5>Child directed speech Flashcards
Nativist-generative theories in relation to role of linguistic input>
- input plays a minor role
- primarily used in:
1>word learning (i.e. ‘dog’ vs ‘hund’)
2>parameter setting (i.e. is it SVO or SOV)
-idea of top-down development
what is top-down development>
-idea kids born with abstract categories (S, V, O) & these are used to analyse input from caregivers
(e.g.”the man kissed the woman”–>SVO)
Usage-based theories in relation to role of linguistic input>
- children extract (/create) linguistic categories & rules FROM their input
- idea of bottom-up development
what is bottom up development?>
the input is used to discover rules
(e.g. “the man kissed the woman”> SUBJ VERB OBJ)
what is evidence for the ‘bottom-up’ development?
- frequency & novelty effects: experiments show that young children don’t go beyond the input & can only process similar sentences (“where is the frog gorping the monkey?”)
interactions with preverbal infants (WEST)>
-we address kids before they produce language themselves
- adults interpret gestures & vocalisations as having social meanings (e.g. smiling)
- our culture anthropomorphises a range of non-talking things
paralinguistic features of child directed speech (in comparison to adult)> (6)
- higher pitch
- exaggerated intonation
- greater range of pitch
- longer pauses
- lengthened phonemes (&slower speech in general)
- slower tempo
Pros of child directed speech>
- long pauses help word segmentation
(in higher pitched sounds the ‘bands of energy’ (harmonics) are more widely spaced than in lower pitched sounds
Cons of child-directed speech
-relatively high pitch might hinder vowel discrimination
(higher pitched vowels as more difficult to discriminate than low pitched vowels, due to formant location)
- long pauses do not always occur in the right place
(“the nice…man sells ice cream”)
Phonological features of child directed speech> (in comparison to adult)>
- mothers produce extreme VOTs (voice onset time) for voiceless consonants
- vowels are hyper-articulated (distance between different vowels is more extreme in CDS than adult); thus should be easier for infants to distinguish v & c like /p/ & /b/
- mothers articulate less clearly- to convey intimacy
Lexicon & syntax features of child-directed speech> (in comparison to adult speech) (5)
-shorter MLU
-fewer subordinated clauses/embeddings per utterance (^easier to process)
-more utterances without verbs (Noun bias?)
-more content words, fewer function words (telegraphic speech)
-diminuitives (“doggie” “horsie”)
(might help categorisation & word segmentation)
Discourse features of child directed speech>
- more interrogatives (to keep convo going)
- more imperatives (to regulate child’s behaviour)
- speech more fluent & intelligible ( ‘poverty of stimulus’?)
- more repetitions
- routines (i.e. give+take; peakaboo; book reading)
Gestural features of child directed speech>
- caregivers use gestures to reinforce the verbal content of their utterances
- ‘temporal synchrony’–>caregivers move toys while talking about them & when teach novel verbs/nouns (involves joint attention)
Basic functions of child directed speech>
- bonding & attachment
- regulating
Basic functions of CDS> 1.bonding & attachment>
-infants prefer to listen to HAPPY-sounding speech
-in tonal langs, extreme pitch might work against word learning:
^thai mothers more likely to use emotional expressions (e.g. smiling)
