Mama and papa is a whole other phenomenon. Arabic: mama babi. Mandarin: mama baba. Swahili: mama baba. Inuktitut: anaana ataata. English: mama papa. Tamil:

Mama and papa is a whole other phenomenon. Arabic: mama babi. Mandarin: mama baba. Swahili: mama baba. Inuktitut: anaana ataata. English: mama papa. Tamil: amma appa. These languages are not known to be related. The first vowel sound a child makes is approximately "a" and the first consonant they form tends to be a nasal plosive "mba mba mba" and the second distinct sound tends to be a dental or labial plosive "pa ta pa ta". And the first thing a baby says is "mommy" of course and the second thing a baby says is "daddy" of course. So mama is mommy and papa or tata is daddy. That's the usual explanation, anyway.