' is the word for mother and ''pedar'' is the word for father in formal speech. Informally, the word for "mama" is ''nane'' and the word for "papa" is ''bābā'' . However, in many Iranian dialects ''nane'' has been replaced by the French loan word ''māmān'' .
* Hazaragi ''aba'' is used for mother and ''ata'' is used for father.
* Kurdish ''dayê'' and ''yadê'' or ''dê'' is the word for mother.
* Luri دا ''dā'' and دالکه ''dāleka'' is the word for mother, and ''bowa'' or ''bawa'' is the word for father.

Kartvelian languages

* 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''). პაპა ''papa'' stands for "grandfather".

Mayan languages

* Ch'ol: ''ña''
* Tzotzil: ''me
* Tzeltal: ''me''

Niger-Congo languages

* Igbo: ''Mama'' / ''Nne'' / ''Nma''
* Swahili: ''Mama'' and ''Baba''
* Yoruba: ''Màmá'' / ''Ìyá'' and Bàbá
* Zulu: ''Mama'' and ''Baba''

Sino-Tibetan languages

* 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, (''mi khin'') and (''pha khin'') are the words for "mother" and "father" respectively. However, parents are usually referred to by their children as (''may may'') and (''phay phay'') — "Mom" and "Dad."
* Cantonese, (''móuchàn'') and (''fuchàn'') are the formal words for "mother" and "father" respectively. (''màmà'') or (''a mā'') and (''bàbā'') or (''a bà'') are used informally for "Mom" and "Dad" respectively.
* Mandarin Chinese, ( zh, p=mǔqīn) and ( zh, labels=no, p=fùqīn) are for "mother" and "father" respectively. Note that the ''f'' sound was pronounced bilabially (as with p or b) in older and some other forms of Chinese, thus ''fu'' is related to the common "father" word ''pa''. In addition, parents are usually referred to by their children as ('' zh, w=ma¹-ma, p=māma'') and ( zh, w=pa⁴-pa, p=bàba) — "Mom" and "Dad". In informal language, ''mā'' and ''bà'' are sometimes used as shorter versions of the aforementioned words.
* Taiwanese Hokkien, () and () refer to "mother" and "father" respectively. Note that some of the ''b'' sounds in modern Taiwanese was pronounced as ''m'' in older Chinese languages, hence is related to the common "mother" word ''m''. Additionally, parents are also referred as () / () and (''pâ'') / (''a-pah''), equivalents to "Mom" and "Dad", respectively.
* Hakka Chinese uses "â-pâ - â-mê" （阿爸阿姆） for father and mother. In the Meixian 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.
* Tibetan uses ''amma'' for mother and ''nana'' for father.
* Tani uses "ané" for mother and "abu/abo" for father.
*Despite being a Tibeto-Burman language, Newari uses "maa" for mother and "baa" for father, similar to Nepali due to continuous interaction with Nepali speakers.

Kra–Dai languages

* Thai, "mother" is แม่ (''mê'' ) and "father" is ''พ่อ'' (phô ). ''มะ'' (Má ) and ''บะ'' (ba ) or ''ฉะ'' (cha ) respectively in Southern Thai. Colloquially, mamà and papà are also used.
* Lao, "mother" is ແມ່ (''maê'') and "father" is ພໍ່ (''phô'').

Turkic languages

* In Turkish, both ''anne'' and ''ana'' mean mother, and ''baba'' and ''ata'' means father. Also, ''nene'' can be used for grandma and ''dede'' for grandpa.
* Uyghur, an East Asian Turkic language, uses ''ana'' or ''apa'' for mother, and ''ata'' or dada for father.
* In the Crimean Tatar language, the word ''Ana'' means mother, and the word ''Baba'' means father.

Other families and language isolates

*Basque: ''ama'' for mother and ''aita'' for father.
* Japanese, 父 (''chichi'' < ''*titi'') and 母 (''haha'' < ''*papa''; modern Japanese derives from the voiceless bilabial fricative * which in turn is from the older *) for "father" and "mother" respectively in formal style. They are basic words which do not combine with honorifics. Japanese has also borrowed informal ''mama'' and ''papa'' along with the native terms, stemming from American influence post-World War II. Before the borrowing became common, a child usually called its mother おかあさん (''okāsan''), かあちゃん (''kāchan''), vel sim., 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.
* Kutenai, a language isolate of southeastern British Columbia, uses the word ''ma.''
* Sumerian: 𒀀𒈠 / ''ama''
* Mapudungun: ''Chachay'' and ''papay'' are respectively "daddy" and "mommy";1916. Fray Félix José de Augusta. ''Diccionario Araucano-Español y Español-Araucano''. Santiago: Imprenta Universitaria ''chaw'' and ''ñuke'' being "father" and "mother", respectively. ''Chachay'' and ''papay'' are also terms of respect or sympathy towards other members of the community.

See also

* Ab (Semitic)
* Onomatopoeia

References

{{reflist

Phonology
Language acquisition
Language comparison
Kinship terminology
Parenting