English-Speaking Adults' Labeling of Child- and Adult-Directed Speech Across Languages and Its Relationship to Perception of Affect
Child-directed speech, as a specialized form of speech directed toward young children, has been found across numerous languages around the world and has been suggested as a universal feature of human experience. However, variation in its implementation and the extent to which it is culturally suppor...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.708887/full |
| _version_ | 1818584354992947200 |
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| author | Melanie Soderstrom Marisa Casillas Megan Gornik Alexis Bouchard Sarah MacEwan Anahita Shokrkon John Bunce |
| author_facet | Melanie Soderstrom Marisa Casillas Megan Gornik Alexis Bouchard Sarah MacEwan Anahita Shokrkon John Bunce |
| author_sort | Melanie Soderstrom |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Child-directed speech, as a specialized form of speech directed toward young children, has been found across numerous languages around the world and has been suggested as a universal feature of human experience. However, variation in its implementation and the extent to which it is culturally supported has called its universality into question. Child-directed speech has also been posited to be associated with expression of positive affect or “happy talk.” Here, we examined Canadian English-speaking adults' ability to discriminate child-directed from adult-directed speech samples from two dissimilar language/cultural communities; an urban Farsi-speaking population, and a rural, horticulturalist Tseltal Mayan speaking community. We also examined the relationship between participants' addressee classification and ratings of positive affect. Naive raters could successfully classify CDS in Farsi, but only trained raters were successful with the Tseltal Mayan sample. Associations with some affective ratings were found for the Farsi samples, but not reliably for happy speech. These findings point to a complex relationship between perception of affect and CDS, and context-specific effects on the ability to classify CDS across languages. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T08:19:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2bb4366dfd544e4d9a1881ce3b210b5c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T08:19:51Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-2bb4366dfd544e4d9a1881ce3b210b5c2022-12-21T22:38:08ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-09-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.708887708887English-Speaking Adults' Labeling of Child- and Adult-Directed Speech Across Languages and Its Relationship to Perception of AffectMelanie Soderstrom0Marisa Casillas1Megan Gornik2Alexis Bouchard3Sarah MacEwan4Anahita Shokrkon5John Bunce6Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, CanadaDepartment of Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, CanadaDépartement d'Éducation, Université de Saint-Boniface, Winnipeg, MB, CanadaDepartment of Audiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, CanadaDepartment of Psychological Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, CanadaDepartment of Human Development and Women's Studies, California State University East Bay, East Bay, CA, United StatesChild-directed speech, as a specialized form of speech directed toward young children, has been found across numerous languages around the world and has been suggested as a universal feature of human experience. However, variation in its implementation and the extent to which it is culturally supported has called its universality into question. Child-directed speech has also been posited to be associated with expression of positive affect or “happy talk.” Here, we examined Canadian English-speaking adults' ability to discriminate child-directed from adult-directed speech samples from two dissimilar language/cultural communities; an urban Farsi-speaking population, and a rural, horticulturalist Tseltal Mayan speaking community. We also examined the relationship between participants' addressee classification and ratings of positive affect. Naive raters could successfully classify CDS in Farsi, but only trained raters were successful with the Tseltal Mayan sample. Associations with some affective ratings were found for the Farsi samples, but not reliably for happy speech. These findings point to a complex relationship between perception of affect and CDS, and context-specific effects on the ability to classify CDS across languages.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.708887/fullchild-directed speechinfant-directed speechpositive affectuniversalitycross-language perception |
| spellingShingle | Melanie Soderstrom Marisa Casillas Megan Gornik Alexis Bouchard Sarah MacEwan Anahita Shokrkon John Bunce English-Speaking Adults' Labeling of Child- and Adult-Directed Speech Across Languages and Its Relationship to Perception of Affect Frontiers in Psychology child-directed speech infant-directed speech positive affect universality cross-language perception |
| title | English-Speaking Adults' Labeling of Child- and Adult-Directed Speech Across Languages and Its Relationship to Perception of Affect |
| title_full | English-Speaking Adults' Labeling of Child- and Adult-Directed Speech Across Languages and Its Relationship to Perception of Affect |
| title_fullStr | English-Speaking Adults' Labeling of Child- and Adult-Directed Speech Across Languages and Its Relationship to Perception of Affect |
| title_full_unstemmed | English-Speaking Adults' Labeling of Child- and Adult-Directed Speech Across Languages and Its Relationship to Perception of Affect |
| title_short | English-Speaking Adults' Labeling of Child- and Adult-Directed Speech Across Languages and Its Relationship to Perception of Affect |
| title_sort | english speaking adults labeling of child and adult directed speech across languages and its relationship to perception of affect |
| topic | child-directed speech infant-directed speech positive affect universality cross-language perception |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.708887/full |
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