Mothers' simplification of phonetic input to their children in English and Polish

Abstract

Voice onset time measurements were made of three mothers' productions of word-initial spiral stops to their 18 month old children in order to determine whether mothers play a significant role in their child's acquisition of the voiced—voiceless distinction. Two of the mothers spoke native English to their children, and one spoke native Polish. Measurements were also made of each mother's productions of word-initial stops to another adult. Results show that mothers speak differently to their 18 month old children than they do to other adults. All three mothers employed certain clarification strategies for reducing the overlap of VOT values between voiced and voiceless categories which exists in normal adult adult discourse. These strategies included an increase in the median VOT values for productions of the voiceless stop, and/or a reduction in the range of VOT values for the voiceless category. Mothers, therefore, seem to be facilitating the task of phonological acquisition for their children by presenting them with a maximally distinct, tailored phonetic input. [Work supported by NICHD.]