Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T22:26:53.209Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The development of conversation between mothers and babies*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Catherine E. Snow
Catherine E. Snow
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The speech of two mothers to their infants at several points between three and eighteen months of age was analysed. Simplicity of the speech, as measured by MLU, was about the same at all ages, and none of the other features of the mothers' speech style showed any abrupt change at the time the children started to talk. The changes that did occur started much earlier, at about seven months. These findings are incompatible with the explanation that mothers speak simply and redundantly in response to cues of attention and comprehension from the child listener. It is suggested that the mothers interacted with their infants using a conversational model, and that the changes in the mothers' speech reflect their children's growing ability to function as conversational partners.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , February 1977 , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The work of Bob Phillips in collecting the videotapes analysed and his generosity with those tapes are gratefully acknowledged. Discussions with all the members of the Medical Psychology Unit, University of Cambridge have contributed greatly to the ideas expressed in this paper. Author's address: Institute for General Linguistics, University of Amsterdam, Spui 21, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

References

REFERENCES

Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T.Google Scholar
Bateson, M. C. (1971). The epigenesis of conversational interactions. Paper presented to the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Bingham, N. E. (1971). Maternal speech to pre-linguistic infants: differences related to maternal judgements of infant language competence. Unpublished paper, Cornell University.Google Scholar
Broen, P. (1972). The verbal environment of the language-learning child. ASHA Monogr. 17.Google Scholar
Brown, R. (1973). A first language: the early stages. London: Allen & Unwin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruner, J. (1975). The ontogenesis of speech acts. JChLang 2. 1–20.Google Scholar
Cherry, L. (1976). Interactive strategies in language development: a model of social cognition. Paper presented to the Conference on Language, Children, and Society, Columbus, Ohio.Google Scholar
Escalona, S. (1973). Basic modes of social interaction: their emergence and patterning during the first two years of life. MPQ 19. 205–32.Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. A. (in press). Baby talk as a simplified register. In Snow, C. & Ferguson, C. (eds), Talking to children: language input and acquisition. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Friedlander, B. (1968). The effect of speaker identity, voice inflection, vocabulary, and message redundancy on infants' selection of vocal reinforcement. JExpChPsychol 6. 443–59.Google ScholarPubMed
Garnica, O. (1975). Nonverbal concomitants of language input to children: clues to meaning. Paper presented to the Third International Symposium on First Language Acquisition, London.Google Scholar
Garnica, O. (in press). Some characteristics of prosodic input to young children. In Snow, C. & Ferguson, C. (eds), Talking to children: language input and acquisition. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Jaffe, J., Stern, D. & Perry, J. (1973). ‘Conversational’ coupling of gaze behavior in prelinguistic human development. JPsycholingRes 2. 321–30.Google ScholarPubMed
Keenan, E. (1974). Conversational competence in children. JChLang 1. 163–84.Google Scholar
Lieven, E. (1975). Conversations between mothers and young children: individual differences and their possible implication for the study of language learning. Paper presented to the Third International Symposium on First Language Acquisition, London.Google Scholar
Longhurst, T. & Stepanich, L. (1975). Mothers' speech addressed to one-, two-, and three-year-old normal children. Child Study Journal 5. 3–11.Google Scholar
Macnamara, J. (1972). Cognitive basis of language learning in infants. PsychRev 79. 1–13.Google ScholarPubMed
Newport, E., Gleitman, L. & Gleitman, H. (in press). Mother, I'd rather do it myself: some effects and non-effects of maternal speech style. In Snow, C. & Ferguson, C. (eds), Talking to children: language input and acquisition. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Newson, J. & Pawlby, S. (1974). On imitation. Unpublished paper, University of Nottingham.Google Scholar
Phillips, J. (1973). Syntax and vocabulary of mothers' speech to young children: age and sex comparisons. ChDev 44. 182–5.Google Scholar
Remick, H. (1975). Maternal speech to children during language acquisition. In von Raffler-Engel, W. & Lebrun, Y. (eds), Baby talk and infant speech. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.Google Scholar
Sachs, J. (in press). The adaptive significance of linguistic input to prelinguistic infants. In Snow, C & Ferguson, C. (eds), Talking to children: language input and acquisition. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Sachs, J., Brown, R. & Salerno, R. (1972). Adults' speech to children. In von Raffler Engel, W. & Lebrun, Y. (eds), Baby talk and infant speech. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.Google Scholar
Sachs, J. & Devin, J. (1976). Young children's use of age appropriate speech styles in social interaction and role-playing. JChLang 3. 81–98.Google Scholar
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organisation of turn-taking for conversation. Lg 50. 696–735.Google Scholar
Shatz, M. & Gelman, R. (1973). The development of communication skills: modifications in the speech of young children as a function of listener. Monogr. Soc. Res. Ch. Devel. 38, No. 5.Google ScholarPubMed
Shipley, E., Gleitman, L. & Smith, C. (1969). A study in the acquisition of language: free responses to commands. Lg 45. 322–42.Google Scholar
Shugar, G. W. (1975). Text analysis as an approach to the study of early linguistic operations. Paper presented to the Third International Symposium on First Language Acquisition, London.Google Scholar
Snow, C. (1972 a). Mothers' speech to children learning language. ChDev 43. 549–65.Google Scholar
Snow, C. (1972 b). Young children's responses to adult sentences of varying complexity. Paper presented to the International Congress of Applied Linguistics, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Snow, C. (in press). Mothers' speech research: from input to interaction. In Snow, C. & Ferguson, C. (eds), Talking to children: language input and acquisition. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Snow, C., Arlman-Rupp, A., Hassing, Y., Jobse, J., Joosten, J. & Vorster, J. (1976). Mothers' speech in three social classes. JPsycholingRes 5. 1–20.Google Scholar
Wisdom, S. & Friedlander, B. (1971). Preverbal infants' selective operant responses for different levels of auditory complexity and language redundancy. Paper presented to the Eastern Psychological Association.Google Scholar