Speaking to babies in a sing-song voice, with exaggerated pitch, stretched vowels and a slower rhythm, helps them learn language rather than confusing them. Infants prefer this parentese to ordinary adult speech because the exaggerated sounds make individual sounds and word boundaries easier to pick out. Children's predictable errors, such as goed or mouses, show they are testing grammar rules and overgeneralising them, not learning incorrectly. Pronunciation simplifications like pasketti are normal too, since r, th and sh take longest to master. Parentese also builds emotional bonding, which supports language learning.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.