TY - JOUR
T1 - Motherese, affect, and vocabulary development
T2 - Dyadic communicative interactions in infants and toddlers
AU - Dave, Shruti
AU - Mastergeorge, Ann M.
AU - Olswang, Lesley B.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright Cambridge University Press 2018.
PY - 2018/7/1
Y1 - 2018/7/1
N2 - Responsive parental communication during an infant's first year has been positively associated with later language outcomes. This study explores responsivity in mother-infant communication by modeling how change in guiding language between 7 and 11 months influences toddler vocabulary development. In a group of 32 mother-child dyads, change in early maternal guiding language positively predicted child language outcomes measured at 18 and 24 months. In contrast, a number of other linguistic variables - including total utterances and non-guiding language - did not correlate with toddler vocabulary development, suggesting a critical role of responsive change in infant-directed communication. We further assessed whether maternal affect during early communication influenced toddler vocabulary outcomes, finding that dominant affect during early mother-infant communications correlated to lower child language outcomes. These findings provide evidence that responsive parenting should not only be assessed longitudinally, but unique contributions of language and affect should also be concurrently considered in future study.
AB - Responsive parental communication during an infant's first year has been positively associated with later language outcomes. This study explores responsivity in mother-infant communication by modeling how change in guiding language between 7 and 11 months influences toddler vocabulary development. In a group of 32 mother-child dyads, change in early maternal guiding language positively predicted child language outcomes measured at 18 and 24 months. In contrast, a number of other linguistic variables - including total utterances and non-guiding language - did not correlate with toddler vocabulary development, suggesting a critical role of responsive change in infant-directed communication. We further assessed whether maternal affect during early communication influenced toddler vocabulary outcomes, finding that dominant affect during early mother-infant communications correlated to lower child language outcomes. These findings provide evidence that responsive parenting should not only be assessed longitudinally, but unique contributions of language and affect should also be concurrently considered in future study.
KW - affective communication
KW - guiding language
KW - motherese
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049632327&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0305000917000551
DO - 10.1017/S0305000917000551
M3 - Article
C2 - 29457574
AN - SCOPUS:85049632327
SN - 0305-0009
VL - 45
SP - 917
EP - 938
JO - Journal of Child Language
JF - Journal of Child Language
IS - 4
ER -