Anxiety often grips everyone present when a
new baby makes his/her first appearance to the world.
With the appearance, there are expected vital signs that
would confirm the baby’s healthy working lungs and the
subsequent survival in the world. The first cry is eagerly
anticipated by the midwives, with the mindset of allaying
all fears and anxieties that could follow the delivery. The
questions that may necessarily come to mind are: why is
so much importance attached to the first cry? What
message does the baby communicate when he first makes
the first cry? Can any linguistic meaning be deciphered
from such a cry? Is this first cry expressed in any
particular language or is a mere sound made through the
vocal cord? The crux of this paper is to examine the
relationship between the mother and unborn fetus on
one hand, and to argue the significance of the first cry of
a newborn with a bid of giving a linguistic connotation to
the sound on the other hand.
Keywords :
language, cry, newborn, gestation.