The development of conversation between mothers and babies

TLDR

The study proposes that mothers use a conversational model with infants, and that changes in maternal speech mirror the child's developing conversational abilities. The authors analyzed the speech of two mothers to their infants at multiple time points between 3 and 18 months. Simplicity of maternal speech, measured by MLU, remained stable across ages, with no abrupt changes when children began talking; instead, changes started around seven months, contradicting the idea that mothers simplify speech in response to child cues.

Abstract

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.