Characteristics of child-directed speech: Relationships to vocabulary development at 24 and 30 months

Authors

• Leila Paavola-Ruotsalainen Faculty of Humanities / Logopedics and the Child Language Research Center, University of Oulu
• Heta Kemppainen Rehabilitation Unit / Speech and Language Therapy, City of Kuopio
• Beda Luopajärvi Children's Rehabilitation Services, City of Espoo

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23997/pk.61122

Keywords:

child-directed speech, interactive style, supporting development, vocabulary

Abstract

This study explored child-directed speech of 12 mothers to their 2-year-old children during free play. Maternal child-directed speech was analysed for responsiveness and directiveness. In addition, the naming utterances, expansions, and descriptions were identified. Thereafter, correlational analyses were carried out to examine the relationships between different kinds of maternal utterances as well as their relationships to the measures of children’s vocabulary at the age of 2 years and six months later. Individual variation in the number of maternal utterances was considerable. The total number of utterances correlated positively with the number of responsive utterances and descriptions. The results also implied that the responsive and directive interactive styles are contrary to each other. With regard to the facilitating role of child-directed speech to children’s vocabulary development, according to this study the expansions were the most significant. Expansions also correlated positively with responsive utterances. It is advised to take these findings into account in speech and language therapy when advising parents of late-talking toddlers. There is a need for further investigations with larger sample sizes to make conclusions of the quality of child-directed speech and its role in vocabulary development with increased confidence. Future studies should also address the greater variety of characteristics of child-directed speech.