Properties of Child-Directed Speech in Mothers’ Native and Nonnative Languages: A Comparison of English Monolingual and Spanish-English Bilingual Mothers’ Talk to 2-Year-Olds

• Other Authors: Shanks, Katherine Alexandra Filippi (author)
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Florida Atlantic University
• Subjects: Language arts (Early childhood); Language acquisition > Parent participation.; Sociolinguistics.; Bilingualism in children.; Psycholinguistics.; Interpersonal communication > Psychological aspects.
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004633; http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004633

Previous studies have found that bilingual children’s vocabulary development benefits more from child-directed speech from native speakers than child-directed speech from nonnative speakers. The current study compared the native English child-directed speech of 20 English monolingual mothers, the nonnative English child-directed speech of 20 Spanish-English bilingual mothers, and the native Spanish child-directed speech of the same bilingual mothers in terms of three aspects of input previously associated with children’s language development: data-providing properties, topic contingency, and speech function. There were significant differences between native English and nonnative English child-directed speech, and between nonnative English and native Spanish. The results suggest two sources of influence shaping child-directed speech: quality differences related to native speaker status and cultural factors primed by the language being spoken. === Includes bibliography. === Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. === FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection