The paralanguage of caregiving

Baby talk to the institutionalized aged

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6202993
AutoresLinnda R Caporael (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, autor correspondente)
Ano1981
Volume40
Fascículo5
Páginas876-884
Data de publicação1981-05-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315
EditoraAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037//0022-3514.40.5.876
PMID7241341
OpenAlexW2155951754
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas121
Referências citadas3

A field study was conducted at a nursing home to (a) obtain descriptive information on the speech environment of the institutionalized elderly and (b) provide speech samples with which to conduct judgment studies on the paralinguistic features of caregiver communication. Three kinds of speech were differentiated: baby talk, speech to the elderly that was not in baby talk, and speech between caregivers, which was assumed to be normal adult speech. Over 22% of the sentences were reliably categorized as baby talk speech. Caregivers' ratings of the characteristics of the care receivers did not predict the amount of baby talk that was directed toward individual care receivers. In Judgment Study 1, content-filtered baby talk was identified as speech to children regardless of the actual status, adult or child, of the target. In Judgment Study 2, content-filtered speech samples were rated on four dimensions: comfort, pleasantness, irritation, and arousal. Baby talk was rated positive, adult speech received intermediate ratings, and non-baby-talk was rated negative. The findings suggest that baby talk is a speech register conveying affection, and it is proposed that non-baby-talk to the elderly is an "institutional" register denoting and promoting dependency.

Affection · Developmental psychology · Dyad · Linguistics · Nonverbal communication · Paralanguage · Register (sociolinguistics · Speech communication · Communication · Communication in Education and Healthcare · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Language Development and Disorders · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Psychology · Social Psychology