Abstract
Turn-taking is a universal and fundamental feature of human vocal communication. Through protoconversation, caregivers play a key role for infants in helping them learn the turn-taking system. Infants produce both speech-like vocalizations (i.e., protophones) and cries from birth. Prior research has shown that caregivers take turns with infant protophones. However, no prior research has investigated the timing of caregiver responses to cries. The present work is the first to systematically investigate different temporal patterns of caregiver responses to protophones and to cries. Results showed that, even in infants' first 3 months of life, caregivers were more likely to take turns with protophones and to overlap with cries. The study provides evidence that caregivers are intuitively aware that protophones and cries are functionally different: protophones are treated as precursors to speech, whereas cries are treated as expressions of distress.
Highlights
Overview of the Present EffortThe importance of early caregiver-infant interaction in cognitive, social and language development has been well-documented for decades (Ainsworth and Bell, 1974; Beckwith et al, 1976; Bakeman and Brown, 1980; Tomasello, 1992; Murray et al, 1996; Jaffe et al, 2001; Feldman, 2007a,b; Bornstein and Bruner, 2014)
There has been a remarkable gap in this literature in that it has ignored the timing of caregiver responses to infant cries, focusing instead on timing of contingent patterns of response to speech-like vocalizations
We propose that a clear distinction between protophones and distress sounds is critical for the study of caregiver-infant vocal interaction because it makes sense to imagine that caregivers will interact differently with the different sounds, since protophones are presumable precursors to speech, while distress sounds may be antithetical to conversation
Summary
Overview of the Present EffortThe importance of early caregiver-infant interaction in cognitive, social and language development has been well-documented for decades (Ainsworth and Bell, 1974; Beckwith et al, 1976; Bakeman and Brown, 1980; Tomasello, 1992; Murray et al, 1996; Jaffe et al, 2001; Feldman, 2007a,b; Bornstein and Bruner, 2014). The research has emphasized the sense in which early turn taking vocal interactions provide a basis for emotional bonding (Bell and Ainsworth, 1972; Blehar et al, 1977; Ainsworth, 1979; Keller et al, 1996; Völker et al, 1999), a protoconversational frame, and a foundation for sociality and for speech communication (Bateson, 1975; Trevarthen, 1977; Tronick et al, 1980; Papoušek, 1995; Goldstein et al, 2003). Stern et al (1975) speculated that caregiver responses to cry would tend to overlap rather than alternate Empirical research on this previously unstudied speculation is important because it could illustrate that caregivers express an intuitive awareness of protophones as potential speech material by taking turns with them, while at the same time treating cries differently, speaking over them. The present study aims to systematically investigate timing of caregiver utterances in response to both protophones and cries
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