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Child characteristics and maternal speech*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Linda Smolak
Linda Smolak*
Affiliation:
Kenyan College
*
Department of Psychology, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH 43022, USA.
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Abstract

Infant temperament characteristics of activity level, task persistence and affect were measured in an eight-month longitudinal study of eight children. Discourse and pragmatic features of their mothers' speech, specifically total number of utterances and use of self-repetitions, directives and attention-getting devices, were also monitored. Pearson correlation analysis suggested complex interactions between maternal speech and infant temperament. In some cases a maternal speech pattern appears to maintain an infant temperament characteristic. In others, a child characteristic appears to maintain a maternal speech form. The results are used to argue that non-linguistic child behaviours may influence maternal speech and deserve further attention in investigations of the link between maternal speech and child-language development.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , October 1987 , pp. 481 - 492
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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Footnotes

*

This research was supported by a grant from the Harris Foundation. Anne Fox, Karen Mombello, Michael Nevins, Pam Pleasants and Cindy Walters assisted with data collection and coding. Portions of this paper were presented at the 1986 meeting of the Midwestern Society for Research in Life-Span Development.

References

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