The role of baby-talk words in early language development

背景成年人在与婴儿和幼儿交谈时，往往会调整他们的说话方式。他们的讲话变得更慢，音调更高，语调模式夸张。随着大量重复，他们的句子变得更短、更简单。这种特定的语域通常被称为“婴儿语”、“母语”，或者更确切地说，是以婴儿为导向的言语。长期以来，研究人员一直在争论这种言语变化是否对儿童的语言发展起到了一定的促进作用。确实有一些迹象表明，婴儿指导的言语使学习者更容易理解语言的某些方面。例如，已经证明，婴儿在慢节奏的语言中更容易识别单词。婴儿定向言语的一个令人费解的特点是，存在专门与婴儿一起使用的“婴儿谈话词”，如“cho-choo”和“ummy”。如果孩子们最终想要学习“Train”和“Guest”，那么对他们来说，使用不同的词来表达完全相同的意思似乎没有帮助。事实上，不难发现，在媒体上声称，使用‘cho-choo’和‘ummy’这样的词会阻碍语言的发展。在这个项目中，我们将考察使用婴儿话语(BTW)是否对语言学习有任何抑制或促进作用，然后解释为什么BTW在不同语言和文化的婴儿言语中被发现。我们的叙述主要关注BTW的发音模式：音节重复(如Choo-choo)，缺少辅音簇(与之相对的是tumy)，以及反复出现的发音模式(如Bunny，Doggy，Tummy，Pardy)。具有这些特点的单词可能更容易学习，因此，它是进一步发展词汇的跳板。如果这是真的，我们可以期待两件事。首先，婴儿应该发现听起来像真正BTW的单词更容易学习。其次，接触更多BTW的婴儿一般至少在最早阶段应该经历更快的词汇发展。为了验证第一个预测，我们将在14至18个月左右的婴儿身上进行一系列基于实验室的实验。他们将看到不熟悉的玩具的视频图像，这些玩具的名字都是捏造的。一半的名字会有类似BTW的特征，比如重复的音节和缺少辅音簇(例如‘neenee’和‘foofoo’)。另一半将具有非BTW类功能(例如，“proogo”和“Smoday”)。通过跟踪婴儿的眼动，我们将能够判断当名字具有类似BTW的特征时，婴儿是否能够更快地学习玩具与他们的名字之间的联系。此外，通过处理两类名字之间的特征，我们将能够确定哪些特征(如音节重复或没有辅音簇)实际上更容易学习单词。为了检验第二个预测，我们将从父母那里收集数据，从9个月开始，每隔3个月收集一次他们使用真实BTW的数据，以及他们孩子的接受性和产出性词汇。这将通过记录母亲对孩子说的话并让母亲完成一份问卷来完成，问卷列出了一系列幼儿通常理解或产生的单词。如果BTW确实帮助婴儿进入单词学习过程，我们应该发现父母使用BTW的数量与他们孩子的词汇量增长之间的相关性。

BACKGROUNDAdults tend to adjust the way they speak when they are talking to babies and young children. Their speech becomes slower, higher in pitch, exaggerated in intonation patterns. Their sentences become shorter and simpler with a lot of repetition. This specific register of speech is commonly known as 'baby talk', 'motherese', or more technically, infant-directed speech. Researchers have long debated whether such modifications in speech play some facilitative role in children's language development. There are indeed some indications that infant-directed speech makes certain aspects of language more accessible to the learner. For instance, it has been demonstrated that infants can identify words more easily in slow-paced speech.One puzzling feature of infant-directed speech is the existence of 'baby-talk words', words such as 'choo-choo' and 'tummy', that are specifically used with babies. If children are ultimately to learn 'train' and 'stomach', using different words to them that mean exactly the same thing does not seem to be helpful. In fact, it is not difficult to find claims made in the media that the use of words such as 'choo-choo' and 'tummy' can hinder language development. In this project, we will examine if using baby-talk words (BTWs) has any inhibitory or facilitative effects on language learning, and then offer an explanation as to why BTWs are found in infant-directed speech across languages and cultures. Our account focuses on the sound patterns that BTWs tend to have: repeated syllables (as in 'choo-choo'), lack of consonant clusters ('tummy' as opposed to 'stomach'), and recurrent sound patterns (as in the endings in 'bunny', 'doggy', 'tummy', 'daddy'). Words with these characteristics may be easier to learn, and as such, serve as a springboard for further vocabulary development. If this is true, we can expect two things. First, infants should find words that sound like real BTWs easier to learn. Second, infants exposed to more BTWs should generally undergo faster vocabulary development at least in the earliest stage.THE STUDIESTo test the first prediction, we will carry out a series of laboratory-based experiments with infants around the age of 14 to 18 months. They will be shown video images of unfamiliar toys with made-up names. Half the names will have BTW-like features, such as repeated syllables and lack of consonant clusters (e.g., 'neenee' and 'foofoo'). The other half will have non-BTW-like features (e.g., 'proogo' and 'smoday'). By tracking the eye movement of the infants, we will be able to tell whether infants can learn the association between the toys and their names faster when the names have BTW-like features. Furthermore, by manipulating the features between the two types of names, we will be able to determine which features (such as the repetition of syllables or the lack of consonant clusters) actually make word learning easier.To test the second prediction, we will collect data from parents on their use of real BTWs and their children's receptive and productive vocabulary at four 3-month intervals starting at 9 months. This will be done by recording the mother's speech addressed to the child and having the mother complete a questionnaire that lists a range of words that are typically understood or produced by young children. If BTWs do help infants break into the process of word learning, we should find a correlation between the amount of BTWs used by parents and the growth of vocabulary in their children.