Relations between the non‐verbal context of maternal speech and rate of language development

TLDR

Early language development may be hindered by differences in maternal speech and non‑verbal context. The study compares maternal speech patterns between children with normal and slower language development up to 24 months. Maternal speech at 16 months was analyzed to examine its relationship with the surrounding non‑verbal context. Mothers of children with slower language development used less appropriate non‑verbal context, made fewer references to objects in the child’s focus, and relied more on general terms rather than specific labels, whereas mothers of normally developing children used more relevant non‑verbal cues and specific object references.

Abstract

This study compares maternal speech to two groups of children who showed a normal or slower rate of language development up to 24 months. Maternal speech to these children at 16 months was analysed in order to determine relations between speech and the contiguous non‐verbal context. Several differences emerged between the two groups. Mothers of children with slower language development initiated more changes in conversational topic without providing an appropriate non‐verbal context. They also made fewer references to objects which were at the child's current focus of attention and more references to objects to which the child was not attending. The children with slower language development were also presented with fewer specific object labels and more general terms such as pronouns and general nouns. Possible difficulties for the early stages of language development arising from these differences are discussed.