Social interaction and language acquisition: Motherese help you

Abstract

One of the distinctive features of speech addressed to young children is the deviant use of proper names. In a cross-sectional observational study of mother-infant interactions (with children aged 12, 18 and 24 months), this paper investigates the frequency and functions of this aspect of language input. No differences due to age of child were found, indicating that the phenomenon is not sensitive to the linguistic development of the addressee. The most common functions of name usage are identified as Attention-Orienting and Instruction to Act. We argue that this familiar modification reflects communicative rather than pedagogical (linguistic- instruction) purposes on the part of the parent. We present examples which suggest that the modification, which is present before the addressee reaches the two-word stage, influences the early grammatical constructions of the child. We conclude that the relationship between the contingencies of early social interaction and language acquisition is multi dimensional, and not ubiquitously designed to facilitate language learn ing perse.