Origins of baby talk / motherese / CDS / caregiver talk

[Bruno Estigarribia]

Points well taken. It still seems to me we are missing something here. 
Clearly, "exposure language" or "ambient language" encompasses 
adult-to-child speech, peer-to-peer (child or adult) interactions, as 
well as, well, TV, etc. But we sometimes want to talk about particular 
properties of particular registers, and therefore the terms we've been 
discussing ARE useful. "Exposure language" is not a particular, 
homogeneous, linguistic register, whereas 
motherese/caregiverese/parentese and child/infant-direct speech may well 
be specific registers, at least in some communities.
BTW, I trace the important distinction "input" vs. "intake" back to 
Corder 1967 "The Significance of Learner's Errors", International Review 
of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, vol 4, p. 165.

Bruno Estigarribia
Ph.D. candidate
Stanford Linguistics
> I've started to use the term "exposure language," for several reasons:
>
>     * "input" assumes that the child takes everything in
>     * "motherese" and "caregiver talk" exclude talk from non-parents
>       and non-caregivers (siblings, peers, other adults, etc.)
>     * "child directed speech" excludes what children learn from
>       overheard speech
>     * "baby talk" is ambiguous: could mean talk produced by or for babies
>
> "Exposure language" or "ambient language" allow one to consider 
> characteristics of talk that children are exposed to or surrounded by,
> without prejudging any of the issues mentioned above.
>
> Dan Slobin
>
>
> At 02:08 AM 12/4/2006, Matthew Saxton wrote:
>> Dear All,
>>
>> Could anyone please help me trace the provenance of the terms we have 
>> for how adults talk to young children? I’m thinking in particular of 
>> /motherese/, /baby talk/, /Child Directed Speech /and/ caregiver 
>> talk./ (If I’ve missed any obvious ones, do please let me know this 
>> also).
>>
>> My guess for /baby talk/ is Charles Ferguson around 1971, though a 
>> specific reference would be helpful. The earliest use of /motherese/ 
>> I can trace is:
>>
>> Vorster, J. (1975). Mommy linguist – the case for motherese. /Lingua, 
>> 37/4,/ 281-312.
>>
>> Catherine Snow does not seem to use the term /motherese/ in her 1972 
>> article, but I would imagine there is an earlier source than Vorster 
>> (1975) (given Vorster’s acknowledgement of Snow).
>>
>> For /Child Directed Speech/ (with a hyphen), I go back as far as:
>>
>> Warren-Leubecker, A. & Bohannon, J.N. (1984). Intonation patterns in 
>> child-directed speech – mother-father differences. /Child 
>> Development, 55/4,/ 1379-1385.
>>
>> As for /caregiver talk/, this phrase throws up precisely no 
>> references in a standard search. Julian Pine talks about “the 
>> language of primary caregivers” in 1995, but that’s not quite the 
>> same thing:
>>
>> Pine, J. (1995). The language of primary caregivers. In C. Gallaway & 
>> B.J. Richards (eds.) /Input and interaction in language acquisition/. 
>> Cambridge: C.U.P..
>>
>> Maybe no-one has actually used the phrase /caregiver talk/ and I 
>> should strike it from the record. In any event, any help tracing 
>> these terms back to their various sources would be very much appreciated.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Matthew Saxton.
>>
>> *********************************************************************
>>
>> Matthew Saxton MA, MSc, DPhil
>> School of Psychology and Human Development,
>> Institute of Education,
>> 25 Woburn Square,
>> London,
>> WC1H 0AA.
>> U.K.
>>
>> Tel: +44 (0) 20 7612 6509
>> Fax: +44 (0) 20 7612 6304
>>
>> http://ioewebserver.ioe.ac.uk/ioe/cms/get.asp?cid=4578&4578_0=10248 
>> <http://ioewebserver.ioe.ac.uk/ioe/cms/get.asp?cid=4578&4578_0=10248>
>> www.ioe.ac.uk <http://www.ioe.ac.uk/>
>
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> Dan I. Slobin, Professor of the Graduate School
> Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Linguistics
>
> Department of Psychology email: slobin at berkeley.edu
> 3210 Tolman #1650 phone (Dept): 1-510-642-5292
> University of California phone (home): 1-510-848-1769
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> USA http://ihd.berkeley.edu/slobin.htm
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>