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Infant-directed speech as a simplified but not simple register: a longitudinal study of lexical and syntactic features

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2019

Giuliana GENOVESE ,
Maria SPINELLI ,
Leonor J. ROMERO LAURO ,
Tiziana AURELI ,
Giulia CASTELLETTI  and
Mirco FASOLO
Giuliana GENOVESE*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Milano Bicocca
Maria SPINELLI
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University ‘G. d'Annunzio’, Chieti-Pescara, Italy
Leonor J. ROMERO LAURO
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Milano Bicocca
Tiziana AURELI
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University ‘G. d'Annunzio’, Chieti-Pescara, Italy
Giulia CASTELLETTI
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University ‘G. d'Annunzio’, Chieti-Pescara, Italy
Mirco FASOLO
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University ‘G. d'Annunzio’, Chieti-Pescara, Italy
*
*Corresponding author: Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca – Psychology, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1 Milano20126, Italy. E-mail: g.genovese5@campus.unimib.it
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Abstract

Infant-directed speech (IDS) is a specific register that adults use to address infants, and it is characterised by prosodic exaggeration and lexical and syntactic simplification. Several authors have underlined that this simplified speech becomes more complex according to the infant's age. However, there is a lack of studies on lexical and syntactic modifications in Italian IDS during the first year of an infant's life. In the present study, 80 mother–infant dyads were longitudinally observed at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months during free-play interactions. Maternal vocal productions were subsequently coded. The results show an overall low lexical variability and syntactic complexity that identify speech to infants as a simplified register; however, the high occurrence of complex items and well-structured utterances suggests that IDS is not simple speech. Moreover, maternal IDS becomes more complex over time, but not linearly, with a maximum simplification in the second half of the first year.

Keywords

infant-directed speechmotheresematernal speech
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 47 , Special Issue 1: The Influence of Input Quality and Communicative Interaction on Language Development Part 1 , January 2020 , pp. 22 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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