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An etholinguistic analysis of mother–child discourse at 30months

An etholinguistic analysis of mother–child discourse at 30months Ethological models of social development stress that diversity in early experience induces stylistic variation in patterns of early communication. Variation in children's speech was examined in a sample of 44 French-speaking mother–child dyads, filmed at home during semi-structured play when the children were 30 months of age. Eight speech act categories were used to describe the language of both partners. In addition, measures of the relative use of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns, as well as child mean length of utterance were tabulated from transcribed verbal exchanges. Cluster analyses of relative frequency of speech acts revealed five sub-groups of children with distinct speech profiles. Three clusters differed on referential categories of speech and two clusters were distinguished on affective expressive dimensions. Expressive children had a more diversified lexicon. Mothers of referential children spoke most often using predominantly descriptive statements and attention requests. In contrast, mothers of expressive children asked for descriptive information more often and used more playful expressive speech. The typological analysis of individual differences in early communication provides a complement to normative assessments of developmental milestones in language acquisition. Such an approach provides the possibility of integrating psycholinguistic studies of language acquisition with ethological concerns about processes shaping early behavioral development. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png acta ethologica Springer Journals

An etholinguistic analysis of mother–child discourse at 30months

Blicharski, Teresa
acta ethologica , Volume 5 (1) – Sep 23, 2002
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Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 by Springer-Verlag and ISPA
Subject
Life Sciences; Behavioral Sciences; Zoology; Evolutionary Biology
ISSN
0873-9749
DOI
10.1007/s10211-002-0064-3
Publisher site
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Abstract

Ethological models of social development stress that diversity in early experience induces stylistic variation in patterns of early communication. Variation in children's speech was examined in a sample of 44 French-speaking mother–child dyads, filmed at home during semi-structured play when the children were 30 months of age. Eight speech act categories were used to describe the language of both partners. In addition, measures of the relative use of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns, as well as child mean length of utterance were tabulated from transcribed verbal exchanges. Cluster analyses of relative frequency of speech acts revealed five sub-groups of children with distinct speech profiles. Three clusters differed on referential categories of speech and two clusters were distinguished on affective expressive dimensions. Expressive children had a more diversified lexicon. Mothers of referential children spoke most often using predominantly descriptive statements and attention requests. In contrast, mothers of expressive children asked for descriptive information more often and used more playful expressive speech. The typological analysis of individual differences in early communication provides a complement to normative assessments of developmental milestones in language acquisition. Such an approach provides the possibility of integrating psycholinguistic studies of language acquisition with ethological concerns about processes shaping early behavioral development.

Journal

acta ethologica – Springer Journals

Published: Sep 23, 2002

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