system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why are the words for "mother" and "father" so similar in so many distinct languages?

I've recently realized that "mother" and "father" all sound quite similar all across the globe, even in places far away from Europe such as China (Mandarin: Māmā) and Southern Africa (Zulu: umama). 

Is this due to European influence, or is it something else?
gpt
'Ma' is one of, if not the, the first distinct sound a child can make. The child's sound morphed in to the word for mother rather than the other way around. Giving a physiological reason why it's similar across languages, rather than a cultural one. Same with ba/pa/da becoming the root for the father.