Look who's talking: speech style and social context in language input to infants are linked to concurrent and future speech development
Open accessAbstract
Language input is necessary for language learning, yet little is known about whether, in natural environments, the speech style and social context of language input to children impacts language development. In the present study we investigated the relationship between language input and language development, examining both the style of parental speech, comparing ‘parentese’ speech to standard speech, and the social context in which speech is directed to children, comparing one‐on‐one (1:1) to group social interactions. Importantly, the language input variables were assessed at home using digital first‐person perspective recordings of the infants' auditory environment as they went about their daily lives ( N =26, 11‐ and 14‐months‐old). We measured language development using (a) concurrent speech utterances, and (b) word production at 24 months. Parentese speech in 1:1 contexts is positively correlated with both concurrent speech and later word production. Mediation analyses further show that the effect of parentese speech‐1:1 on infants' later language is mediated by concurrent speech. Our results suggest that both the social context and the style of speech in language addressed to children are strongly linked to a child's future language development.
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The more infant-directed speech in an infant's home environment is observed, the stronger their later language outcome.
“The more infant-directed speech (IDS), characterized by more variable and increased vocal pitch, slower speech, and clearer articulation [27], in an infant’s home environment is observed, the stronger their later language outcome [28].”
From Tracking Acquisition of Language in Kids (TALK) study protocol: A longitudinal investigation of infants at high vs. low risk for atypical speech and language development (2026) · cites this paper as [28]
The Results section (page unavailable) reports that more parentese speech during one-on-one interactions at home was associated with greater word production at 24 months. It also says other social-interaction variables were unrelated to later word production. The claim omits the one-on-one condition, so the study does not establish the same association for infant-directed speech in general. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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References 46 · Cited by 380
Research works printed but not linked: 7
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- Authors
- Ramírez‐Esparza, N., García‐Sierra, A., & Kuhl, P. K.
- Affiliations
- University of Connecticut (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ramírez‐Esparza, Nairán
- Venue
- Developmental Science
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-04-07
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 880-891
- ISSN
- 1363-755X (ISSN-L)
- 1467-7687
- PMC
- PMC4188803
- OpenAlex
- W1977979148
- Cited by
- 380
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 62 · 2019: 62 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 5
- FWCI
- 54.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Developmental Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (SBE-0354453)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phonetics and Phonology Research
- Keywords
- language input, speech style, social environment, language development, word production, infant-directed speech, one-to-one interaction, group interaction, concurrent speech, mediation, home language environment
- MeSH terms
- Age Factors, Child Language, Female, Humans, Infant, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Predictive Value of Tests, Social Environment, Speech, Speech Perception
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