ERIC Number: EJ1351331
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Nov
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-0009
EISSN: EISSN-1469-7602
Child-Directed and Overheard Input from Different Speakers in Two Distinct Cultures
Loukatou, Georgia; Scaff, Camila; Demuth, Katherine; Cristia, Alejandrina; Havron, Naomi
Journal of Child Language, v49 n6 p1173-1192 Nov 2022
Despite the fact that in most communities interaction occurs between the child and multiple speakers, most previous research on input to children focused on input from mothers. We annotated recordings of Sesotho-learning toddlers living in non-industrial Lesotho in South Africa, and French-learning toddlers living in urban regions in France. We examined who produced the input (mothers, other children, adults), how much input was child directed, and whether and how it varied across speakers. As expected, mothers contributed most of the input in the French recordings. However, in the Sesotho recordings, input from other children was more common than input from mothers or other adults. Child-directed speech from all speakers in both cultural groups showed similar qualitative modifications. Our findings suggest that input from other children is prevalent and has similar features as child-directed from adults described in previous work, inviting cross-cultural research into the effects of input from other children.
Descriptors: Toddlers, French, African Languages, Language Acquisition, Foreign Countries, Mothers, Cultural Influences, Speech Communication, Child Language, Linguistic Input
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: South Africa; France
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A