Cross-Cultural Differences in Language Learning Flashcards
Infant Directed Speech
or Motherese
(Definition and Characteristics)
Speech to very young children (16 months and younger)
Higher pitch
Speak more slowly
Dramatic, exaggerated intonation contours
Child Directed Speech
Definition and Characteristics
Speech to older children
Continues to be higher in pitch, more exaggerated intonation, and slower in tempo
Contains shorter, better formed utterances
Contains fewer false starts or hesitations
Contains fewer complex sentences and subordinate clauses
More tied to the immediate context (things that are present)
3 Studies about infants’ preference for infant directed speech
Fernald
Recorded 10 different adult women talking to their 4 month old infants and to an adult
Played 4 month olds in a booth in which the infant directed speech was played if they looked in one direction, and adult directed speech was played if looked in the other
Infants chose to hear infant directed speech more frequently than they chose the adult directed speech
Cooper and Aslin reported similar findings for one month olds
Werker, Pegg, Mcleod
Recorded videos of Cantonese speakers talking to infants or adults
Both English-speaking and Cantonese-speaking infants preferred to watch the infant directed speech at both 4 and 9 months
So “Motherese” seems to have similar properties even across languages
Fernald and Kuhl
Filtered everything out but the contours
Infants still preferred the infant-directed sounds
What makes motherese so interesting to infants? (2 ideas)
A universal signal system?
Seemingly universal correspondences between intonation and emotion
Command or reprimand (“No!”)
Complement or sooth (“Good girl”)
These seem to be the same across languages
So Motherese might be a similar biologically-based signal system
Or
Just a more perceptually interesting sound sequence
Infants like the exaggerated contours produce high contrast
Drawn to Motherese for much the same reason they are drawn to bold colors or black on white patterns
How might infant directed speech aid learning? (2 ideas)
Correlation between intonation and emotion may help child to start
connecting sounds and meanings
Phonemes in infant directed speech seem to be easier to perceive
(mothers who produce more discriminate vowel sounds have infants who have better speech perception in the lab, to better generalize to other speakers of the language)
What are three problems in studying child directed speech?
Hard to test
Small sample size, must construct artificial setting to get adult to talk to both child and another adult
People will speak differently when they know they are being recorded
What is the learning environment for most children tested by child language researchers?
They spend most of their time in dyadic interaction (with a single caregiver,
most often their mother)
But…
Might have both parents working and so have other caregivers
Nanny vs. a higher ratio of children to caregivers
Massive variation
Adults speak TO them a great deal
Adults use a simplified mode of speech with high pitch contrast when addressing them
Their vocal productions are encouraged and rewarded with praise and interaction
Are dyadic interactions typical in all cultures?
How would this affect language development?
In Samoa, childcare often performed by older siblings, in view of the mother
In Nigeria, children are cared for by maids (8-12 year old children) while mothers go to market or work in the house
Other communities have communal groups of other children and adults
How would this affect language development?
Less likely to receive correct positive evidence from other kids (as
opposed to adults) - hearing more errors
Is this helpful or a hindrance?
What is the problem with talking about access to the correct form?
Still going to be functional and understandable - not acquiring language to go through a formal education system
Might be looser conventions in these languages
Fewer standardizations
More permissive in allowed grammatical forms
Hear more variation in phoneme production
