Baby talk

This article is about speech directed at babies. For speech-like sounds produced by babies, see babbling. For other uses, see Baby talk (disambiguation).

Baby talk is a type of speech associated with an older person speaking to a child or infant. It is also called caretaker speech, infant-directed speech (IDS), child-directed speech (CDS), child-directed language (CDL), caregiver register, parentese, or motherese.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

CDS is characterized by a "sing song" pattern of intonation that differentiates it from the more monotone style used with other adults e.g., CDS has higher and wider pitch, slower speech rate and shorter utterances.[7] It can display vowel hyperarticulation (an increase in distance in the formant space of the peripheral vowels e.g., [i], [u], and [a])[8] and words tend to be shortened and simplified. There is evidence that the exaggerated pitch modifications are similar to the affectionate speech style employed when people speak to their pets (pet-directed speech).[9] However, the hyperarticulation of vowels appears to be related to the propensity for the infant to learn language, as it is not exaggerated in speech to infants with hearing loss or to pets.[9][8][10]

  1. ^ Kubaník, Pavel (2017). "BABY TALK". In Karlík, Petr; Nekula, Marek; Pleskalová, Jana (eds.). Nový encyklopedický slovník češtiny (in Czech).
  2. ^ Matychuk, Paul (May 2005). "The role of child-directed speech in language acquisition: a case study". Language Sciences. 27 (3): 301–379. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2004.04.004.
  3. ^ Berey, Adam (March 18, 2005). "Gender Differences in Child-Directed Speech". Lawrence University. Archived from the original on 2017-08-08.
  4. ^ Herrera, Eisquel; Reissland, Nadja; Shepherd, John (July 2004). "Maternal touch and maternal child-directed speech: effects of depressed mood in the postnatal period" (PDF). Journal of Affective Disorders. 81 (1): 29–39. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2003.07.001. PMID 15183597.
  5. ^ Ghada Khattab. "Does child-directed speech really facilitate the emergence of phonological structure? The case of gemination in Arabic CDS" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 27, 2006.
  6. ^ Pinker, Steven (2010). The Language Instinct: How The Mind Creates Language. Harper Collins. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-06-203252-2.
  7. ^ Fernald, Anne (April 1985). "Four-month-old infants prefer to listen to motherese". Infant Behavior and Development. 8 (2): 181–195. doi:10.1016/s0163-6383(85)80005-9.
  8. ^ a b Lam, C; Kitamura, C (2012). "Mommy, speak clearly: induced hearing loss shapes vowel hyperarticulation". Developmental Science. 15 (2): 212–221. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01118.x. PMID 22356177.
  9. ^ a b Burnham, D; Kitamura, C; Vollmer-Conna, U (2002). "What's New, Pussycat? On Talking to Babies and Animals". Science. 296 (5572): 1435. doi:10.1126/science.1069587. PMID 12029126. S2CID 27313730.
  10. ^ Lam, C; Kitamura, C (2010). "Maternal interactions with a hearing and hearing impaired twin: similarities in pitch exaggeration but differences in vowel hyperarticulation". Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 53 (3): 543–55. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2010/09-0126). PMID 20220028.