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Infant-directed speech (IDS) vowel clarity and child language outcomes*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2016

KELLY M. HARTMAN ,
NAN BERNSTEIN RATNER  and
ROCHELLE S. NEWMAN
KELLY M. HARTMAN
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, USA
NAN BERNSTEIN RATNER*
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, USA
ROCHELLE S. NEWMAN
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, USA
*
Address for correspondence: Nan Bernstein Ratner, University of Maryland – Hearing and Speech, 0100 Lefrak Hall College Park Maryland 20742, United States. e-mail: nratner@umd.edu
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Abstract

There have been many studies examining the differences between infant-directed speech (IDS) and adult-directed speech (ADS). However, investigations asking whether mothers clarify vowel articulation in IDS have reached equivocal findings. Moreover, it is unclear whether maternal speech clarification has any effect on a child's developing language skills. This study examined vowel clarification in mothers’ IDS at 0;10–11, 1;6, and 2;0, as compared to their vowel production in ADS. Relationships between vowel space, vowel duration, and vowel variability and child language outcomes at two years were also explored. Results show that vowel space and vowel duration tended to be greater in IDS than in ADS, and that one measure of vowel clarity, a mother's vowel space at 1;6, was significantly related to receptive as well as expressive child language outcomes at two years of age.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 44 , Issue 5 , September 2017 , pp. 1140 - 1162
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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Footnotes

[*]

This work was supported by NSF grant BCS 0745412 to the University of Maryland, and served as part of a master's thesis by the first author. We thank Dr Tess Wood for many helpful discussions. We also thank the members of the Language Development Lab for assistance in recruiting, scheduling, and testing families, and particularly thank Devon Brunson and Giovanna Morini for project oversight, Kerry McColgan, Julie Sampson, Jenna Poland, Christina Royster, and Anna Synnestvedt for their help with analysis of acoustic variables, and Lisa Tuit, Amelie Bail, Jennifer Coon, and Sean Hendricks for testing the two-year-olds.

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