Concepedia

The prosody of maternal speech: infant age and context related changes

Daniel N. Stern, Susan J. Spieker, R. K. Barnett, Kristine MacKain

Journal of Child Language · 1983 · 396 citations · 16 references

TL;DR

The study examines the possible functions of maternal prosodic changes occurring around the fourth month of infant development. Six mother–infant pairs were followed longitudinally from birth to 24 months, with maternal speech analyzed for pitch contour, repetitiveness, timing, tempo, and mean length of utterance. Maternal speech showed elongated pauses in the neonatal period, increased pitch contouring and repetitiveness at four months, and longer vocalizations and higher MLU by 24 months, with the most pronounced prosodic shifts occurring during intense face‑to‑face interaction at four months.

Abstract

ABSTRACT The speech of 6 mothers to their healthy infants was examined longitudinally during the neonatal period and at 4, 12, and 24 months in a semi-naturalistic setting. Features of speech analysed were: contour of fundamental frequency, repetitiveness, timing (durations of vocalizations and pauses), tempo and MLU. The neonatal period was characterized by elongated pauses. During the 4-month period the extent of pitch contouring and repetitiveness was greater than at earlier or later ages. By 24 months, the duration of vocalizations and length of MLU became markedly greater. The period of intense face-to-face interaction around the fourth month proved to involve more changes in certain prosodic features. Some of the possible functions of these changes during this phase are discussed.