Positive Valence Contributes to Hyperarticulation in Maternal Speech to Infants and Puppies

Infant-directed speech often has hyperarticulated features, such as point vowels whose formants are further apart than in adult-directed speech. This increased "vowel space" may reflect the caretaker's effort to speak more clearly to infants, thus benefiting language processing. However, hyperarticulation may also result from more positive valence (e.g., speaking with positive vocal emotion) often found in mothers' speech to infants. This study was designed to replicate others who have found hyperarticulation in maternal speech to their 6-month-olds, but also to examine their speech to a non-human infant (i.e., a puppy). We rated both kinds of maternal speech for their emotional valence and recorded mothers' speech to a human adult. We found that mothers produced more positively valenced utterances and some hyperarticulation in both their infant- and puppy-directed speech, compared to their adult-directed speech. This finding promotes looking at maternal speech from a multi-faceted perspective that includes emotional state

Audiology · Cognition · Developmental psychology · Emotional valence · Formant · Language development · Linguistics · Puppy · Vowel · Infant Health and Development · Language Development and Disorders · Medicine · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Psychology

• Social Context Matters for Turn‐Taking Dynamics

  Open Access•Cameron Cox, Riccardo Fusaroli et al.•Cognitive Science•2025

  Incluir item

• Cross-Language Analysis of Phonetic Units in Language Addressed to Infants

  Open Access•Patricia K Kuhl, Jean E Andruski et al.•Science•1997

  Incluir item

• Intelligibility of normal speech I

  Open Access•Ann Bradlow, Ann R Bradlow et al.•Speech Communication•1996

  Incluir item

• What's New, Pussycat? On Talking to Babies and Animals

  Open Access•Denis Burnham, Christine Kitamura et al.•Science•2002

  Incluir item

• Intonation and Communicative Intent in Mothers' Speech to Infants

  A Fernald•Child Development•1989

  Incluir item

• LmerTest Package

  Open Access•Alexandra Kuznetsova, Per B Brockhoff et al.•Journal of Statistical Software•2017

  Incluir item

• The Dynamics of Vowel Hypo- and Hyperarticulation in Swedish Infant-Directed Speech to 12-Month-Olds

  Open Access•Ellen Marklund, Lisa Gustavsson•Frontiers in Communication•2020

  Incluir item

• Infant-directed speech (IDS) vowel clarity and child language outcomes

  Open Access•Kelly Marie Hartman, Nan Bernstein Ratner et al.•Journal of Child Language•2017

  Incluir item

• The hyperarticulation hypothesis of infant-directed speech

  Open Access•Alejandrina Cristia, Amanda Seidl•Journal of Child Language•2014

  Incluir item

• Phonetic variation in consonants in infant-directed and adult-directed speech

  Open Access•Laura C Dilley, Amanda L Millett et al.•Journal of Child Language•2014

  Incluir item

• Infant-directed speech from seven to nineteen months has similar acoustic properties but different functions

  Open Access•Marina Kalashnikova, Denis Burnham•Journal of Child Language•2018

  Incluir item

• Does Infant‐Directed Speech Help Phonetic Learning? A Machine Learning Investigation

  Open Access•Bogdan Ludusan, Reiko Mazuka et al.•Cognitive Science•2021

  Incluir item

• Are Words Easier to Learn From Infant‐ Than Adult‐Directed Speech? A Quantitative Corpus‐Based Investigation

  Open Access•Adriana Guevara‐Rukoz, Alejandrina Cristia et al.•Cognitive Science•2018

  Incluir item

• Mothers Speak Less Clearly to Infants Than to Adults

  Open Access•Andrew Martin, Andrew T Martin et al.•Psychological Science•2015

  Incluir item

• Pitch and Communicative Intent in Mother's Speech

  Open Access•Christine Kitamura, Denis Burnham•Infancy•2003

  Incluir item

• Infants' Listening Preferences

  Open Access•Lachham Singh, Leher Singh et al.•Infancy•2002

  Incluir item

• An association between mothers' speech clarity and infants' speech discrimination skills

  Open Access•Huei‐mei Liu, Patricia K Kuhl et al.•Developmental Science•2003

  Incluir item

• Vowel Hyperarticulation in Parrot-, Dog- and Infant-Directed Speech

  Nan Xu Rattanasone, Nan Xu et al.•Anthrozoös•2013

  Incluir item