Mother-Child Communication: The Function of Maternal-Language Input

• Susan R. Braunwald ^[1]
  1. [1] University of California System

     University of California System

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Word: Journal of the International Linguistic Association, ISSN-e 2373-5112, ISSN 0043-7956, Vol. 27, Nº 1-3, 1971 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Child Language--1975), págs. 28-50
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The function of maternal-language input in a female child's initial language acquisition (from birth to twenty months) was studied to determine in what ways maternal behavior and language might be specifically instructive to the child. The data studied consist of (1) parental diaries of language behavior during infancy, (2) an extensive, systematic record of daily linguistic production—including the linguistic and nonlinguistic context—from twelve to twenty months, and (3) transcriptions of tape-recorded interval samples from sixteen to twenty months.

    Many of the mother's natural linguistic and behavioral accommodations to the child's developmental status were found to be potentially instructive to a child acquiring language. The sequence of language acquisition as it relates to maternal-language input was documented. It was demonstrated that language is emerging in a social and cognitive milieu as part of a general process of socialization and that mother and child were partners in a subtle, dynamic communication process in which the expressive means available to both participants gradually evolved.