Page 1

Caregiver Speech

Presented to:Ma’am Rabia

Presented by:Hafsa Kayani

Page 2

Caregiver Language

The simplified and repetitive type of speech, with exaggerated intonation and rhythm, often used by adults when speaking to babies.

•Motherese, caretaker language, caregiver language

Page 3

Parents and adults help infants master language sounds by talking in a distinctive style

Page 4

Qualities

• Speech addressed to children is different from that to adults

• Child-directed speech is slower• Spoken with higher pitch • Exaggerated intonation • Utterances are shorter• Sentence length is one-third of that of

adults

Page 5

•Sentences are well-formed •Simple in structure•Repetitious•Same lexical item recur•Special baby words are sometimes used•Doggie , Birdie, Gee-Gee, Chuff-Chuff, Tum-Tum•The topic is related to ‘here’ and ‘now’ –things that are present both in place and time

Page 6

• The link between caregiver speech and child speech is not straightforward

• Correction by parents• Immediate repetition by child –no significant result• Words and constructions which occur

frequently in adults will be produced early by children

Page 7

• When talking to girls, adults use more words like “doggie” and “blankie” whereas with boys, adults use more words like “dog” and “blanket”. Girls hear twice as many diminutives.

Page 8

• Infants first recognize words, then they begin to comprehend words

• At about 4 ½ months of age, infants will listen longer to a tape repeating their own name than to a tape of different but similar name

• At about 7-8 months of age, infants readily learn to recognize new words and remember them for weeks

Page 9

• At 6 months – if an infant hears either “mommy” or “daddy”, they look toward the appropriate person.

Page 10

Productive Vocabulary

• Early productive vocabularies of children include names for people, objects, and events from the child’s everyday life.

– Frequent events or routines are also labeled, such as “up” or “bye-bye”

– Nouns predominate the early productive vocabularies of children

Page 11

Unconscious Repetition

• For example:

• Open your mouth, open it• Spit out the snail, spit the snail

out, spit it out• Give mummy the snail, give

the snail, to mummy

Page 12

• Roger Brown: the development of some aspect

of language may be related to their frequency of use by parents, but by no means all.

Page 13

Page 14

Fine-tuning hypothesis

Parents have an inbuilt sensitivity to their children. They gradually increase the complexity of their speech as the child becomes ready for new stage.

Cross(1977)

Page 15

Recent research

• Parent attune their speech to children’s need

-according to child’s interest -not by language structure• Subconsciously guiding• No sign of step-by-step programme

Page 16

Child gets older:

• Parents speech less repetitious• Longer sentences• More complex subject• Simple active declarative

sentences matter• For example:

– Toby wants a bath– Mariton is eating a bun

Page 17

More complex

• Imperatives: – Turn off the tap!– Come home!

• Questions – What is tony eating?– Why are you crying?

Page 18

Conclusion

• Language cannot really be taught

• One can only offer the thread along with language develops on its own

• Adults help their children by talking about things that interest them

Page 19

• Children have inbuilt filter– What they pay attention to– Selective in WHAT he uses from the

environment provided– WHEN to use it

Page 20

Thanks